For the first time since the great Ayrton Senna held down the number one position in the1993 Formula 1 World Championship, a Brazilian — this one named Felipe Massa — now leads the chase for world’s most prestigious motor racing championship. On Sunday, June 22, 2008, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won the French Grand Prix at the Magny-Cours circuit in France over teammate and reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen. And the third guest to walk atop the podium in a pleasantly surprising result was Toyota wheelman Jarno Trulli. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen was fourth on the day, while fifth fell to BMW pilot Robert Kubica. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was sixth, Renault freshman driver Nelson Piquet was seventh, just ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso two laps from the end after the Spaniard made a mistake in the damp surface.

Raikkonen and Massa led the race right from the onset, while an impressively fast starting Jarno Trulli whipped his TF108 around Kubica and Alonso. The early phase of the race saw a mistake made by Lewis Hamilton who dodged a chicane (although it would take almost 15 laps for him to be summoned in, the Briton was forced to face a drive-through penalty. The action would ultimately haunt him the entire race.

As the race wound down to its conclusion, it looked to be a Ferrari procession with Raikkonen leading handsomely over Massa. However, there would be a glitch for the Finn as on lap 35, his Ferrari shaking its right-side exhaust free, slowing the champion. Four laps later Massa screamed by and into the lead. Meanwhile, back in third, Trulli began to gain on Raikkonen, but the Finn was able to make it into his pit box in time for badly needed repairs. With less than 15 minutes remaining in the 70-lap affair, rain began to fall, but all three drivers held station and claimed the rightful places upon the podium.

"It was fantastic,” said Massa after the race. “I didn't expect to win. Sometimes we need a little bit of luck. Today we had an element of luck because of Kimi's exhaust. However, we are still in the middle of the championship and we have a lot of races to go. We have to keep scoring points even if it is not possible to win."

With the French Grand Prix now complete and the British Grand Prix a fortnight away, Massa is atop the World Championship point table with 48 points. Robert Kubica is second with 46 and Raikkonen is third with 43. Lewis Hamilton now drops to a lowly fourth with 38 points.