Ferrari Domination or Steward-Assisted Victory at Magny-Cours?

The 2008 French Grand Prix, possibly the final one to be held at Magny-Cours, decided to break recent habits and provide a an interesting race.

At the start of the weekend, Lewis Hamilton was to face a 10-place drop on the grid following his error two weeks ago in Canada. Hamilton, by his own admission, was looking forward to the prospect of starting from so far back on the grid, as he has done many times in the past whilst progressing to F1.

Qualification provided no real surprises. The two Ferraris and Hamilton were the fastest cars on the track. Honda were slow compared to recent outings, as were the BMW team. The only real surprises were the performances of Trulli and Alonso, both of whom produced drives that offered an interesting prospect for fans of the sport.

As the red lights out, the potential for rain loomed on the horizon, but the prediction failed to materialise.

The Ferraris scampered off into a commanding lead, with the trailing pack holding each other back. Hamilton was the only driver who looked like being able to get themselves into a position where the Ferraris would be pushed.

Sadly for the fans, the stewards' interventions several laps after a minor racing incident put a limit on how interesting the afternoon was going to be for the spectators.

The debate has already begun to rage about McLaren being victimised and Ferrari being the favoured team.

It is worth noting that the punishment was received very late, so late that Hamilton had time to have contact with his own team-mate and a several lap battle with a rejuvenated Alonso before the stewards hauled him through the pits.

Surely, swifter action on behalf of the stewards would have served to punish the driver for his error and allow the fans still have a chance to see a wheel-to-wheel contest at the front of the field.

Kimi Raikkonen's title hopes took a turn for the worse on lap 36 when his exhaust system failed. He lost a significant amount of time allowing Felipe Massa to take the lead and continue to an eventual victory.

Whilst Raikkonen still managed a convincing second place finish, Massa is making himself into a serious title contender. Ferrari will at some point in the not too distant future have to decide who is going to be their choice to push for the title.

The challenge of Hamilton and the surprising continued progression of Kubica has served to have the points spread out at the top of the leader board, and if Ferrari don't select a driver soon, they might find themselves throwing the title to Hamilton.

From the midfield, Trulli was the driver who stepped forward to take a fistful of points while McClaren were faltering. A third-place finish for the Toyota team must have been more of a dream at the start of the season as opposed to a target of the Japanese team.

Have the mechanics at Toyota been able to produce a car that is going to be able to climb above the struggling Williams team, the Red Bulls and Torro Rossos and challenge the BMWs consistently for the accolade of third biggest team in F1.

Whilst the Force India team were again at the rear of the field, they again ensured that both their cars finished the race, which is more than can be said for Honda, who lost Button after an early collision to the front of his car.

If Force India can continue with their reliability, then they may be in with a chance of picking up some points should there be a high attrition rate at the front of the pack in one of the upcoming races.