Ferrari, Raikkonen win at French Grand Prix

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari celebrates after winning the French Grand Prix at the Magny Cours track near Nevers, France, on Sunday. PHOTO: EPA

All Ferrari needed was a trip to France.

Kimi Raikkonen reinvigorated Ferrari's season on Sunday, leading a 1-2 finish for the Italian team at the French Grand Prix.

It was the seventh victory for Ferrari in France since 1997 and last year's win spurred Michael Schumacher's challenge to Fernando Alonso. The two went down to the last race of the season before Alonso took his second Formula One title.

Now Alonso is struggling to keep up with McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari looks poised to surge.

Raikkonen led Felipe Massa across the finish line at Magny Cours to end McLaren's winning streak at three in Formula One and claim Ferrari's first victory since Massa won at Spain in May.

After winning at the first race of the season as Schumacher's replacement, Raikkonen had been shut out until Sunday.

"We didn't expect to have the problems that we had in the last few races, so I think we are back where we expected to be," Raikkonen said. "It's nice, we had a bit of a hard time. I kind of expected to have a hard time and don't always expect to have good results."

Raikkonen started third on the grid, moved past Hamilton into second at the start and then overtook Massa at the second pit stop with 27 laps to go for his 11th career victory.

The Finn finished in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 54.200 seconds on the 4.41km circuit, nearly two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Massa and 32 seconds in front of Hamilton in third.

Robert Kubica, who survived an horrific crash at the Canadian GP and missed the subsequent race at Indianapolis, both of which Hamilton won, took fourth for BMW-Sauber. Kubica was cleared to race on Thursday after hurting his ankle when he bounced off two walls in Montreal.

Hamilton reached the podium for the eighth straight race -- two wins, four seconds and two thirds -- to extend his lead atop the drivers standings with 64 points.

Alonso finished 56.5 seconds behind Raikkonen in seventh place.

He was plagued by problems on Saturday. He had a problem with a brake sensor in the morning practice and his gearbox failed on his first lap in the final qualifying session to put him 10th on the grid.

"We knew it would be difficult starting 10th with a fuel strategy that was originally aiming for a top-three grid position," Alonso said. "This meant that at the pit stops, I was changing positions and ending up behind those I had already passed."

Among those were Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber. Heidfeld stayed ahead of Alonso for 33 laps before Alonso passed him only to lose the spot at the next pit stop.

Alonso remained second in the standings with 50 points, followed by Massa with 47 and Raikkonen with 42.

Hamilton said he was not disappointed, but was irritated after starting second on the grid behind Massa only to be passed immediately by Raikkonen in the first turn.

"I don't like being overtaken. It is the first race I was overtaken," Hamilton said. "But the fact is I finished on the podium again."