F1 Magny-Cours: Bad Luck For Kimi, Good Vibrations For Jarno

When pole-sitter Kimi Raikkonen rocketed down the Circuit de Nevers at the start of the French Grand Prix, it seemed so natural, so easy and right.

Alongside Raikkonen on the first row was his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who slotted in behind an advancing Raikkonen, seemingly resigned to eat his exhaust.

Ah—Raikkonen's exhaust. More about that later.

No doubt Team Toyota was thrilled to see veteran driver Jarno Trulli zip past Renault's Fernando Alonso, securing third-spot at the start. The team wore black armbands in mourning of founder Ove Anderson, who recently lost his life in an accident during a vintage car rally in South Africa.

Trulli drove with his heart in France, and despite being hounded during the last 12 laps by McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen (who received an "oh-no-you-don't" bump-out from Trulli during a last-lap attempted pass), he displayed a renewed passion for the sport.

Hooray for Jarno Trulli.

Nelsinho Piquet had some of those same fires lit, driving his Renault with the aggression and skill expected of a GP2 almost-champion. One might say that Piquet is "on the bubble" for his drive with Renault, and stepped up to the pressure by passing his teammate (twice-world champion) Fernando Alonso and finishing in the points for the first time this season.

So, back to Raikkonen's exhaust or rather, his exhaust system failure. Something happened to cause the exhaust pipe on the Ferrari to shear off, leaving it flopping about wildly. It was attached to the car by only the temperature sensor cord and was tearing the heck out of the bodywork of the car.

The Speed TV commentators were very concerned that the part would disengage and fly into another driver, and it just so happened that the French-born hometown favorite, Sebastian Bourdais, was right behind Raikkonen at the time. Typical Raikkonen luck. I think someone has found the Kimi Raikkonenen voo-doo doll from his McLaren years.

With no way to expel heat, Raikkonen's car must have been hotter than Max Mosley in a sex-dungeon full of prostitutes in head-to-toe bondage gear.

The Ferrari quickly lost power and Massa took over the race lead and continued on for the win. Raikkonen maintained enough of a lead to keep the rest at bay and grabbed second spot on the podium.

This race was ridiculously well-attended, great fun to watch and made me wish that I had taken that F1 trip to Indy with my husband when I had the chance.