The 2008 French Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2008)
was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor race held on 22 June 2008 at the
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is a motor racing circuit located in central France, near the towns of Magny-Cours and Nevers, some from Paris and from Lyon.
It staged the Formula One French Grand Prix from 1991 (succeeding Circuit Paul Ricard ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. This race would be the last French Grand Prix for a decade, before returning in
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
at
Circuit Paul Ricard
The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ho ...
. The 70-lap race event, the eighth of the
2008 Formula One World Championship
The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 62nd season of Formula One motor racing, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition ...
, was won by
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
for the
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
team starting from second position.
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...
, who started from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
, finished second in the other Ferrari car;
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
was third in a
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
.
Räikkönen and Massa both made a clean start.
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
's
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
, who started third, was overtaken by Trulli and
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Formula Two regulations), before building th ...
driver
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Poles, Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW in ...
. The front three of Räikkönen, Massa and Trulli maintained their positions through the first round of
pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...
s. On lap 30, Räikkönen led Massa by six and a half seconds, and Trulli by 30 seconds. Just before half distance, Räikkönen's right exhaust pipe broke, which caused the engine to lose power. Massa, in second place, began lapping quicker than Räikkönen, and he caught and passed him on lap 39. Massa maintained his lead through the second round of pit stops, and won the race; Räikkönen finished almost 18 seconds behind. Trulli fended off
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
's
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
, who challenged him in the latter stages, to take third.
Massa's win promoted him into the lead of the
Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career, overtaking Kubica. Kubica was second, two points behind Massa, while Räikkönen was third. In the
Constructors' Championship, Ferrari increased their lead to 17 points ahead of BMW Sauber, McLaren a further 16 points behind in third.
Background
The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two.
The teams, also known as "
constructors", were
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
,
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
-
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
,
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
-Ferrari,
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Formula Two regulations), before building th ...
,
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
-Renault,
Williams-Toyota and
Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red ...
-Ferrari.
Tyre supplier
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...
brought two different tyre compounds to the race; the softer of the two marked by a single white stripe down one of the grooves.
Before the race,
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Poles, Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW in ...
of BMW led the
Drivers' Championship, with 42
points
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
, ahead of McLaren's
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
and Ferrari's
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
, who each had 38 points. Massa's teammate
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...
was fourth, ahead of Kubica's teammate
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver.
Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...
in fifth. In the
Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading with 73 points; three points ahead of BMW Sauber with 70 points; McLaren were a further 17 points behind them in third.
Ferrari came into the race with a long series of success at the track, having won seven of the last ten races held at Magny-Cours.
In
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
, Ferrari had taken a
one-two One-two, 1-2, 1 & 2 or 1+2 may refer to:
Sports
* Push and run, in association football
* One-two combo, in boxing
Music
* ''One, Two'', album by Sister Nancy
* ''1 + 2'' (album), album by Recoil
* ''Volumes 1 & 2'' (The Desert Sessions album) ...
, Räikkönen ahead of Massa.
Massa said that it was important not to discount McLaren and BMW:
In March 2007, the ''
Fédération Française du Sport Automobile
French Federation of Automobile Sport (french: Fédération Française du Sport Automobile, FFSA), founded in 1952, is one of the National Sports Associations affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), with the aim of orga ...
'' (FFSA) stated their intention to rest the Magny-Cours circuit from the Formula One world championship for the
2008 season. Despite this, the race was held in 2008, but the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar for 2009. The French Grand Prix would not return to the Formula One World Championship calendar until
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
.
At the previous race in Canada, Hamilton had crashed into Räikkönen in the pit lane, when Raikkönën braked to stop in front of the red light at the end of the pit lane. Williams driver
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
then collided into the back of Hamilton.
Hamilton later said that he saw the light too late and could not avoid hitting the Ferrari.
Hamilton and Rosberg were both given ten place grid penalties for the French Grand Prix, meaning that whatever their qualifying position, they could start no better than 11th.
After the penalty was given, McLaren's CEO,
Martin Whitmarsh
Martin Richard Whitmarsh (born 29 April 1958) is a British businessman and Group CEO of the Aston Martin Performance Technologies team since 21 September 2021.
Whitmarsh is best known to motorsport insiders, media and fans for his long and succ ...
, said that he thought the penalty was "severe", citing a similar incident at
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
where Raikkönën had crashed into the back of
Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
's
Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also t ...
.
There, no penalty had been given.
However, Rosberg said that the penalties from Canada were "deserved". When Hamilton was asked whether the penalty would force him to change his approach, Hamilton said that "it doesn't really. It's a race, I'm here to win and so I approach it the same."
"It's going to be harder," he added, "coming from the back, but I don't have any doubts or any worries, I think we're going to have a very strong package this weekend, and I think the car will be as good if not better than it was in the last race. With that pace, as long as we stay out of trouble we should be able to score some good points."
Renault driver
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Nelson Angelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian stock car racing driver and former Formula One and Formula E driver where he was champion in the 2014–15 seaso ...
, who was in his first year in Formula One and had scored no points prior to this race, said that he thought that the track suited him and the car much better than previous races. BMW Sauber had taken their first victory at the previous race, but team principal
Mario Theissen
Mario Theissen (born 17 August 1952 in Monschau, Germany) is the former BMW Motorsport Director and was team principal of BMW Sauber, the company's Formula One team from 2005 until 2009, when BMW sold the team back to Peter Sauber.
After graduati ...
said that a second win was unlikely at Magny-Cours.
In technical developments,
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Formula Two regulations), before building th ...
,
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
,
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
all revised their
front wings.
BMW brought both their new wing as well as the version they had used for the previous race to Magny-Cours, but decided to use the revised wing, as it offered better levels of
downforce
Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more grip. ...
.
Ferrari's wing changes aimed at improving the performance of the car's nose hole.
The nose hole, which had been introduced at the , aimed at creating greater levels of downforce, by channelling the airflow. Williams changed their front sidepod winglets. At the previous race, Red Bull modified their
RB4's bridge wing to prevent it from flexing, to comply with the latest rule clarifications.
For Magny-Cours, the team revised the central section of this element, with the aim of generating greater downforce levels.
Practice
![Robert Kubica 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Robert_Kubica_2008_France.jpg)
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and a third on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour.
In the first practice session, which was held in dry conditions, Ferrari's Felipe Massa was quickest, ahead of the McLarens of Hamilton and Kovalainen in second and third.
Massa's teammate, Räikkönen, was fourth quickest.
The afternoon session, which was held in very hot conditions, saw Renault's
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
record the fastest lap, ahead of the two Ferrari drivers.
The hot weather conditions posed several problems for the drivers, as many of the cars ran off the road, sliding through the gravel or across the asphalt.
At the end of the session, a new system—designed to limit the cars' speeds in potentially hazardous situations—was tested.
In the third practice session, again held in dry conditions, Renault continued their strong practice performance with Piquet leading the final practice session.
Red Bull's
Mark Webber was next quickest while
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
of Toro Rosso was third.
As was the pattern for the season, the McLaren and Ferrari drivers ran heavier fuel loads in this session in preparation for the final section of qualifying.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. In the first 20-minute period, cars finishing 16th or lower were eliminated. The second qualifying period lasted for 15 minutes, at the end of which the fastest ten cars went into the final period, to determine their grid positions for the race. Cars failing to make the final period were allowed to be refuelled before the race but those competing in it were not, and so carried more fuel than they had done in the earlier qualifying sessions.
Räikkönen clinched Ferrari's 200th
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
and his last until the
2017 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 May 2017 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the Principality of Monaco. It was the sixth ...
129 races later, with a time of 1:16.449.
He was joined on the front row of the grid by teammate Massa.
This would later prove to be Ferrari's last front-row lockout until the
2017 Russian Grand Prix. Alonso qualified third after Hamilton's penalty moved the quicker McLaren driver to 13th; Toyota's Jarno Trulli qualified fourth.
Kovalainen would have started from fifth, but was given a five-place grid penalty for blocking Webber during qualifying and would start from 10th on the grid.
Kubica, Webber,
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...
,
Timo Glock
Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He raced in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers' Championship in both ...
and Piquet rounded off the top ten.
Heidfeld qualified 11th, with Vettel ahead of Hamilton in 12th, and Bourdais behind in 14th.
Rosberg was next quickest, but after his penalty demoted him to the back of the grid his teammate
Kazuki Nakajima
is a retired Japanese professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Williams-Toyota team from to . In 2012 and 2014, he won the Super Formula Championship driving for TOM'S. Racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, he won the 2018, 2019 an ...
took his place.
The final four places went to the Honda and Force India teams, with Button qualifying ahead of Barrichello, Fisichella and Sutil.
Barrichello, however, was given a penalty for changing his gearbox, meaning that he started 20th on the grid, one place behind Rosberg.
Qualifying classification
* –
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
and
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
docked ten places on the grid for the race after causing a collision with
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...
in the previous round, the .
* –
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
docked five places for blocking
Mark Webber in qualifying.
* –
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 Toy ...
penalised five places on the grid for gearbox change.
Race
The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, although the sky was overcast; weather forecasts predicted rain near the end of the race.
Most of the frontrunners began the race on the harder compound tyre. Rain that had fallen earlier that morning had removed some of the rubber on the track, meaning that
graining
Graining is the practice of imitating wood grain on a non-wood surface, or on relatively undesirable wood surface, in order to give it the appearance of a rare or higher quality wood, thereby increase that surface's aesthetic appeal. Graining was ...
, when small grains of rubber come off a tyre, was likely to be a problem; out of the two tyre types, the harder would better cope with this.
Räikkönen made a good start, retaining his first position; Massa behind him maintained his second place.
Alonso, who started third, was passed by both Trulli and Kubica, but re-passed Kubica at the hairpin turn exit.
Glock also made a good start, taking sixth after passing Webber.
Going into the first corner, Button touched Bourdais, resulting in damage to the Honda's front wing.
Hamilton, who started 13th, passed several drivers to move into 10th by the end of lap one.
![Felipe Massa 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Felipe_Massa_2008_France.jpg)
At the end of the first lap, Räikkönen led from Massa, Trulli, Alonso, Kubica, Glock and Webber.
On lap five, Hamilton overtook Kovalainen to move into ninth.
On the same lap, Button was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop, due to the damage he had sustained in his first corner incident with Bourdais.
This dropped him to the back of the field.
By the end of lap 10, Räikkönen led Massa by 3.2 seconds, Trulli a further 8.5 seconds behind. On lap 13, Hamilton was given a
drive-through penalty for cutting the corner of Turn Seven on lap one, and gaining an advantage.
He took the penalty immediately, and re-emerged in 13th position.
Over the next few laps, the Ferrari drivers continued to pull out a gap on Trulli in third, lapping at around a second per lap quicker than the Toyota.
On lap 16, Räikkönen set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:16.630, stretching his lead over his teammate.
Further back, Alonso, who had been running fourth, made the first scheduled pit stop, resuming 12th. Button was lapped by several drivers, due to the damage his car had sustained in his first corner incident with Bourdais, and eventually retired on lap 17.
![Kimi Raikkonen 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Kimi_Raikkonen_2008_France.jpg)
On lap 20, Trulli and Kubica, then in fourth, pitted.
Over the next two laps, both Räikkönen and Massa pitted.
By lap 30, Räikkönen had opened his lead to 6.6 seconds over Massa, while Trulli was over half a minute behind him in third.
Just before half distance, Räikkönen's pace became slower, and Massa behind him caught up, passing his teammate on lap 39.
After the race, Räikkönen explained that his lack of pace was due to his car's right exhaust pipe breaking, causing the engine to lose power.
Further back, Kovalainen, who was running seventh, passed Webber to take sixth.
By lap 46, Massa had a 10-second lead over his teammate.
On the same lap, Kubica pitted from fourth, starting the next round of pit stops.
Trulli pitted from third on lap 50, and Räikkönen and Kovalainen two laps later.
Massa pitted on lap 54, and emerged 13.4 seconds ahead of Räikkönen. Trulli kept his third position, but Kovalainen, who made up several places through the pit stops to move to fourth, was closing behind him.
On lap 55, light rain started to fall.
Although it would continue to rain lightly for the next few laps, it was never heavy enough to be a problem to the drivers.
By lap 58, Kovalainen was right behind Trulli.
A few laps later, the exhaust pipe which had broken earlier on Räikkönen's car came off completely, but Räikkönen continued to race with similar lap times.
Kovalainen, meanwhile, continued to try to find a way past Trulli.
One lap before the end of the race, Kovalainen attempted to pass Trulli, but ran wide as Trulli defended his position.
Massa crossed the line to win the race, with Räikkönen nearly eighteen seconds behind.
Trulli retained third, and took his first podium since the
2005 Spanish Grand Prix
The 2005 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio Marlboro de España 2005) was a Formula One motor race, held on 8 May 2005 at Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain.
Report Background
The BAR-Honda did not take part in this ...
,
and Toyota's first podium since the
2006 Australian Grand Prix
The 2006 Australian Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne on 2 April 2006. The 57-lap race was the 22nd Australia ...
.
Kovalainen finished fourth, ahead of Kubica, Webber and Piquet, who took his first ever points in Formula One.
Alonso, Coulthard, Hamilton, Glock, Vettel, Heidfeld and the lapped Barrichello, Nakajima, Rosberg, Bourdais, Fisichella and Sutil were the last of the finishing drivers.
Post-race
![Jarno Trulli 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Jarno_Trulli_2008_France.jpg)
Massa was delighted with his race victory, saying, "A great race, a fantastic result. The win came my way because
Kimi had a problem with his car and at the pace he was running, it would have been hard for me to beat him on the track. I would have been happy with second place but of course, the win makes me even happier."
After the race, Räikkönen said,
Trulli said, "Today was a great race, hard and tough. We had a good pace, even if we had to battle with some cars that were quicker than us. I had to fight really hard but that is what people should expect both from myself and from Toyota."
Hamilton commented on his drive-through penalty: "My drive-through penalty was an extremely close call: I felt I'd got past Vettel fairly and was ahead going into the corner. But I was on the outside and couldn't turn-in in case we both crashed, then I lost the back-end and drove over the kerb."
![Nelson Piquet 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Nelson_Piquet_2008_France.jpg)
After BMW Sauber's victory at the previous race, their director, Mario Theissen, said that "over the entire weekend here our package did not work perfectly", while driver Heidfeld said that it was a "disappointing result".
Alonso said that he felt disappointed after his poor start to the race.
Red Bull's director,
Christian Horner
Christian Edward Johnston Horner (born 16 November 1973) is a British former racing driver and current Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, a position he has held since 2005, winning eleven world titles (five World Constructors' Ch ...
, said that their problems lay in the bad starts their drivers had made.
Button, who retired during the race, commented on his collision: "I got a good start and was alongside Bourdais. I thought he was going to turn in at turn one and close the door so I pulled in behind him and then unfortunately hit him in the rear as everything slowed down for the corner. I could feel that there was something broken at the front of the car as there was an air coming in from the front, but the car was driveable and I was staying with the back of the pack so I continued. We replaced the nose but the bargeboards had been pulled off and the car had become undriveable so I had to retire."
Piquet scored his first points in Formula One in the race, having failed to score up to that point.
He said that he was happy, and hoped that the team could "continue like this for the rest of the season".
![Heikki Kovalainen 2008 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Heikki_Kovalainen_2008_France.jpg)
After the race, Massa moved into the lead of the Drivers' Championship, on 48 points, taking the Championship lead for the first time in his Formula One career.
Kubica lost the lead of the Drivers' Championship, falling two points behind Massa.
Räikkönen moved ahead of Hamilton, on 43 points, while Hamilton was five points further behind. Heidfeld remained fifth.
[ Before the race, Ferrari had been just three points ahead of BMW in the Constructors' Championship; after the race, Ferrari moved into a comfortable 17 point advantage. McLaren made up one point on BMW, although they were still 16 points behind.][
]
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
* 2008 Magny-Cours GP2 Series round
References
External links
Official FIA results
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French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...
French Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...