2007 French Grand Prix

2007 French Grand Prix
Previous←	2007 United States Grand Prix
Round	8 of 2007
Next→	2007 British Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	1 July, 2007
Race Number	776
Official Name	XCIII Grand Prix de France
Location	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours Magny-Cours, France
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.411 km (2.741 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 308.77 km (191.861 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time	1:15.034
Fastest Lap
Driver	Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time	1:16.099 on lap 42
Podium
First	Kimi Räikkönen
Second	Felipe Massa
Third	Lewis Hamilton
Lap Leaders

The 2007 French Grand Prix, otherwise known as the XCIII Grand Prix de France, was the eighth round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Magny-Cours, France, on 1 July 2007. The race would see Kimi Räikkönen secure his second victory of the season for Ferrari, having jumped teammate Felipe Massa late on.

After being trounced by the two McLaren-Mercedes in the two North American races, Ferrari put on a strong show in qualifying, with Massa claiming pole position while Räikkönen secured third. They were, however, split by Lewis Hamilton in the #2 McLaren, while Fernando Alonso had been unable to compete in Q3 after a gearbox failure.

Race morning would arrive with some tragic news, as a helicopter crash at the Magny-Cours circuit had seen three people die, including PR man Emmanuel Longobardi, pilot Pierre Bennehard and a New Zealander named Simon McGill. A Bridgestone worker and his niece escaped with injuries, although there were no plans to postpone or cancel the race.

After a minute's silence on the grid the field were released for the start, with Massa acing his getaway to claim an early lead. Behind, Räikkönen would get the jump on Hamilton to secure second, while Anthony Davidson hit a cautious Vitantonio Liuzzi, in a collision that saw the Toro Rosso-Ferrari swing back into the side of the Super Aguri-Honda.

Further incidents on the opening lap saw Jarno Trulli take himself out by slamming into the back of Heikki Kovalainen at Adelaide, gifting Alonso two places. Out front, meanwhile, Massa would eek out a lead ahead of Räikkönen, while Hamilton quickly pulled clear of a returning Robert Kubica in the #10 BMW Sauber.

Indeed, Kubica would form something of a bottle neck during the opening stages of the race, with the top three all escaping up the road. That hence allowed Alonso to pick his way past Nico Rosberg in Kubica's drawn out train, although the Spaniard would find Nick Heidfeld putting up a very stubborn defence.

Heidfeld's resistance would last through to the pit window, with Hamilton the first of the leaders to stop on lap sixteen. Worryingly for McLaren's hopes the two Ferraris would continue to circulate for several laps, with Massa coming in on lap nineteen, and Räikkönen lasting until lap 21.

That effectively ended Hamilton's bid for victory, for the two Ferraris were able to ease clear during the second stint, with Räikkönen also drawing in Massa. Their fight would, however, be decided in the pitlane, as Alonso provided most of the on-track action by passing Heidfeld and Giancarlo Fisichella, only to slip back behind them after making an early second stop.

Massa was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 43, joined in the pitlane by Hamilton, with Räikkönen inheriting the lead. Two quick laps later and the Finn was in, and would subsequently sprint out of the pits ahead of Massa to secure the race lead.

With the race was over, with Räikkönen eking out a two second lead during the closing stages to claim his second win of the season. Hamilton finished a distant third to complete the podium, while Kubica claimed a lonely fourth. Heidfeld and Fisichella were next ahead of Alonso, while Jenson Button claimed a rare point for the desperately poor Honda squad in eighth.

Background

Lewis Hamilton had extended his Championship lead as a result of the US Grand Prix, with his second victory in succession taking him up to 58 points for the campaign. That meant he held a ten point advantage over teammate Fernando Alonso, while Felipe Massa in third had slipped nineteen points behind in third. Kimi Räikkönen also looked to have fallen too far back to challenge in fourth, as Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel added their names to the scorer's list.

In the Constructors Championship it was, unsurprisingly, McLaren-Mercedes who once again left a Grand Prix in 2007 with an enhanced lead, their third one-two of the campaign putting them on 106 points. Ferrari hence had continued their tumble away from the lead, slipping back by 35 points, while BMW Sauber were an even more distant third on 39. Renault had hence made a little ground on the German-Swiss alliance, while Williams-Toyota held station in fifth once again.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2007 French Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Fernando Alonso	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
3	Giancarlo Fisichella	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
4	Heikki Kovalainen	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
5	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
7	Jenson Button	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
11	Ralf Schumacher	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
12	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
15	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
16	Nico Rosberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
17	Alexander Wurz	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
19	Scott Speed	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
20	Adrian Sutil	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
21	Christijan Albers	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2007 French Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		3	1:15.303		2	1:14.822		1	1:15.034	1
2	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		1	1:14.805		1	1:14.795		2	1:15.104	2
3	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		2	1:14.872		3	1:14.828		3	1:15.257	3
4	10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber		8	1:15.778		4	1:15.066		4	1:15.493	4
5	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		12	1:16.047		7	1:15.227		5	1:15.674	5
6	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault		5	1:15.524		8	1:15.272		6	1:15.826	6
7	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		9	1:15.783		6	1:15.149		7	1:15.900	7
8	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		15	1:16.118		10	1:15.379		8	1:15.935	8
9	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		13	1:16.092		9	1:15.331		9	1:16.328	9
10	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes		4	1:15.322		5	1:15.084		NC	—	10
11	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota		7	1:15.760		11	1:15.534				11
12	7	Jenson Button	Honda		14	1:16.113		12	1:15.584				12
13	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		16	1:16.140		13	1:15.761				13
14	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		6	1:15.746		14	1:15.806				14
15	19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		11	1:15.980		15	1:16.049				15
16	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault		10	1:15.915		NC	—				16
17	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		17	1:16.142							17
18	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota		18	1:16.241							18
19*	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		19	1:16.244							22
20	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda		20	1:16.366							19
21	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari		21	1:17.826							20
22	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari		22	1:17.915							21
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Sato was handed a retroactive ten place grid penalty for causing a collision at the 2007 United States Grand Prix.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Felipe Massa
	Lewis Hamilton	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Kimi Räikkönen
	Robert Kubica	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Giancarlo Fisichella
	Heikki Kovalainen	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Nick Heidfeld
	Jarno Trulli	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Nico Rosberg
	Fernando Alonso	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Ralf Schumacher
	Jenson Button	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Rubens Barrichello
	Mark Webber	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Scott Speed
	David Coulthard	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi
	Alexander Wurz	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Anthony Davidson
	Christijan Albers	______________
Row 11	______________	21
	22	Adrian Sutil*
	Takuma Sato	______________

• * Sutil started the race from the pitlane.

Race

Results

The full results for the 2007 French Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	70	1:30:54.200	3	10
2	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	70	+2.414s	1	8
3	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+32.153s	2	6
4	10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	70	+41.727s	4	5
5	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	70	+48.801s	7	4
6	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	70	+51.940s	5	3
7	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+56.516s	10	2
8	7	Jenson Button	Honda	70	+58.885s	12	1
9	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	70	+1:08.505	9
10	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	69	+1 Lap	11
11	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	69	+1 Lap	13
12	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	69	+1 Lap	14
13	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	69	+1 Lap	16
14	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	69	+1 Lap	18
15	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	69	+1 Lap	6
16	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	68	+2 Laps	22
17	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	68	+2 Laps	PL
Ret	19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	55	Gearbox	15
Ret	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	28	Refuelling	20
Ret	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1	Collision	19
Ret	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1	Collision	8
Ret	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	0	Collision	17
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.

Milestones

• Kimi Räikkönen secured his eleventh career victory.
  • Also Räikkönen's 40th podium finish.
• Ferrari secured their 196th win as a constructor and engine supplier.
• Lewis Hamilton registered the 170th podium finish for Mercedes as an engine supplier.

Standings

Victory for Kimi Räikkönen moved the Finn closer to the fight for second, with both himself and teammate Felipe Massa closing in on Fernando Alonso. Out front, meanwhile, an eighth consecutive podium finish had allowed rookie racer Lewis Hamilton to extend his Championship lead, the Brit leaving France on 64 points, and with fourteen points in hand over his teammate. Elsewhere, Nick Heidfeld had consolidated fifth ahead of Robert Kubica, as Jenson Button added his name to the score sheet.

In the Constructors Championship it had finally been a strong afternoon for Ferrari, with their one-two ending McLaren-Mercedes streak of race victories. However, the Scuderia remained 25 points behind the leaders leaving Magny-Cours, with the two manufacturers sharing four wins apiece after the opening eight races. Behind, BMW Sauber were in a lonely third ahead of Renault, while Honda's first points of the campaign meant it was just Toro Rosso-Ferrari and Spyker-Ferrari who had yet to score in 2007.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 64 — 2 Fernando Alonso 50 — 3 Felipe Massa 47 — 4 Kimi Räikkönen 42 — 5 Nick Heidfeld 30 — 6 Robert Kubica 17 ▲1 7 Giancarlo Fisichella 16 ▼1 8 Heikki Kovalainen 12 — 9 Alexander Wurz 8 — 10 Jarno Trulli 7 — 11 Nico Rosberg 5 — 12 David Coulthard 4 — 13 Takuma Sato 4 — 14 Mark Webber 2 — 15 Ralf Schumacher 2 — 16 Jenson Button 1 ▲3 17 Sebastian Vettel 1 ▼1

World Championship for Constructors* Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 McLaren-Mercedes 114 — 2 Ferrari 89 — 3 BMW Sauber 48 — 4 Renault 28 — 5 Williams-Toyota 13 — 6 Toyota 9 — 7 Red Bull-Renault 6 — 8 Super Aguri-Honda 4 — 9 Honda 1 ▲1

Only points scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

• * Includes points scored by McLaren-Mercedes before their exclusion prior to the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.

References

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