MAGNY-COURS, France (AFP) — Felipe Massa and Ferrari dominated Sunday's French Grand Prix and took charge of this year's Formula One world championship with their third double of the season.
The 27-year-old Brazilian's third win this year and eighth of his career lifted him back on top of the drivers' title race and increased Ferrari's lead in the constructors' championship after eight of this year's 18 Grands Prix.
Massa, from Sao Paulo, took full advantage of exhaust problems that hindered his team-mate defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen's progress to take the lead from him after 39 of the 70 laps and then drive to a comfortable triumph.
Massa, the fourth different leader of the championship in four races, is now on top with 48 points in the drivers' table, ahead of Poland's Robert Kubica on 46. Raikkonen, who finished second, is third with 43 ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton on 38.
Italian Jarno Trulli came third for Toyota after resisting a vigorous challenge from Finn Heikki Kovalainen in a McLaren Mercedes over the final laps.
Massa is the first Brazilian to lead the title race since the great three-times champion Ayrton Senna in 1993.
He said: "It's nice to lead the championship, but that is not my dream. My dream is to win the championship and that's what I'm working for.
"It is too early to talk about the championship, but I know we are going in the right direction. We just need to keep working a lot."
He described his victory as "fantastic, but lucky, I didn't expect that and sometimes you need a bit of luck!
"Today I had a lot of luck with Kimi having his exhaust problem, but fortunately for the team he could finish - so this was a good present for me.
"I was actually happy to have a comfortable second and he (Raikkonen) was very quick and it is so difficult to pass him.
"But this was a great race and we showed what we can do with this performance. I know our main competition were a long way behind, but we are going in the right direction and the team did a fantastic job."
Massa said he had a few difficult moments in the closing stages when it drizzled briefly, but he was able to finish comfortably.
Raikkonen, who had started from Ferrari's 200th pole position, had looked on course to win before his car's exhaust failed.
"I am disappointed, but that is motor racing," said Raikkonen. "It is nice to score eight points, if not ideal, and there is a long way left in this year's championship.
"The car was fast and perfect nearly all the weekend until then so it is a bit of a blow, but we have been in more difficult positions than this and we can make a good recovery."
Kubica, who claimed his and his team's maiden victory at the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks earlier to take over the leadership of the title race, came home ahead of sixth placed Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull.
Nelson Piquet of Brazil finished seventh for Renault and his team-mate and twice world champion Fernando Alonso was eighth.
Briton Lewis Hamilton, who started 13th following a penalty for his pit-lane crash in Canada, endured another madcap and controversial contest in which he was penalised again before finishing 10th.
After failing to see a red light in Montreal, this time he drove too aggressively and missed out a chicane as he made a first-lap passing move - for which he was handed a drive-through penalty.
Trulli, delighted to deliver Toyota's first podium finish since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, said he was happy to stand alongside the two Ferrari drivers on the day when Italy meet Spain in the European Championship soccer quarter-finals.
"I hope it is a great night for Italy," he said.
Trulli said: "It was a great fight at the end with Kovalainen and I enjoyed that and it is what I want to be doing. This is a very important podium for the team and a great boost for us all."
The race, which was expected to be the last held at Magny-Cours, was hardly a thriller, but produced enough action to justify F1 commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone's decision announced in the morning that it was expected to be retained on the calendar in 2009.
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