2008 French F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: French Grand Prix
Track: Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours

Weather: dry, warm, sunny

Felipe MASSA won his 8th F1 World Championship race at the 2008 French F1 GP, in the last Magny-Cours French Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver started from 2nd on the grid and won at Magny-Cours by 17.984 seconds from teammate Kimi Raikkonen for a Ferrari 1-2. It was the 209th win for the Ferrari F1 team and Massas 3rd win of the season, giving him the championship lead.

Raikkonen pole, Ferrari front-row lockout

Magny-Cours on 22 June 2008 opened with Kimi Raikkonen taking pole with a 1:16.449 lap, Massa second by 0.041 for a Ferrari front-row lockout. Hamilton third but 10-place gridded from Canada crash; he started 13th. Alonso fourth for Renault, Trulli fifth for Toyota. It was the last French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, ending the circuits 18-year F1 run.

Race day: Massa passes Raikkonen for the win

Raikkonen led 36 of the 70 laps but Ferrari swapped positions strategically during the pit-stop cycles. Massa took the lead on lap 39 through the second stops and drove home to a Ferrari 1-2 win by 17.984 seconds. Trulli third for Toyota, Kovalainen fourth for McLaren, Kubica fifth for BMW Sauber, Webber sixth for Red Bull, Piquet Jr seventh for Renault, Alonso eighth. Hamilton could only recover to 10th from his grid penalty. Raikkonen set the fastest lap on lap 16 with a 1:16.630.

Championship: Massa 48, Kubica 46, Raikkonen 43, Hamilton 38

Massa now led the championship with 48 points, Kubica 46, Raikkonen 43, Hamilton 38. Britain in a week would be Hamiltons home race, and he badly needed a strong result.

Classification 2008 French F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	2	FelipeMassa	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	2	70	34	1:31:50.245	10
2	1	KimiRäikkönen	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	1	70	36	1:32:08.229+17.984s	8
3	11	JarnoTrulli	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	4	70		1:32:18.495+28.250s	6
4	23	HeikkiKovalainen	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	10	70		1:32:19.174+28.929s	5
5	4	RobertKubica	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	5	70		1:32:20.757+30.512s	4
6	10	MarkWebber	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	6	70		1:32:30.549+40.304s	3
7	6	NelsonPiquet Jr.	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	9	70		1:32:31.278+41.033s	2
8	5	FernandoAlonso	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	3	70		1:32:33.617+43.372s	1
9	9	DavidCoulthard	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	7	70		1:32:41.266+51.021s
10	22	LewisHamilton	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	13	70		1:32:44.783+54.538s
11	12	TimoGlock	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	8	70		1:32:47.945+57.700s
12	15	SebastianVettel	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR3Ferrari 056	12	70		1:32:48.310+58.065s
13	3	NickHeidfeld	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	11	70		1:32:52.324+1:02.079
14	17	RubensBarrichello	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	20	69		+1 lap
15	8	KazukiNakajima	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	15	69		+1 lap
16	7	NicoRosberg	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	19	69		+1 lap
17	14	SébastienBourdais	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR3Ferrari 056	14	69		+1 lap
18	21	GiancarloFisichella	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	17	69		+1 lap
19	20	AdrianSutil	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	18	69		+1 lap
DNF	16	JensonButton	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	16	16		Collision damage

Fastest lap: 1:16.630 min. by Kimi Raikkonen

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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