GP – Race: Massa, luckier than Räikkönen

Felipe Massa benefited from an exhaust problem on the Ferrari of his teammate Kimi Räikkönen to clinch his third victory of the season at the French Grand Prix. He thus becomes the new leader of the championship.

The Finn managed to maintain his second position despite a drop in pace in his F2008. Jarno Trulli was able to hold off the attacks from Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren to climb onto the podium, his last podium finish being in Melbourne 2006.

Lewis Hamilton was penalized a second time by receiving a drive-through for cutting the Nurburgring chicane while overtaking Sebastian Vettel on the first lap. The McLaren driver only managed a 10th place finish.

Räikkönen was destined for a comfortable victory until his exhaust spoiled everything. Nonetheless, he set the fastest lap in the race for the 5th consecutive Grand Prix.

In the end, Kovalainen and former championship leader Robert Kubica (BMW) finished just behind Trulli’s Toyota. The tension escalated when a light rain appeared in the last 15 laps.

A final attempt to overtake Trulli by Kovalainen nearly turned sour. The two cars touched, but the accident was avoided.

Despite a few overtakes, Kovalainen’s teammate, Hamilton, was unable to achieve a similar result.

The possibility of a podium for Fernando Alonso was immediately compromised by a poor start, dropping to fifth place. He managed to make up for his delay by overtaking Kubica but lost his position again in the pit stop shuffle.

Once again quite unlucky, the Iberian drops to seventh place, leaving just ahead of him Marc Webber, who finishes 6th.

The former world champion loses even more ground as his teammate, Nelson Piquet, takes advantage of a poorly negotiated turn by Alonso to climb to 7th position. The Spaniard secures the point for 8th place.

The Brazilian finally impressed as he managed to withstand the pressure from the two McLarens at the beginning of the race.

Timo Glock (Toyota) could have finished in the points but also lost ground in the pits. He is 11th ahead of Coulthard, 9th, and Hamilton, 10th, and finishes just ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nick Heidfeld for BMW.

The race saw only one retirement with Jenson Button following the minor collision with Sébastien Bourdais at the first corner.