2007 Formula 1 French Grand Prix

[Jack_Bauer]

After a hard week of testing and development the Formula 1 teams got their first chance to see how much progress they had made in today's two practice sessions for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. And this first day brought promising news for the Scuderia Ferrari, with both cars topping the timesheets in both of the sessions, leaving the McLarens trailing in their wake.

It was a slightly troubled day in general for McLaren with Lewis Hamilton's car breaking down on track in the first session and Fernando Alonso finishing a lowly 8th in the second. We'll have to wait until tomorrow's qualifying to see how much Ferrari have really closed the gap, but the signs are promising for a Ferrari recovery, which is certainly good news for the neutral fan in terms of the championships. McLaren had been threatening to run away with both titles this year, but it seems that Ferrari are not willing to go down without a fight.

The other big news of today's session was a stunning showing from Toro Rosso in the second session, finishing 3rd and 5th behind the Ferraris and split by Hamilton's McLaren. Today also saw the return to action of BMW's Robert Kubica after his spectacular accident in Montreal three weeks ago. Sebastian Vettel was demoted back to his usual reserve driver role after his strong debut performance in Indianapolis, but his time will surely come.

Practice One

01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.382 22 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.447 22 laps
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:16.154 19 laps
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.214 24 laps
05 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:16.268 24 laps
06 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:16.277 20 laps
07 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.338 25 laps
08 A. Wurz Williams 1:16.407 23 laps
09 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.441 19 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.603 26 laps
11 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.895 32 laps
12 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:16.967 22 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.990 25 laps
14 J. Button Honda 1:17.047 24 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.103 33 laps
16 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:17.166 26 laps
17 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:17.168 26 laps
18 G. Fisichella Renault 1:17.226 20 laps
19 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:17.348 21 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.435 26 laps
21 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:18.178 28 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:18.419 15 laps

Practice Two

01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.453 38 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.488 28 laps
03 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.773 21 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.780 36 laps
05 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.952 40 laps
06 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:15.958 36 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.003 39 laps
08 F. Alonso McLaren 1:16.049 32 laps
09 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:16.162 25 laps
10 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:16.184 41 laps
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:16.205 43 laps
12 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.236 42 laps
13 A. Wurz Williams 1:16.260 38 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.285 46 laps
15 J. Button Honda 1:16.395 43 laps
16 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.562 17 laps
17 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:16.735 40 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.950 47 laps
19 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.968 18 laps
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:17.165 49 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:18.213 32 laps
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:18.708 9 laps

[Jack_Bauer]

Ferrari bounced back from their disappointing North American leg with a pole position for Felipe Massa at Magny-Cours as Alonso and McLaren struggled. The grid sees the two Ferraris split by Lewis Hamilton's McLaren in the top three with Robert Kubica making an excellent comeback from injury with a spot on the second row.

However, the big story of the day was the reliability nightmare for Fernando Alonso as his McLaren's gearbox gave out on the first lap of Q3. Rotten luck for Alonso, and really the first indication of a chink in the McLaren car's armour. He will start from a lowly tenth place on the grid and his hopes of a victory will surely have faded completely. Tomorrow's race will be a damage limitation exercise for the world champion.

Renault put in an encouraging performance in front of their home crowd by locking out the third row with Fisichella pipping Kovalainen. Trulli and Rosberg again easily outperformed their struggling teammates to come 8th and 9th. Honda will be slightly heartened to have seemingly leapfrogged the Red Bulls in terms of pace with Button 12th and Barrichello 13th, both just behind Schumacher's Toyota. Rows 8 and 9 are an all Red Bull affair, row 10 is all Super Aguri, and the back row is formation flying from the two Spykers as per usual.

Tomorrow's race should be a fascinating one with Hamilton left to duel it out alone with the two Ferraris at the front of the grid. The interesting test will be to see who is carrying the most fuel. Raikkonen looks to be the heavier of the two Ferraris. If he can squeeze past Hamilton from the start then it could potentially ruin Hamilton's race and let Massa open up a lead out front. The other point of interest will be to see how many cars Fernando Alonso can get past throughout the race. He needs to fight for every last point if he wants to keep in title contention so he will be pushing mighty hard, hoping at least to get in amongst the Renaults.

Qualifying Results

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

[Vaigra]

Is Alonso definately starting from 10th position then? I thought they might have to change the engine for the race, dropping him to 20th position.

[Ferrer]

Is Alonso definately starting from 10th position then? I thought they might have to change the engine for the race, dropping him to 20th position.
I also thought the same, but if it's a problem with the gearbox there's no need to change the gearbox, is it?

[Cotterik]

i have a feeling massa will win this one, but hamilton will still be going strong at the top of the championship.

[jorismo]

If there was a problem with the gearbox how could there get any smoke to the tunnel above his head? (I have no idea how that part is called)... At least, I have never seen smoke comming out of there due to a gearbox problem. But since I'm not that technical I could be completely wrong about it, so please forgive me if I'm wrong on this...

I wouldn't be surprised of McLaren brings a statement out tonight saying that they did have to change the engine and that Alonso starts out of the pit tomorrow...

[Jack_Bauer]

It was reported over the radio to Hamilton that they thought Alonso had an engine problem. But afterwards Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren engineer) spoke to British TV and said it was a gearbox issue, not engine.

[Coventrysucks]

It was reported over the radio to Hamilton that they thought Alonso had an engine problem. But afterwards Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren engineer) spoke to British TV and said it was a gearbox issue, not engine.

Did Whitmarsh have a dent in his forehead roughly the same size as Norbert Haug's thumb?

[Cyco]

Hamilton beaten off the line by both Ferraris and then 1st into the pits... Lets see if he can get passed the BMWs

[jorismo]

OMG! ... Albers drove out the pitlane with the entire fuel installation... What an idiot...

[Jack_Bauer]

OMG! ... Albers drove out the pitlane with the entire fuel installation... What an idiot...
Not Albers' fault at all. It was the fault of the lollipop man at the front that he was let go too soon.

Absolutely incredible move by Alonso in the high-speed chicane!

[Cyco]

The lollipop man didn't clear him - just flipped it.

Alonso's move was impressive though, he hasn't been stuffing around getting through traffic. Hamilton seems to be back to his slow middle stints that he had at the start of the season. Impressive to see him battle with Kubica out of the pits on cold tyres though

[Cyco]

Albers just said it was his fault on Dutch TV

[jorismo]

Albers just said it was his fault on Dutch TV

Since when do you speak Dutch? :p

Just kidding, he did say so indeed...

[Cyco]

Alonso seems to think the track isn't wide enough in several place...

[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.