French Grand Prix '08

Although the Magny-Cours circuit does not usually produce the most exciting races, with the Ferrari dominance seeming never-ending, this years French Grand Prix proved much more entertaining then predicted. First F1 takes you through the events of the race and all the other action of the weekend.

Free Practice One

Nico Rosberg set the first flying lap but it took nearly half the session for free practice one to really get going with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen taking the early top spot. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, beat just beat his time, but it wasn't long before Ferrari took the top spot that seems to be reserved for them at the French track. Massa consistantly beat Hamilton's time and finished on top whilst Kovalainen went off track, very nearly hitting the wall. He hung on to second until Hamilton shoved him down to third. Kimi Raikkonen completed the session in fourth with the star of Canada, Robert Kubica, just behind. Jarno Trulli continued his art of spinning but held on to seventh and Fernando Alonso kept sixth despite a rather spectacular engine failure.

Free Practice Two
Unlike FP1, we weren't left waiting around for action, as the drivers headed out for flying laps immediately. Kubica set the first time, beaten by the McLarens of Kovalainen and then Hamilton. Alonso found himself in second until Ferrari decided to join the fun and the next best spot was taken by Massa and then Raikkonen. The drivers then began to take to the gravel with Hamilton going very wide. Trulli and Sutil both followed the McLaren in the gravel and Alonso also went a bit too far off the track whilst Toyota's Timo Glock caught a bit too much air through the chicane. The Ferraris did get the jump on the McLarens but their efforts were overshadowed by that of Fernando Alonso who pulled out a terrific lap, taking fastest of the session. Raikkonen, Massa and Hamilton were behind in second, third and fourth whilst an impressive drive from the Toro Rosso of Sebastain Vettel left him in fifth. Robert Kubica rounded of the top six.

Free Practice Three

The third and final practice session of the week dawned at Magny-Cours in fine weather. The normal lengthy wait kicked off Saturday morning. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais set the first timed lap at his home Grand Prix. Vettel joined him to have a short-lived battle at the top before Raikkonen came out. The world champion couldn't manage to beat Renault's Nelson Piquet. The Brazilian driver quickly took first, before Hamilton ended his stay at the top. David Coulthard squeezed into the top 3 but Piquet was the big surprise, taking first place back. Many tried, but nobody could beat Piquet's time. He finished first in front of Webber, Vettel and Rosberg. Raikkonen settled for fifth.

Qualifying

Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will suffer ten place grid penalties from wherever they qualify, after the now infamous pit lane crash in Canada.

Session One

Just a few minutes into the first session of qualifying and to nobodies surprise, the Ferraris were on top with Massa leading Raikkonen. They were both beaten by the McLarens but Felipe Massa managed to split them in half a few seconds later. The British team felt they had done enough and headed back to the pits but Ferrari stayed out. Massa went even faster near the end of the session, beating Hamilton. Heidfeld found himself in a dangerous place, 18th position on his final lap. He lived to fight another day after securing 12th. Massa, Raikkonen and Trulli finished as the top three. Nakajima Button, Barrichello, Fisichella and Sutil ended their day.

Session Two

With seven minutes left in the second session of qualifying, Hamilton became the first of the front-runners to set a time. He arrived in second, below his former teammate, Alonso. Both Toyotas, Red Bulls, Toro Rossos and Renaults had completed a lap time with few surprises. Raikkonen led Ferrari back to the 1-2 spot they keep returning to, with Massa behind going 1 tenth faster. Kovalainen could only manage 8th. Ferrari went back to the pits to get ready for Quali 3. With the time nearly up, Coulthard, Vettel, Bourdais, Piquet and Rosberg were all in the drop zone with both BMW's in serious danger of joining them. Rosberg and Vettel did not improve, Piquet did and knocked Heidfeld into danger. Piquet went strait back down, thanks to Coulthard. Kubica stayed safe meaning Piquet, Heidfeld, Vettel, Bourdais and Rosberg failed to make the cut for the third and final session.

Session Three

The session started with yet another one of Jarno Trulli's spins, ruining Mark Webbers lap. With only 4 minutes of the pole shootout left, the first of the pole contenders set a time. Felipe Massa went to the top with Alonso and Coulthard slotting in behind him. Raikkonen then completed his first lap to beat Massa's time whilst Hamilton could only manage sixth after going wide. Once the session ended, Raikkonen was on provisinal pole but all his rivals still had a lap in hand, as did he. Massa just went slower to take second with Alonso taking third. Raikkonen aborted his final lap to save fuel as he already had pole. Hamilton finished in third with Kovalainen in sixth and Kubica seventh.

The 10 place penalties from Canada mean Hamilton would start from 13th whilst Rosberg would start from last. The other McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, got a 5 place penalty for blocking Webber in Quali one and would start from 10th. Jenson Button had some last minute problems and started from last.

A light shower hit the French circuit during the warm-up lap and rain was predicted over the next 30 minutes.

Race
Raikkonen kept Massa behind him from the start. Alonso had a terrible start from third being taken by Jarno Trulli and then Robert Kubica. Button had a good start but made contact with Sutil, damaging his Honda. Hamilton didn't make any places up round the first few corners. He took Sebastain Vettel but then ran off the track and could have taken an advantage. He then made contact with his teammate, Kovalainen, and passed him a few laps later. Hamilton's next target was Piquet but he simply could not get pass the Renault, despite Piquet going wide a few times. The Ferrari's were now in a class of thier own with Trulli filling the gap between the Italian cars and the rest of the field. Hamilton was issued a drive-though penalty for gaining an advantage when passing Vettel. He dedided to take it while he was stuck behind Piquet and rejoined thirteenth. Jenson Button ran wide and broke off his front wing. He was forced to retire. Hamilton was now behind Alonso, who had pitted, and forced his way past the Reanult making contact. Kovalainen pit and rejoined just behind Piquet. The Brazilain had problems starting his car and Heikki took the place. In the lead of the race, Kimi Raikkonen was slowing enormously allowning Massa to catch up right behind him. The problem was a loose exhaust pipe and he let Massa though to take lead of the race. Raikkonen managed to continue. Kovalainen was now up to fourth and when it started to rain lightly, Trulli's Toyota slowed down to allow Heikki to pile the pressure on him. After a few failed attempts to get past, on the final lap, Kovalainen looked like he would get past but Trulli went defensive. They almost touched but the McLaren went wide, handing the podium place to Trulli. Massa won the race, Kubica finished in fifth, with Hamilton only managing tenth.

Championship
With Massa winning the race, the drivers championship get another new leader with Kubica splitting the Ferraris and hanging on to second. In the constructors, Toyota climb into the top five, removing Williams. Ferrari again pull far ahead and with the next track also a Ferrari one, the Italian team should be happy. With the championship so open, it'll be intresting to see which way it'll swing next time at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.