Felipe Massa took the win at yesterday’s French GP at Magny-Cours after pole-sitter and race leader Kimi Raikkonnen suffered a broken exhaust just before the midpoint, though the Finn still managed to hang on for second place. Toyota driver Jarno Trulli also managed to bring home his team's first podium spot since 2005, finishing third. Mark Webber hung on despite a scare at the last corner to finish in sixth.

Going into the race the struggling McLaren team was already disadvantaged because of penalties against both drivers. Lewis Hamilton incurred a ten-spot grid penalty for a pit lane accident that ended Raikkonnen's race in Canada, while teammate Kovalainen earned a penalty of five grid spots stemming from an incident in Saturday’s qualifying session where he held up Mark Webber.

The mid-pack scramble
Despite the relative calm at the Ferrari-led front, the mid-pack racing was tight and turbulent. Hamilton's situation got worse just 13 laps into the race when he straight-lined a chicane immediately after passing Sebastian Vettel resulting in a drive-through penalty from the stewards. The young Briton nevertheless fought back to finish in 10th place.

Fernando Alonso’s run to seventh place was somewhat anti-climactic after a fourth-place qualifying effort landed him in third on the grid after the McLaren drivers’ penalties were assessed. A late run on Mark Webber’s sixth place ended with Nelson Piquet taking advantage of lap traffic, bumping the two-time world champion to eighth and netting the Brazilian the first championship points of his career.

The BMW cars did not fare as well as they did in Canada, though Robert Kubica did manage a fifth place finish to retain second place in the championship hunt behind new leader Felipe Massa.

Backmarker business as usual
Honda, Williams-Toyota and Force India all turned in lacklustre performances, the three teams populating the back of the grid when the lights went off and staying there through the chequered flag. The only retirement of the day was Jenson Button’s Honda, put out of the race after contact in the first corner with Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais.

Williams drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg fought poorly configured cars to finish 15th and 16th respectively. The two Force India cars were last among those that finished the race, a full lap behind the race leaders.

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