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Ferrari dominates the French Grand Prix with a one-two win

Anass Salama

Once again, Ferrari has outpaced everyone with an impressive win at Magny-Cours as its drivers claimed the top two spots right from the start until the very end, without giving any of them up for as much as a second.

After two races out of the points, Kimi Raikkonen dominated the first half of the race, but by lap 36 he started to suffer from exhaust problems that slowed him down by about a second each lap, until he eventually let Massa by on lap 39.

The Brazilian started to pull away instantly, finishing the race in first position, 17.9 seconds from the Finn, and by this Massa moved to the top of the championship for the first time this season.

The actual competition was on P3, as the next 3 drivers finished within 2 seconds of each other, but stunning Jarno Trulli was able to grab and hold on to P3, claiming his first podium since 2005, which is Toyota's first since 2006.

After gaining only one point in the past few races, Kovalainen was able to come back with a solid performance to finish in 4th position.

“Given yesterday’s grid penalty, this was a very good result", he said after the race, after starting from 10th on the grid.

The championship leader failed to repeat his Canadian glory, as he came home 5th, two points away now from Ferrari's current drivers' champion Felipe Massa.

Red Bull's Mark Webber once again came in front of his teammate, finishing 6th as Coulthard failed to gain any points, finishing 9th.

In the final point-winning positions came the Renault drivers, it was finally Piquet's turn to come in front and win the first 2 points of his formula 1 career as he finished 7th, with his teammate Fernando Alonso just 2.3 seconds behind him in P8.

The biggest loser on Sunday was of course Lewis Hamilton, who started 13th on the grid due to a penalty, and suffered from a drive-through penalty in the middle of the race as he straight-lined Turn 7 overtaking Vettel.

The McLaren driver finished 10th, but probably the only consolation for him might have been passing his former teammate Alonso twice during the same race in laps 20 & 48!

With the French Grand Prix over, no changes have been done to the Constructors' standings, but Ferrari extended its lead to the championship to 17 points from BMW, with McLaren 16 points behind.

Toyota's performance meant they are now only a point away from Red Bull in 4th position, and behind them came Toyota-Williams who are finally challenged by Renault, with only 3 points separating them after Sunday's race.