The French Grand Prix Bids Au Revoir At Magny-Cours

Team Ferrari won the 2007 French Grand Prix at Magny Cours as Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen took and kept the lead, with Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa taking second. The ever-popular Lewis Hamilton, who has placed first, second or third in every Grand Prix race in the circuit in 2007, came third for the McLaren-Mercedes team at Magny-Cours. Rookie Hamilton's rise to F1 racing fame began during the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix races as well as Monaco's race in May run around the streets of Monte Carlo and taking in landmarks such as the Hotel de Paris, followed by another win in the United States.

Shortly before the July 1 race held on Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours track, the Federation Francaise de Sport announced that the 2007 race would be the last held at that track. The track, offering almost three miles of straight-aways and hair-raising turns, has offered Formula One racing fans thrilling races for the 70 laps that took drivers from starting to finishing flags.

While Lewis Hamilton, Britain's hot young rookie, who has been wowing fans around the world with his driving skills, emerged from the qualifying sessions with the fastest time in both the first and second runs, he relinquished his pole position to competitor Massa on the third run. His trusty teammate, Fernando Alonso, started in 10th position, though he managed to advance himself as the race wore on. Alonso took 7th for the Woking based McLaren-Mercedes team.

With Raikkonen's win, the Ferrari team has finally made their play against team McLaren as the Finn fought and struggled to retain the lead over Formula One favorite Hamilton as the race wore on. The winning Finn was heard to say that the Ferrari team was firmly back in the race for Formula One, something they have been striving to do since the start of the 2007 Formula One circuit in March.

Upcoming races in Britain, Germany and Hungary will see if team Ferrari can keep the lead over the amazing good fortune of team McLaren's Hamilton, the rookie driver who has literally set the Formula One racing fans on their ears with constant first, second or third place positions and continues to do so, with the completion of the eighth race of the 17 included in the Grand Prix circuit.

Following his win at Magny-Cours, Raikkonen stated, "I think we needed that. We've had a bit of a hard time, but I kind of expected to have difficult times. People always think you've lost it when you don't get good results, but we just work hard and try to get it right and I think we can still improve."

It certainly isn't due to a lack of driving skills, or even aggressive moves on his part. No, Ferrari's losses have been caused by the amazing rising Formula One star Hamilton as he has taken the racing world by storm this year. After a few changes following the United States Grand Prix race in Indianapolis this past June, team Ferrari is determined to give McLaren-Mercedes a run for their money in the upcoming race at Silverstone in Britain, Hamilton's home turf.

As far as Ferrari are concerned, they feel their luck has changed, and while there are still nine races to complete, Raikkonen is only five championship points behind teammate Massa. He has plenty of work cut out for him ahead if he hopes to take the lead from Lewis Hamilton, who retains a 14-point lead and stands firmly at the top of the Formula One racing circuit for the championship.

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