Felipe Massa took advantage of Raikkonen’s mechanical problems and won the the 2008 French GP. As a result of his win Massa also takes the lead of the drivers championship, the first Brazilian to do so since Ayrton Senna. Despite quite some damage to his exhaust pipe and big hole his Ferrari Raikkonen managed to come home at 2nd. Jarno Trulli survived the challenge from Heikki Kovalainen and gave Toyota the first podium of the season and first for the team since 2006 Australian GP. Kovalainen however will not be too happy with Trulli’s defending … Mark Webber finished in points again. Nelson Piquet broke his point scoring duck and finished 7th, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

2008 French F1 GP race result:

1. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:31:50.245
2. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari + 17.984
3. Jarno Trulli - Toyota + 28.250
4. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren + 28.929
5. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 30.512
6. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 40.304
7. Nelson Piquet - Renault + 41.033
8. Fernando Alonso - Renault + 43.372

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It has been suggested several times that the surest way how to secure an exciting F1 race is to sprinkle the track with water. It looks like we had just about the right amount of water to create an exciting race. We had changing weather, we had changing strategies, we had the top drivers making mistakes, we had some spectacular crashes, we had few drivers scoring their first points this season and we also had tears. That was Monaco 2008.

Lewis Hamilton was the favourite to win this race but that was before the qualifying. To start from P3 was not the expected result but McLaren were confident the strategy will play in their hands. They were right, but it was the strategy Ferrari got wrong that helped at the end. To win a race in Monaco in such treacherous conditions requires some sublime skills and a fair share of luck at the same time. But looking back at the race, I must say he was three times lucky. First he hit the barrier, punctured his tyre and was lucky not to crash out of the race. Then thanks to “Trulli train” he returned from the pitlane in 5th place, still well within the reach of the front runners. And finally he managed to finish the race despite punctured tyre, probably from Rosberg’s car debris. His luck should however take nothing away from his performance. Unlike Raikkonen and Alonso for example he kept his head cool and secured his third Monaco win, first in Formula 1.

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First point to make about this race is - the race had flying start (see the picture above). Second - we actually had a race. There were cars that raced each other ! Third point to make about this race is a question - would Lewis Hamilton even start the race under 2005 rules that prevented tyre changes ?

Felipe Massa is becoming the King of Istanbul track. Three pole postitions in a row, three wins in a row. He is the first driver since Michael Schumacher to win three consecutive races at the same Formula 1 track … He had a perfect start and created nice gap between himself and Hamilton before even reaching Turn 1. He lost his lead later on in the race when Hamilton overtook him, but at that time Massa was already aware of Hamilton’s 3 stop strategy and did exactly defend hard. He reclaimed his lead after another round of pitstops and held it rather comfortably. Massa wnet on to win his 7th F1 race, 3th consecutive Turkish GP and second race this year. After 2 DNFs early on Massa made it to the podium 3 times in a row. He is now officially back in the hunt for the title.

It was not the best weekend for Massa’s team mate and the championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. His troubles started on Friday already and stuck with him for the rest of the weekend. He collided with Heikki Kovalainen at the start and damaged his front wing. He still however managed to record the fastest lap of the race and finish on podium. Nothing spectacular from the defending champion, pretty much a damage limitation weekend …

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Felipe Massa made full advantage of his pole position and strange 3 pit stop strategy of Lewis Hamilton and won his 3rd Turkish Grand Prix in a row. Lewis Hamilton split 2 Ferraris and finished second ahead of championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. Solid race for Kubica and Heidfeld, points again for Webber, Alonso and Rosber. Sebastian Vettel finished a race finally …

2008 Turkish GP Race Result:

1. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:26:49.451
2. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren + 3.779
3. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari + 4.271
4. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 21.945
5. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber + 38.741
6. Fernando Alonso - Renault + 53.724
7. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 1:04.229
8. Nico Rosberg - Williams + 1:11.406

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It has been busy few days for me and it took me 2 days to finish the Spanish GP review. Here it comes finally… I apologize for a dull format without pictures this time .

Four races, three Ferrari wins, two 1-2 finishes, red cars leading both championships and Ferrari friendly Turkey track next … Things have turned around a bit since Melbourne …

After Fernando Alonso squeezed in between Raikkonen and Massa in qualifying there was a chance Renault may spoil the race for Ferrari. Massa’s good start put an end to those worries and from then on it was Ferrari’s race. The gap between them and Hamilton and Kubica was not that big but this may be down to the safety car period and Ferrari preserving the machinery towards the end of the race.

Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since Melbourne. The race of both McLarens has been compromised by their qualifying. Fifth and sixth places on the grid are not the best places from where to launch the attack on the podium. The positive sign for McLaren is that they did not seem to be too much off the pace of Ferrari. The worry must be the BMW Sauber … The talking point of the race however was the heavy crash of Heikki Kovalainen. It looked very scary and to me even worse than the crash of Robert Kubica in Montreal last year. It is amazing to see how much protection the current F1 cars give to drivers. It is hard to believe that somebody can survive an impact like that with pretty much no injuries at all. At the same time crashes like this are a reminder that F1 is still a dangerous sport …

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Kimi Raikkonen won his second race of 2008 season ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton returned to podium for the first time since Australian GP. Jenson Button scored first points of the season for Honda. Only 13 cars made it to the finish in a race that featured 2 safety car periods and a scary looking Kovalainen’s heavy crash. Fernando Alonso’s hopes for good result were cut short by a spectacular engine failure.

2008 Spanish GP - Race result

1. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:38:19.051
2. Felipe Massa - Ferrari + 3.228
3. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren + 4.187
4. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 5.694
5. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 35.938
6. Jenson Button - Honda + 53.010
7. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams + 58.244
8. Jarno Trulli - Toyota + 59.435

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The Live Blog is back with the Race Day coverage ! Follow the updates from the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix and join in the discussion !

This Live Blog has been closed. You can replay it inside the post.

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The testing last week did not reveal too much. Not that we ever can tell too much about the form of teams from a test, but we can tell pretty much nothing after the last Barcelona test . Here is my view of what may have changed.

First look at the top 3:

Ferrari looked to be damn fast on slicks and with the hole in the nose. But not that different times were later achieved for example by Barrichello and Alonso, also on slicks. Ferrari’s speed early on in the test does not reveal much … McLaren cars were quite slow last week but both de la Rosa and Hamilton did lots of laps on their test days and outright speed might not have been their focus. Quite the same can be said about BMW Sauber. All three top teams are optimistic on their own form but cautious at the same not knowing the true gains of the other 2 …

Down to midfield now:

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Join us again for the Live Blog during the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Live Blog will begin half an hour before the race start.

The Live Blog has now closed, you can replay the discussion and comments on this practice session inside the post. Next live blog will be from Bahrain Formula 1 race.

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