2007 Formula 1 French Grand Prix

[Vaigra]

Well, it's a good thing they're not going back there next year, so it won't need widening.

[Cyco]

Congratulations to Kimi on the win, and Massa on his 2nd place.

Hamilton continues his unbroken run of podium places and increases his lead in the WDC points from 10 to 14

[Ferrer]

Basically today we've seen the perfect solution for the usual tedium in F1 races. Just reverse the chapmionship standings for the starting grid.

[Jack_Bauer]

Kimi Raikkonen returned to form after two months in the doldrums with an excellent performance to win the French Grand Prix. Starting from third on the grid he got the jump on Hamilton into turn one, and then with consistently quick driving and putting in some excellent laps at the important time just before his second stops he passed his teammate Massa in the pit stops. The one-two finish marks a real turn around in Ferrari's fortunes after looking some way off the pace in North America.

Ferrari's return to form coincided with a pretty poor weekend for McLaren. After Alonso's gearbox bearing failure in qualifying their race was spoiled by Raikkonen's excellent start getting him ahead of Hamilton. McLaren were fighting a losing battle from then on. They took a couple of gambles with strategy, neither of which paid off; first starting Alonso on the soft tyres and then switching Hamilton to a three stop strategy.

Alonso will be immensely frustrated after battling hard with the likes of Heidfeld and Fisichella all race long. He managed to get past both at various points in the race, most notably with a stunning move on Quick Nick into the Imola chicane. That will certainly be a contender for pass of the season, but it was all to no avail as Heidfeld managed to get back ahead of the Spaniard in the second round of pit stops. Alonso spent the final portion of the race scrapping with his old teammate Fisichella over sixth place, but Fisichella defended his position expertly, never giving Alonso a real sniff of a chance. Seventh place from tenth on the grid was nowhere near what Alonso would have expected from today, and he has lost yet more ground in his bid to make it a hat trick of WDCs.

We hardly saw him on the race coverage due to him not really being involved in many close battles, but Robert Kubica claimed a superb fourth place on his comeback from his enforced lay-off after his Montreal accident. He didn't put a foot wrong all weekend and managed to outperform team mate Heidfeld on merit for the first time this season. A fantastic performance from him. The other notable points finisher was Jenson Button who finally claimed Honda's first points of the season with an eighth place. Honda will be encouraged by the car's race pace which really wasn't that far away from the Renaults and BMWs. It could signal a much better second half to the season for the Japanese team, though they'd struggle to do much worse than their start to the season!

The other major Japanese manufacturer Toyota are still struggling somewhat. Ralf Schumacher finished tenth, and Jarno Trulli wasn't able to build on his good qualifying showing after he speared into the back of Heikki Kovalainen at the Adelaide hairpin on the first lap, ruining both of their races. Red Bull had a pretty mediocre race coming in twelfth and thirteenth, and they will be worried at the fact they seem to be losing ground compared to the likes of Honda, Williams, and perhaps even Toyota. It could be a very tough second half to the season for them. Wurz brought his Williams home in a fairly poor 14th ahead of Kovalainen limping his damaged Renault home and the customary backmarkers of Super Aguri and Spyker. Both STR cars retired, Speed with gearbox failure and Liuzzi getting punted from behind by Davidson into the first corner. Albers was the other retiree after a bizarre incident in the pits which saw his fuel riggin being ripped from the bowser, luckily not seriously hurting anybody.

So eight races into the season and it's four wins apiece for Ferrari and McLaren, with everything to play for. Today was the first one-two for Ferrari and the first really disappointing result for McLaren, which has closed things up in the title races a great deal. At this rate we could even end up with a four way race for the WDC, something that hasn't been seen for a long while. Here's hoping...

Final Positions

1. Raikkonen
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Heidfeld
6. Fisichella
7. Alonso
8. Button
9. Rosberg
10. Schumacher
11. Barrichello
12. Webber
13. Coulthard
14. Wurz
15. Kovalainen
16. Sato
17. Sutil
ret Speed
ret Albers
ret Davidson
ret Trulli
ret Liuzzi

[ScionDriver]

I'm pumped for the Ferrari resurrgence, Kimi drove one heck of a second stint, especially after Massa's pit in order to take the lead, although it all started by overtaking Hamilton at the start, which no one has done yet. A good race with great results.