2008 French Grand Prix

The 2008 French Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2008 ) [ 1 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 22 June 2008 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours , France . This race would be the last French Grand Prix for a decade, before returning in 2018 at Circuit Paul Ricard . The 70-lap race event, the eighth of the 2008 Formula One World Championship , was won by Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team starting from second position. Kimi Räikkönen , who started from pole position , fi...

Räikkönen and Massa both made a clean start. Renault 's Fernando Alonso , who started third, was overtaken by Trulli and BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica . The front three of Räikkönen, Massa and Trulli maintained their positions through the first round of pit stops . 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 quicke...

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.

The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. [ 4 ] The teams, also known as " constructors ", were Ferrari , McLaren - Mercedes , Renault , Honda , Force India -Ferrari, BMW Sauber , Toyota , Red Bull -Renault, Williams -Toyota and Toro Rosso -Ferrari. [ 4 ] Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought two different tyre compounds to the race; the softer of the two marked by a single white stripe down one of the grooves. [ 5 ]

In recent years, people would say that Canada and Monaco suited McLaren better than Ferrari, while it was the other way round in France and Britain , but I don't think that is really the case this year, as apart from any other factors, we have to consider the BMW team in this equation. This year in Monaco , Ferrari had the whole front row of the grid, even though I think we had more fuel than McLaren and in Canada our race pace was very good too. In other races we have all been very close. [ 7 ]

In March 2007, the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) stated their intention to rest the Magny-Cours circuit from the Formula One world championship for the 2008 season . [ 8 ] Despite this, the race was held in 2008, but the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar for 2009. [ 9 ] The French Grand Prix would not return to the Formula One World Championship calendar until 2018 . [ 10 ]

Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. , 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. [ 15 ] BMW Sauber had taken their first victory at the previous race, but team principal Mario Theissen said that a second win was unlikely at Magny-Cours. [ 16 ]

In technical developments, BMW Sauber , Ferrari , McLaren and Toyota all revised their front wings . [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] 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 . [ 17 ] Ferrari's wing changes aimed at improving the performance of the car's nose hole. [ 18 ] The nose hole, which had been introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix , aimed at creating g...

I am very happy with this result, not just for myself but above all for the team. So far, the weekend is going really well but of course we have yet to tackle the most important part which is the race, where anything could happen. If I was not to win, I would obviously be a bit disappointed, but the most important thing is to finish and bring home the maximum number of points, because we really need them.

Räikkönen clinched Ferrari's 200th pole position and his last until the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix 129 races later, with a time of 1:16.449. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] He was joined on the front row of the grid by teammate Massa. [ 29 ] 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. [ 11 ] [ 29 ] Kovalainen would have started from fif...

At the end of the first lap, Räikkönen led from Massa, Trulli, Alonso, Kubica, Glock and Webber. [ 35 ] On lap five, Hamilton overtook Kovalainen to move into ninth. [ 35 ] 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. [ 35 ] This dropped him to the back of the field. [ 35 ] 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 give...

On lap 20, Trulli and Kubica, then in fourth, pitted. [ 35 ] Over the next two laps, both Räikkönen and Massa pitted. [ 35 ] 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. [ 35 ] Just before half distance, Räikkönen's pace became slower, and Massa behind him caught up, passing his teammate on lap 39. [ 35 ] After the race, Räikkönen explained that his lack of pace was due to his car's right exhaust pipe breaking, causi...

By lap 46, Massa had a 10-second lead over his teammate. [ 35 ] On the same lap, Kubica pitted from fourth, starting the next round of pit stops. [ 35 ] Trulli pitted from third on lap 50, and Räikkönen and Kovalainen two laps later. [ 35 ] 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. [ 35 ] On lap 55, light rain started to fall. [ 34...

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 ...

46°51′51″N 3°09′49″E  /  46.86417°N 3.16361°E  / 46.86417; 3.16361