Massa leads a Ferrari 1-2 in France

A strong Ferrari 1-2 saw the end of the French connection this season. Half way into the 2008 season, Ferrari seems to be unbeatable leading the constructors’ championship. Last year round it was here that Kimi started his fight back to go on & win the 07 Drivers’ Championship.

The Mangy Cours circuit at Nevers, France which has been a Ferrari stronghold since long saw a strong performance from both their drivers. Both the drivers put a very strong performance to take home another all Ferrari first row in qualifying & victory.

Kimi outpaced his teammate to take pole. First stint saw Kimi go in & come out of pitas as the race leader. But it was not to be so for long. After he had built up a lead of around 10 seconds on his teammate, there was a mechanical failure on his car half way thru the race. The exhaust pipe broke loose &started flapping thus reducing the balance of the car. Massa gained close to a second every lap to take race control from then on. At the end of the race, Kimi’s car had a hole burned near the engine on the chassis. It was a totally dejected Kimi on the podium.

Lewis put in a strong performance recording a 3^rd fastest time which effectively meant he started 13^th on the starting grid courtesy the 10 place penalty handed to him in Canada. If you think this was all then hold your horses he had to face another penalty during the race which effectively meant he had no chance of a points finish. He was handed a drive thru penalty for straight lining the chicane and going one position up in the 4^th lap. Lewis battled all day, first behind the Renaults & battling thru the field to finish 10^th on the grid.

The French GP this year saw a huge number of penalties being handed to drivers. First it was Lewis & Nico being given the 10 place penalty for their incident in Canada. Hekki faced a 5 place penalty for impeding Mark Webber during Q3 of qualifying. Rubens had to change his gearbox the morning of the race which meant he also was handed a 5 place penalty.

The French race this season this year saw just one retirement & in those terms it was one of the most boring races of the season. Except for some spirited driving by Hekki to take home as many points as possible & an equally determined race by Trulli to defend his third position till the end rest was nothing much to write home about.

There was a small incident when the Honda car of Button clipped the back of Bourdais. This caused damage in the nose & even after replacement of nose, Button seemed to struggle a lot. This forced his retirement. His teammate who got penalized for a gearbox change managed to end the race in 14^th just ahead of Heidfeld. After a 1-2 finish in Canada the BMWs were not as strong as they were expected to be in Nevers circuit. Heidfeld struggled all weekend long in his BMW ending his race in 13^th. His teammate who now has a clear chance of taking the Drivers’ Championship also struggled despite finishing in 5^th just behind Trulli & Hekki.

Hekki can again feel he was undone a bit by circumstances. It was all about being in the wrong place at the wrong time for the Finn. Just when he was on his cool down lap he found himself in the last place he wanted to be. He was caught behind Williams car of Kazuki Nakajima & behind him was Mark Webber setting a qualifying lap. This resulted in spoiling Mark’s timing in the dying moments of the qualifying session. Despite the fact that he managed to anchor his car in order to let Webber go the damage was done. This happens to be the second time Hekki was involved in this sort of incident this year. Ron Dennis quoted this as a positional confusion.

The Toyotas seem to have turned a new leaf with Trulli & Timo doing well in qualifying to manage a 4^th & 8^th respectively. While Trulli stole the 3^rd position from a determined Alonso to defend it aggressively till the end, his teammate had to race Lewis for quite a while & then Vettel for track positions. Timo seems to have settled more so well in the Toyota team now.

Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault team car out raced & out qualified his teammate DC to bring home a very well deserved 6^th. DC managed to stay ahead of his fellow Brit Lewis in McLaren. A very good show from the RBR Renault team, in front the home crowd of their engine suppliers Renault. So good a performance that they out paced the home team! The home team did not disappoint the crowd either, both the Renault cars finishing in points for the first time.

Alonso was for the first time outpaced by his teammate Nelson who was ever so determined to do well. He drove a very hard fought race fending off Lewis for some time & then racing his senior & Renault’s No. 1 driver Alonso. At the Adelaide hair pin, with a lap or so to go, Alonso went too far taking the outside line this gave Nelson a sniff of a chance & that was all he needed. Nelson grabbed the opportunity with both hands & finished ahead scoring his first points of the season.

The Williams team had a forgettable weekend. Despite both drivers finishing the race, no points were scored. Only consolation would be that of Nakajima out pacing & out qualifying his team mate Nico. Nico needs to pull up his socks & do well the next race.

The Force India cars were having a bad weekend. The handlings of the car being a reason of complain with both the drivers. Fisi had a terrible accident in this circuit back in 2002 & he still admits that memories of the race still scare him.

The STR Ferraris of Vettel & Bourdais started 12^th & 14^th on the grid. Vettel managed to keep his position on track while Bourdais slipped a further 3 places.

At the end of the French GP the Drivers’ Championship has a new driver on top in form of Massa. Massa becomes the second driver after legendary Senna to lead the Drivers’ Championship. 4 races 4 different drivers on top what more could spice up the race?

Massa leads Kubica by 2 points with Kimi trailing a further 3 points. Ferrari seems to have the Constructors’ Championship in the bag with a 17 point lead over BMW.

The next race is in Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain in 15 days time. But, before the race the teams get to do a testing in Silverstone this week.

So stage is all set for a Royal Battle.

Till then & now… Drive safely.