2008 French GP: Räikkönen's exhaust breaks, Massa wins

Felipe Massa won the 2008 French GP at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Jarno Trulli finished third in the Toyota. Starting from pole position, Räikkönen held a clear lead for much of the race. Then the right-hand exhaust on his car broke, and Massa took the lead from lap 39. The win put the Brazilian at the top of the world championship.

Räikkönen kept the lead at the start, with Massa holding second. Behind them, Trulli and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) got past Fernando Alonso, who had started third on the grid, at the first corner. According to grandprix.com, Alonso immediately took the place back from Kubica.

The lead only changed hands briefly during the pit stops: Massa was ahead from lap 22 to 23, after which Räikkönen led again. grandprix.com and Wikipedia both put the Finn's advantage on lap 30 at 6.6 seconds. Shortly before half distance, however, the right-hand exhaust pipe on Räikkönen's Ferrari broke and the engine lost power. According to Wikipedia, the pipe fell off completely a few laps later. Räikkönen carried on regardless.

Massa closed in lap after lap and took the lead from lap 39. He then extended his advantage: according to grandprix.com, it was already 13.4 seconds on lap 55 and 17.984 seconds at the flag (Wikipedia). Räikkönen took it calmly, with Motorsport Magazine quoting him as saying “Disappointing, of course”. Despite the problem, he set the fastest lap of the race. Light rain began to fall from around lap 55, but it never became heavy enough to affect the race.

The fight for the final podium place was more exciting than the battle for victory. Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren started only tenth. He had impeded Mark Webber in qualifying and was handed a five-place grid penalty as a result. After the pit stops he was running fourth, and he closed up on Trulli in the closing stages.

On one of the final laps, Kovalainen tried to get past Trulli. According to grandprix.com, the two cars touched and the Finn had to run wide at the fast chicane to avoid him. Trulli brought third place home. According to Wikipedia, it was his first podium since the 2005 Spanish GP, and Toyota's first since Australia 2006.

The podium meant a lot to the team. It was the first race since the death of former Toyota team principal Ove Andersson. Trulli said the team had wanted a good result so they could dedicate it to Andersson (Motorsport Magazine).

Lewis Hamilton had a poor weekend. He received a ten-place grid penalty for running into the back of Räikkönen in the pit lane at the Canadian GP and started from 13th. He made rapid progress on the opening lap, but while overtaking Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) he cut the chicane. He was handed a drive-through penalty for it and dropped back to 13th after serving it. Only late in the race did he pass Timo Glock to finish tenth, which was not enough for points (grandprix.com, Wikipedia).

The only retirement was Jenson Button in the Honda. He had made contact with Sébastien Bourdais at the first corner and damaged his front wing. After an unscheduled pit stop, he parked the car after lap 16. The official reason for his retirement was “collision”.

Winners:

• Heikki Kovalainen and Rubens Barrichello gained the most places, six each. Kovalainen went from tenth to fourth, and Barrichello from 20th on the grid to 14th.
• Nelson Piquet Jr. finished seventh to score his first world championship points in Formula 1. He gained the place on the penultimate lap when his Renault teammate Alonso ran wide at the hairpin (grandprix.com, Wikipedia).
• Jarno Trulli brought Toyota back onto the podium after a long wait.

Losers:

• Fernando Alonso lost five places compared with his grid position, more than anyone else. He started third, got away badly and dropped behind Trulli at the first corner. According to grandprix.com, he was the first of the front-runners to pit. In the end he salvaged just one point.
• Kimi Räikkönen lost what had looked like a certain win to a technical failure.
• Lewis Hamilton came away without points after his penalties.

The win moved Massa to the top of the 2008 standings. He had 48 points, two more than Kubica (46). Räikkönen was third on 43 points, while Hamilton dropped to fourth with 38 points. According to Motorsport Magazine, Massa was the first Brazilian to lead the championship since Ayrton Senna in 1993. It was his third win of the season. Massa was also the fourth different championship leader in four races, which shows how open the season was.

In the constructors' standings, the one-two extended Ferrari's lead to 91 points. BMW Sauber had 74 points and McLaren 58.

Statistically, it was a special weekend for Ferrari: according to Wikipedia, Räikkönen's pole was the Scuderia's 200th pole position. But the race also exposed the weakness of the 2008 season: a single failure could wipe out a dominant performance. After his crash in Canada, it was the second race in a row in which Räikkönen lost points through no fault of his own. Massa made the most of the opportunity. After the eighth of 18 races of the season, four drivers were within ten points of each other, and the world championship was wide open. You can find all the results and data from the race on our race page for the 2008 French GP.