| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 70-lap French Grand Prix. The eighth round of the championship gets underway in just over 30 minutes. It is cloudy and there has been showers this morning. |
| 13.32 | Ferrari dominated qualifying yesterday with Kimi Raikkonen taking the pole position from team-mate Felipe Massa. Given the pace of the F2008 at this circuit, it is hard to see anything but a red car taking the chequered flag – weather aside. |
| 13.34 | Fernando Alonso starts a sensational third for Renault on home soil and will be aiming to secure his first podium position of the season. It’s an important event for Renault and the team will be hoping for no repeat of the mistakes that took Alonso out of both the Monaco and Canadian Grand Prix. |
| 13.36 | Jarno Trulli starts fourth in the leading Toyota after another excellent qualifying performance from the Italian veteran. The team hope for a good result in the week that former Team Principal Ove Andersson lost his life in road accident. Timo Glock starts a solid eighth in the second TF108. |
| 13.38 | BMW Sauber have not looked particularly strong this weekend, but Robert Kubica still starts fifth and will be aiming for a podium position to retain his lead in the drivers’ championship. Nick Heidfeld starts 11th but is always there at the end of the race and will be looking to pick up more points for the Hinwil-based squad. |
| 13.40 | Mark Webber continues his impressive season with Red Bull Renault as he lines up sixth just ahead of team-mate David Coulthard. Points are the aim this afternoon. |
| 13.42 | Nelson Piquet starts ninth in the second Renault as he aims for his first points of the season. The Brazilian rookie knows Magny Cours well and needs a strong race after a shaky start to his Formula One career. |
| 13.43 | There are spots of rain in the air. The circuit remains dry. |
| 13.44 | Heikki Kovalainen starts tenth in the leading McLaren after taking a grid position penalty for blocking in qualifying yesterday. Kovalainen has not shown well in recent events and needs a big points haul to remain a realistic championship contender. |
| 13.46 | Sebastian Vettel starts 12th in his Toro Rosso and has been rapid all weekend long. Team-mate Sebastien Bourdais starts 14th with Lewis Hamilton slotting in between the two Toro Rosso drivers. For Hamilton, starting 13th after taking his ten position grid penalty for his Montreal blunder, points are the target. |
| 13.48 | Kazuki Nakajima starts 15th in the leading Williams Toyota with Nico Rosberg back in 20th due to his Montreal grid position penalty. In reality neither driver has looked comfortable with the FW30, so they’ll probably just fill the car up and hope to pick up positions as the race unfolds. |
| 13.50 | It is a similar situation at Honda who seems to be making little progress this year despite much hype. Jenson Button starts 16th ahead of Rubens Barrichello. |
| 13.52 | The Force India duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil line-up 18th and 19th and will be hoping for a two car finish for the team in the ageing re-named VJM01 chassis. |
| 13.55 | It remains cloudy with some light rain in the air. The circuit however is dry at the moment. It seems that Barrichello has gone to the back of the field from 17th due to a gearbox change penalty. |
| 13.57 | Looking at the circuit, I expect all will be on dry weather tyres. The light rain has not affected the circuit. |
| 13.58 | The drivers are all in the cars awaiting the one minute board. |
| 13.59 | The tyre warmers are coming off and the engines are being fired up. |
| 14.00 | The parade lap is now underway. Soft tyres for Hamilton while most seem to be on the hard. |
| 14.02 | Raikkonen lines up on his pole position ahead of Massa, Alonso, Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Coulthard and Glock... |
| Lap 1 | The French Grand Prix is underway! |
| Lap 1 | Alonso drops behind Trulli and Kubica. |
| Lap 1 | Raikkonen leads Massa, Trulli, Kubica, Alonso and Glock. |
| Lap 1 | Piquet has moved ahead of Coulthard. |
| Lap 2 | Webebr runs P7 ahead of Piquet, Kovalainen and Hamilton. |
| Lap 2 | Coulthard lost ground on lap one. Alonso is all over Trulli. |
| Lap 3 | Kubica is fifth and I do not know why - he was third halfway around lap one. |
| Lap 4 | Raikkone leads Massa, Trulli, Alonso. Kubica, Glock, Webber, Piquet, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Coulthard, Vettel, Heidfeld, Nakajima, Bourdais, Fisichella, Barrichello, Sutil, Rosberg and Button. |
| Lap 6 | Raikkonen extends his advantage to nearly two seconds. |
| Lap 5 | Hamilton passes Kovalainen and Button has a broken front wing. |
| Lap 6 | Hamilton has now caught Piquet. |
| Lap 6 | Button pits from 20th for a new front wing. |
| Lap 7 | Hamilton locks up into the hairpin. |
| Lap 8 | Raikkonen now leads Massa by almost three seconds with Trulli five seconds back in third. |
| Lap 8 | Hamilton locks up again into the hairpin as he tries to pass Piquet. |
| Lap 9 | Hamilton is under investigation. That could be for cutting the chicane on lap one. He passed Vettel I think there. |
| Lap 10 | Trulli is running third and now has a gap to Alonso. |
| Lap 10 | The marshals show the blue flag to Piquet for some odd reason... He is fighting for position and is not a lap down on Hamilton. |
| Lap 12 | Hamilton still all over Piquet but not finding a way ahead. |
| Lap 13 | Hamilton has been given a drive through penalty for cutting turn seven at the start of the race. |
| Lap 14 | Hamilton pits from ninth position and takes the penalty |
| Lap 14 | So that is pretty much it for Hamilton's race. It was a tough decision as Hamilton did cut across turn seven after making the pass on Vettel. |
| Lap 15 | Hamilton now runs 13th behind Heidfeld. |
| Lap 16 | Alonso pits his Renault from fourth. |
| Lap 17 | Raikkonen has a five second lead over Massa now. |
| Lap 17 | Alonso runs now just ahead of old rival Hamilton. Hamilton has yet to take fuel though. |
| Lap 19 | Button makes his second pit stop from the back. |
| Lap 19 | Button's miserbale wekend is over as he is out of the car. Awful weekend. |
| Lap 20 | Alonso runs wide in T3 and Hamilton moves ahead. |
| Lap 20 | Hamilton pits and takes his first tyre change and fuel fill. |
| Lap 21 | Trulli and Kubica pits from third and fourth. |
| Lap 22 | Raikkonen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 22 | Glock pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 22 | So Hamilton now runs last in 19th. |
| Lap 23 | Raikkonen now runs second behind Massa who now pits. |
| Lap 24 | Raikkonen regains the lead as Webber pits his Red Bull Renault from what was third. |
| Lap 24 | Piquet and Kovalainen yet to stop and run fourth and fifth. |
| Lap 25 | Webber has exited ahead of Alonso in tenth. |
| Lap 26 | Piquet and Kovalainen pit together. |
| Lap 27 | Now Coulthard pits his Red Bull. Kovalainen passed Piquet exiting the pits a few moments ago. |
| Lap 28 | So as the stops shake out, Raikkonen leads Massa, Trulli and Vettel who has not pitted. |
| Lap 28 | It seems Piquet hit the neutral button instead of the pit lane speed limiter button exiting the pits and that is why he is behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 29 | Rosberg lets Hamilton through for 16th. |
| Lap 30 | Vettel continues and has not stopped. He is right with third placed Trulli now. |
| Lap 30 | Now Vettel does pit. |
| Lap 30 | Heidfeld also in the pits in the second BMW. |
| Lap 31 | Nothing happening at the front as Raikkonen leads Massa with ease. This is a very easy Sunday for Raikkonen. |
| Lap 32 | Trulli is now over half a minute behind Raikkonen with Kubica close behind. |
| Lap 33 | Rosberg is 17th and has not pitted showing what a dreadful time he is having at Magny Cours. |
| Lap 34 | Nakajima runs P11 in his Williams and has not stopped. Clearly they just filled them up and sent them into the race... |
| Lap 36 | Massa has closed on Raikkonen to within three seconds. It is rare he chalelnges his team-mate in race conditions for a position though... |
| Lap 36 | Some slow laps at the moment from Raikkonen. |
| Lap 37 | Massa now in traffic as he passes a Williams at the hairpin. |
| Lap 38 | Another slow lap from Raikkonen as the gap is less than two seconds. |
| Lap 38 | Massa now on the back of Raikkonen. |
| Lap 38 | So Raikkonen in trouble as Massa all over the back of his team-mate. |
| Lap 39 | Raikkonen has a problem for sure. |
| Lap 39 | Massa passes Raikkonen with ease for the lead. |
| Lap 40 | So Massa now leads Raikkonen who is in real trouble. |
| Lap 40 | The exhaust on the right hand side of the F2008 has worked loose and the bodywork is getting black with heat. |
| Lap 41 | Trulli remains third and has thegap to Massa under half a minute now and is 25s behind Raikkonen. |
| Lap 42 | Raikkonen is losing about 1.5s a lap with his exhaust problem as Kovalainen passes Webber for sixth at the hairpin. |
| Lap 43 | Alonso makes his second stop from P5. |
| Lap 43 | Alonso takes the soft tyre for what will be a long final stint. |
| Lap 45 | Alonso now runs in 12th but does not need to stop again. |
| Lap 45 | Trulli is gaining on Raikkonen at about a second a lap and could therefore catch the Finn by the end of the race. |
| Lap 47 | Hamilton has Alonso right in front off him again as Kubica pits from fourth. |
| Lap 48 | Hamilton passes Alonso exiting the hairpin. |
| Lap 49 | Kovalainen runs fourth and is closing in on Trulli. |
| Lap 49 | Vettel pits for the second time from tenth. Heidfeld pits from 11th. |
| Lap 50 | Webber and Glock pit for a second time. |
| Lap 51 | Trulli pits from third. |
| Lap 51 | Piquet also pits his Renault. |
| Lap 53 | Raikkonen pits from second and soon back out. |
| Lap 53 | Kovalainen pits from third position. His battle is with Trulli. |
| Lap 53 | Coulthard and Hamilton also pit. |
| Lap 54 | Kovalainen and Kubica run together after the second round of stops. |
| Lap 54 | Trulli remains third four seconds ahead of Kovalainen with Kubica less than a second back in fifth. |
| Lap 55 | Massa pits from the lead. |
| Lap 55 | Bourdais runs off at Estoril and loses time. He runs 18th. |
| Lap 57 | Massa has backed off now at the front and is content to lap close to the pace of Raikkonen. |
| Lap 57 | Alonso is chasing Webber for sixth position. |
| Lap 58 | There is now some light rain falling. |
| Lap 58 | The lap times are increasing as Hamilton passes Glock. |
| Lap 59 | Webber runs wide at the hairpin but holds back Alonso. |
| Lap 60 | The rain is light and not effecting things much at the moment. |
| Lap 60 | Kovalainen looking to pass Trulli for third. |
| Lap 61 | Trulli, Kovalainen and Kubica run together. |
| Lap 62 | Raikkonen's right hand side exhaust now flies off and is free of the F2008. |
| Lap 63 | Trulli has picked up the pace and has a alight cushion from Kovalainen now. |
| Lap 65 | Massa is on target for his eighth career win, the third of the season. |
| Lap 67 | Kovalainen remains right behind Trulli in the battle for third. |
| Lap 68 | Kovalainen pushing Trulli very hard. |
| Lap 68 | Kovalainen loses time in the first part of the lap and then much faster in the tighter section. |
| Lap 69 | Alonso runs wide at the hairpin and Piquet gains seventh. |
| Lap 69 | Kovalainen gets alongside Trulli and has to take a cut off track so not to crash. Trulli retains the position. |
| Lap 70 | The chequered flag is out and Felipe Massa wins the French Grand Prix. |
| Lap 70 | An easy win for Massa as Raikkonen takes second. |
| Lap 70 | Trulli takes third from Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber, Piquet and Alonso. Well done to Piquet for his first career points. |
