Lewis Hamilton's hopes for his maiden driver's championship took another painful blow today when he finished a dismal ninth in the French GP at Magny-Cours.

Having suffered a 10-place penalty in qualifying, which started him on 13th on the grid, he made his way down to fifth before cutting a chicane which gave the Briton an obvious advantage which led to him having to do a drive-through penalty.

This put him in 10th and ultimately ended his chances of any points. His Ferrari rivals, however, fared much better in the overcast conditions, finishing with a 1-2.

Felipe Massa took another victory. He is at the top of the Driver's championships, five ahead of his Finnish colleague Kimi Raikkonen and ten ahead of Hamilton.

Lewis will hope for a much better performance when the F1 season comes to Silverstone for Hamilton's home race.