It was more like winners and snoozers at Magny-Cours. Typical that even the arrival of rain didn't liven things up.
It was more like winners and snoozers at Magny Cours. Typical of the home of F1 boredom that even the arrival of rain was boring and didn't liven things up.
Andrew Davies looks back at who enjoyed a successful French Grand Prix and which teams suffered a miserable weekend.
Star of the Race - Kimi Raikkonen
Raikkonen was clearly the better Ferrari driver on an afternoon when he fiddled with a lot of steering wheel buttons to keep his car dialled in. Until the exhaust started to drop off he was well in command of the race. Even afterwards he kept up a heroic pace. On Lap 47 he even managed a sensational 1:17.894 when almost everyone else was doing mid 1:18 laps. And a lot of the credit must go to Chris Dyer and the rest of the Ferrari crew who built (and maintained) such a solid lump of machinery. It is the measure of Ferrari's superiority at Magny Cours that even with an ailing car they can score an easy 1-2. Forza i meccanici del Maranello!
Overtaking move - Lewis Hamilton on Fernando Alonso
Lewis was light on fuel and Fernando was relatively heavy but at Magny Cours it is still very difficult to follow another car through high speed corners. Hamilton managed to pressure a double World Champion into running wide at Estoril and was tight on the inside line and in the perfect position to sweep past.
Alonso clearly didn't think Hamilton had the pace to get by him because he was pointing his car for the apex again as the Mclaren shot through and bumped his rear tyre. Had Alonso got there a little earlier then he would have been responsible for quite a large accident (with shades of Jerez 1997 about it). A great move by Lewis on a lap where it would have been quite understandable if he just let Alonso go - at the end of Lap 19 he was in for a pit-stop.
WINNERS
Felipe Massa
The TV coverage of the race was shocking, I was looking forward to many more shots of Felipe Massa's girlfriend biting her nails as she looked nervously at the TV monitor. Outrageously the TV producers decided to concentrate on the race instead. Did they not understand; this is Magny Cours, home of F1 boredom. We need all the relief we can get. Massa, as he appreciated after the race, lucked into a win that wasn't his. But there will be occasions to come where he deserves the glory and gurgle boy or lurch will steal it.
Jarno Trulli
Having lost a podium place to Rubens Barrichello on the last corner of the last lap of a French GP, Jarno was in no mood to give one up to Heikki Kovalainen today. He got a great start and was pretty damned stubborn in his resistance of both Alonso and latterly Kovalainen. Given that the high speed turns of Silverstone are not unlike Magny Cours, Jarno could be getting into a rich seam of form.
Heikki Kovalainen
I can't help thinking that Kovalainen lacks the killer instinct to take him into the top tier. He got stuck behind Vettel in Canada, he's been stuck behind Fisichella in other races. That wouldn't have happened with other Mclaren pilots: Alonso, Montoya, Raikkonen or Hamilton.
In France he got stuck behind Jarno Trulli. When it got wet Jarno was really struggling for grip, yet the likeable Finn couldn't find a way past him. Fourth is a much better result than he's been having lately, but whereas Ferrari can count on Massa being just behind Raikkonen (or vice versa), you don't have the same confidence that Heikki is snapping at Lewis's heels to take a potential 1-2.
Robert Kubica
Kubica didn't look like a World Championship contender on the basis of his French result, but compared to Nick Heidfeld's miserable race it was great. And four points is better than a drive-through and hostile press.
Mark Webber
Webbo restored the natural order of things at Red Bull by coming home in front of DC and scoring more points. The bad news for Red Bull is that with Williams fading, Toyota are getting a bit tasty.
Nelson Piquet Jr
At last! Junior scores some points and doesn't throw his car off the road. And what's more he nicks a place off his team leader at the end of the race. It's at times like those that you really want to hear the Pits-to-Car radio. Maybe we should have a rule that teams are only allowed radios if they can be listened to by the broadcasters. Teams could then opt for silent anonymity - and none would.
LOSERS
FIA Credibility
In Canada Lewis Hamilton was rightly penalised for his pit lane accident - at the same grand prix Sebastian Vettel was only able to stop Heikki Kovalainen overtaking him by repeatedly cutting the apex on the last chicane. He wasn't penalised.
In France, Lewis Hamilton overtook Vettel but could only do so by making the pass then running over the Imola chicane. He too got an advantage from cutting the chicane and was rightly penalised. So if Lewis in France, why not Vettel in Canada?
In qualifying (Q1) Heikki Kovalainen tried to get out of the way of Mark Webber who was on a timed lap, but did it too late. Webber didn't lose out, yet Kovalainen was penalised and demoted five places down the grid. Also in qualifying, we were riding on board with Sebastien Bourdais on a timed lap when we came across a Ferrari heading towards the Adelaide hairpin. The Ferrari didn't move out of the way and Bourdais had to go off the racing line and round him. So how come that is not worthy of a penalty?
The inconsistent application of the rules makes F1's race stewards a laughing stock.
Come to think of it, Felipe Massa's glorious overtaking move on Kovalainen and Barrichello at the Casino hairpin in Canada was only possible by cutting the apex with two wheels on the grass on the inside of the kerbs. What about that then...? He didn't just cut the apex, he cut the grass on the apex.
All the drama of playing chess with a corpse
James Allen's desperate pitch after the last advertising break was "we're into the closing stages of a dramatic French GP". So which one was he watching, then? It was as dramatic as watching lettuce grow - sometimes the slugs come out, sometimes birds land nearby - knife-edge stuff. Woah! Was that a robin?
Basically the same three drivers who crossed the line on the opening lap were the same three up on the podium, except Raikkonen swapped places with Massa. Why does James feel the need to big the race up when ITV have decided to throw all their money at European football next year? After Monaco and Montreal it was a predictable reality check.
Lewis Hamilton
Everyone said before the race that he would have to "go aggressive" and go aggressive he did. Yes, he made a mistake by trying to get past Vettel too early, but god knows we need people to try something in grands prix. With Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Kubica you know that if they're stuck behind someone and they can try something - they will try something. It was the same with Schumacher, Mansell and Senna. It's not the same with Massa, Heidfeld, Kovalainen and Trulli.
There was probably just a little too much GP2 about his opening lap - but he'll learn.
Fernando Alonso
Considering he started a long way in front of Nelson Piquet Junior to finish behind him at Renault's home race is not good. He made mistakes in the race - a dreadful start, plus the half-spin that ultimately let his team-mate through. It seemed like the strategy to fuel him light and get a glamour position on the grid for Renault counted against him in the race. If he got bad vibrations after trying to clip Lewis then it's his own fault.
Jenson Button
Only one DNF in the race and it was Jenson. If he's paid £9million a season, then he'll be saving so much money on his FIA superlicence by scoring so little. The whole drivers' indignation thing about the FIA hiking up their fees is hard to sympathise with (unless you're earning £1.5million like Robert Kubica). Kimi Raikkonen earns £2m a race - and he has to pay around £150,000 for his licence.
