What The Papers Say About France

Monday 23rd June 2008

While Fleet Street isn't being all that kind to Lewis Hamilton this morning, there's plenty of praise for Felipe Massa, who yet prove to be Brazil's next F1 World Champion...

'As a test of Lewis Hamilton's resilience, yesterday's French grand prix was one of the more disappointing performances of his Formula One career. He arrived hoping to make at least some positive headway in the championship after his pit-lane collision with Kimi Raikkonen in Montreal, but having started with a 10-place grid penalty, things went from bad to worse.

'Hamilton received a drive-through penalty for straight-lining a corner while dicing with Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso. After this there was scarcely any prospect of the Briton scoring points, let alone getting close to the private Ferrari demonstration run at the front of the field which saw Felipe Massa score his third win of the season ahead of the world champion, Raikkonen.' - Alan Henry, The Guardian

'A Brazilian in a yellow helmet leads the Formula One World Championship. Remind you of anyone? Felipe Massa is not everybody's idea of a superhero, but that will not bother him as he luxuriates in a random statistic; he is the first son of Brazil since the late Ayrton Senna 15 years ago to look down on a grand prix field.

'Not for the first time this season the race winner inherited the honour, Massa accepting the gift of the French Grand Prix and 10 points from team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who developed a problem with his exhaust on lap 39. Hitherto Raikkonen had been romping home.

'Raikkonen remains the favourite to end the season as Ferrari's leading man, and despite the havoc caused by his jettisoned exhaust, was quick enough to bring home a third one-two in eight races for the Scuderia...

'Lewis Hamilton had another of those days. Up against it from the start thanks to his 10-place grid penalty carried over from Canada, he added a drive-through penalty incurred during a whirlwind blast off the line. From there he had no chance of scoring a point.' - Kevin Garside, The Telegraph

'Lewis Hamilton's second season in Formula One could yet bring him his first drivers' championship, but if it does, he will look back on the French Grand Prix here yesterday as among the lowest of the low points.

'Having started from thirteenth on the grid, courtesy of the ten-place grid penalty imposed after his pitlane crash in Canada two weeks ago, the young McLaren Mercedes driver needed, at all costs, to produce a measured and controlled display to ensure he got himself in the points.

'But in a moment of first-lap, adrenaline-fuelled impetuosity, Hamilton drove overaggressively when trying to get past Sebastian Vettel, the German Toro Rosso driver, and found himself encumbered with a drive-through penalty for running off-track though the apex of Turn 7, and his race was run.

'On a damp day in Burgundy that was dominated by Ferrari, Hamilton could finish only tenth despite some enterprising and impressive driving in the mid-field. A long way ahead of him, Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, should have cruised from pole to flag to his third win of the season, but a structural failure in his car's exhaust system forced the Finn to give way to his team-mate, Felipe Massa, who gratefully accepted his third victory of the season.' - Edward Gorman, The Times

'The French Grand Prix could have been worse for Lewis Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen, arguably the man most likely to beat him to the title, could have won. Instead, victory went to his team-mate Felipe Massa, who became the fourth driver in four races to take over the lead of the World Championship on a day when 10th place following a controversial penalty left the Englishman with his second consecutive finish outside the points.' - David Tremayne, The Independent

'FELIPE Massa realised one dream yesterday, but it will mean nothing unless he achieves another and becomes world champion at the end of the season.

'For the first time in his six-season, 95-race career, Massa leads the Formula 1 world championship following his victory in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

'A broken exhaust pipe on the Ferrari of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen aided his cause, and for the first time since Ayrton Senna in May 1993, a Brazilian sits on top of the drivers' standings.

'Massa now has a two-point cushion over BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, and five to Raikkonen who held on for second place at the Circuit de Nevers, whilst McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is 10 adrift after he finished a troublesome race in 10th.' - Ian Parks, The Scotsman

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