2008 Grand Prix of France, Massa Takes Win After Kimi Nurses Car Home to 2nd

Felipe Massa benefited from an exhaust problem for his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen to take victory in the French Grand Prix and move into the world championship lead.

Ferrari’s advantage was such that Raikkonen was able to retain second despite slowing his pace for half the race, while Jarno Trulli held off McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen to claim third and take Toyota’s first podium finish since Melbourne 2006.

Lewis Hamilton was hit with a second penalty when he was awarded a drive-through for cutting the Nurburgring chicane while passing Sebastian Vettel on the first lap. The McLaren driver was only able to recover to 10th.

Raikkonen had looked set for a comfortable victory until his exhaust problem developed. Despite pitting earlier than Massa, he had been able to establish a six-second advantage in the first half of the race.

But then part of the Ferrari’s exhaust system came loose, costing Raikkonen speed and scorching the car’s bodywork. As his lap times rose, the Finn had to hand the lead to Massa on lap 38, allowing the Brazilian to charge away and secure his third win of the year.

Trulli had jumped to third at the start and resisted race-long pressure from various pursuers to cling on to the podium place… (read full race report here)

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h31:50.245
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    17.984
 3.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    28.250
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    28.929
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    30.512
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    40.304
 7.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +    41.033
 8.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    43.372
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    51.021
10.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    54.538
11.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    57.700
12.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    58.065
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:02.079
14.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:16.630

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Button        Honda                 (B)    17

Well, how about that? It seems we’ll have to wait another 2 weeks to try and get things back to running smoothly for Kimi. He had a great start to the race, pulling nicely ahead of the field with Felipe and was undoubtedly strong to take the victory he was so hungry for. Felipe kept close but not close enough and his only chance for taking Kimi to a challenge was when our Finn’s exhaust overheated and began causing a problem, burning a hole around the bodywork. Kimi lost loads of time and Massa caught him up easily within 2 laps. For Ferrari, they are relieved that it was Massa and no one else to benefit from Kimi’s situation and they still managed to score a 1-2 victory. Kimi did a brilliant job nursing the car home to the finish line and he even kept his pace up with Massa. No one managed to beat Kimi’s fastest lap time, so that makes 5 consecutive fastest lap records for Kimi this season! Yay! And another yay for Toyota and Trulli taking a sweet 3rd place.

The main story over here in Britain though was Lewis Hamilton’s dilemma starting from 13th on the grid. It didn’t seem so bad at first and everyone felt confident, including himself, that he could get some points finishing. He jumped up to 10th with Kovalainen ahead but Lewis still showed some ‘noobish’ aggression from last year. He overtook on a difficult spot through the Nurburgring chicane when he really should have waited for a safer part of the circuit, but instead he let pushing too hard get to him as he cut the chicane, which the FIA felt he had gained an advantage. It was a controversial decision as Ron Dennis felt Lewis hadn’t, and that he had already successfully passed Vettel before running off. My personal opinion was also of Ron Dennis’s until I saw the replay again. Lewis clearly knew it would be too fast and late to pass before going through the chicane. Kovalainen did the same thing through that corner later during the race when trying to catch Trulli for 3rd place, and he also ran wide and cut through it although he didn’t pass Trulli. Lewis did pull one or two nice moves though, throughout his race until the end. Kovalainen did a stellar job though, making the most of his strategy and to be honest, he was the better McLaren driver today and the credit of 5 points is well deserved to him. They have plenty of work to do for Silverstone though!

The race would have been, again, another dull spectacle if the McLarens hadn’t started lower down the grid. They gave the only entertainment of the afternoon, along with some racing between Alonso, Trulli and Kubica at the first few laps. From then, it went quiet until the later stage of the race when everyone gave their final push. No accidents apart from Button having a front wing issue and Kimi having his exhaust flying off into the air eventually. Here’s a selection quote from the press conference that I found interesting:

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto Moto und Sport) Kimi, when the problem
started, you had lap times of high 1m19s and 1m20s and then you dropped
down later on to 1m18s. What did you change in your driving style to
drive that fast with your problem?

KR: Basically the problem kept changing. Sometimes it was a
little bit worse, sometimes a bit better. It really depended on how the
engine behaved. Luckily enough, after a few laps it started to work a
little bit better and then in the end it got really worse again and it
almost stopped, but we made it to the finish and that was the main
thing.

Pretty modest or just telling it how it was? For 30 laps, surely he must have been working harder than usual to look after the engine. I bet if it was Lewis speaking, he’d be bragging about it being one of his skills and blah blah blah. You can read all the rest of the drivers’ thoughts in the press conference transcript here which includes extra press questions, or watch the videos further below.

Silverstone is next and what can we expect there? An even faster Kimi that’s for sure. It’s just emerged that Kimi is likely to have a new engine for the next race, but he won’t get penalised for an engine change because it’s his first of the season and it’s exempt from a grid penalty. Although it’s not for sure yet that he will have to change it, there’s more unfinished business to take care of now! He’s worked really hard to overcome the past few mediocre races after winning at Spain, so keep up the good work and keep flying Kimi~

| Race Quotes – Kimi Disappointed But Remains Philosophical

"It was disappointing in the end. We had a good car all weekend. I was on pole and leading quite easily and then I had problem with the car," said Raikkonen.

"That happens sometimes. We were still lucky to finish the race and score eight points.

"On the last couple of laps the car almost stopped a few times. So even if it’s disappointing not to win I still took eight points… and I’m in a more confident position (in the championship). A great the result for the team, just an unlucky situation."

"We car was slow in the straight line and out of the low-speed corners so it was difficult," he said. "But luckily we were fast enough in the beginning to go away from the others, and we had a big enough gap.

"Two more laps and we would have not finished the race. As I said it’s disappointing but still eight points is good for the championship and good for the team."

"It was like having traction control. I didn’t have power out of corners so it didn’t really affect me at all."

Ferrari Team Quotes

Felipe Massa – 1st: "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…"

Kimi Raikkonen – 2nd: "Obviously I am a bit
disappointed because I had hoped to win. Unfortunately, the right
exhaust pipe broke just before half-distance and the engine lost a lot
of power, especially on the straight after the slow corners. After a
few laps, the situation seemed better, but towards the end of the race,
I ran the risk of stopping. This sort of thing can happen in racing and
I have to try and look on the bright side: eight points are still a
good amount and the one-two finish is a great result for the team.

"Luckily, I had built up quite a good lead in the first part thanks
to a car that was really very competitive. The F2008 is definitely very
strong because usually, when you have this sort of problem, retirement
is almost inevitable. There is still a long way to go in the
championship and I am in a better position than I was at this stage
last year: let’s see what I can do in the next part of the series."

Stefano Domenicali: "A really great result that
came at the end of a very tough race. We had started with the aim of
securing the double and we managed it, despite the exhaust problem that
put Kimi’s race in danger around lap 35. It proves we have all the
potential to do very well, but it also confirms that we cannot allow
ourselves not to be perfect in every detail, especially on the
reliability front.

"I am very sorry for Kimi, who was going really well today and did a
really good job to get the car to the line in these conditions. Now we
will have to check on the condition of the engine on his car and
evaluate what should be done for the race at Silverstone. I am very
happy for Felipe, who drove majestically, without putting a foot wrong.
It is the first time in his career that he leads the world championship
and I am sure that is a great satisfaction for him…"

| Race Videos – The Start, Kimi’s Exhaust Problem & Massa Takes Lead, Finish, Press Conference
      http://www.viddler.com/simple/23f45534/       http://www.viddler.com/simple/5b15de5/       http://www.viddler.com/simple/6602c6cc/

      http://www.viddler.com/simple/d48f927/