| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the 70-lap French Grand Prix. Weather, or specifically rain, could have a big influence in this race. Currently it dry following light rain this morning. |
| 13.32 | Felipe Massa claimed his fourth pole position of the season yesterday for Ferrari as he aims to get the Italian team back to its winning ways. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen has been strong all weekend and lines up in third position directly behind Massa. |
| 13.34 | Lewis Hamilton starts second in his McLaren Mercedes as he aims for his third straight Grand Prix win. McLaren face strong competition from Ferrari this weekend but with Alonso having gearbox trouble and starting tenth, Hamilton will not have to worry about his team-mate in the opening laps. |
| 13.36 | Robert Kubica starts a career best fourth in his BMW Sauber. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld starts seventh in the sister F1.07 as they continue their recent battle with the Renault team. |
| 13.38 | Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen line-up fifth and sixth and will be keen for a strong showing on Renault home soil. |
| 13.40 | Jarno Trulli starts from eighth position after a solid qualifying run in his TF107. Ralf Schumacher starts 11th. Points are the target for the Japanese-owned team. |
| 13.42 | Nico Rosberg continues to fly the flag for Williams Toyota starting from ninth position. Team-mate Alex Wurz had his usually poor qualifying session and starts 18th. |
| 13.44 | Starting tenth, Alonso has it all to do. The weather may well help him a little, but he will need to make up ground right from the start if he is to challenge for a podium position. |
| 13.45 | The orgaisers are laying down a lot of quick-dry cement. Someone has an oil leak it seems but that is not great for lap one. |
| 13.46 | Over at Honda and Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualified 12th and 13th and seem equally matched this weekend. The car, like many of its rivals, has many new components this weekend as the team target its first point of the season. |
| 13.48 | Mark Webber and David Coulthard start 14th and 16th for Red Bull Renault but the team has again been beset with mechanical problems, mostly with the gearbox. A race finish is perhaps the biggest aim for the team this weekend. |
| 13.50 | Of the rest, Scott Speed starts 15th in his Toro Rosso and may be able to take the fight to the likes of Honda. Tonio Liuzzi starts 17th ahead of Wurz while Anthony Davidson is 19th ahead of the Spyker duo and Takuma Sato. |
| 13.52 | Rain fell overnight and there has been a shower earlier today. The circuit seems dry at the moment. Rain however is predicted all afternoon and may well become a factor. |
| 13.54 | Each race this year has been won by a front-row starter with all but one race going to the pole sitter. Starting third and in desperate need to kick start his season, Raikkonen will be looking to spice up the action from the outset. |
| 13.56 | For Hamilton, the win is not essential and he would not be too upset to leave France with an eight or six points added to his tally, especially with Alonso perhaps not being able to score many points. Hamilton will however go for it on lap one as he has shown in each race this year. |
| 13.58 | The cars are all on the grid and awaiting the signal to start the engines. Some will one stop, most will two stop and perhaps some will three stop given the short pit lane at Magny Cours. |
| 13.59 | The engines fire up and the mechanics leave the dummy grid. |
| 13.59 | Sutil has a problem and is getting out of the Spyker Ferrari. |
| 14.00 | Felipe Massa leads the field away for the start of the formation lap. Their is some quick-dry cement at Imola after some oil was put down earlier. |
| 14.00 | The Spyker is pushed off the grid. |
| 14.02 | Massa lines up on the pole position with the rest of the field taking up position. |
| Lap 1 | The French Grand Prix is underway. |
| Lap 1 | Raikkonen moves second ahead of Hamilton |
| Lap 1 | Trulli hits one of the Renault into the hairpin. |
| Lap 1 | Liuzzi has gone off |
| Lap 2 | Massa leads Raikkonen and Hamilton. Davidson pits. |
| Lap 2 | It was Kovalainen that Trulli hit under braking. He pits and is back out. |
| Lap 2 | Trulli pits his Toyota. Must be front end damage. |
| Lap 3 | Alonso passes Rosberg. |
| Lap 3 | Davidson and Trulli as well as Liuzzi seem to be out of the race. Liuzzi went off at turn two on lap one. Davidson hit Liuzzi at the start and made contact. |
| Lap 4 | So poor driving from Trulli and Davidson. |
| Lap 4 | Alonso is now all over the back of Nick Heidfeld. |
| Lap 4 | Alonso is on the softer tyre, the rest of the front runners on the hard, so he needs to make good use of them before they go off. |
| Lap 5 | Kovalainen is still in the race but flat last after his lap one incident. |
| Lap 6 | Good racing between Alonso and Heidfeld as Alonso gets the position and then runs too deep and loses the position again. |
| Lap 6 | Hamilton remains third but unable to find a way ahead of Raikkonen. |
| Lap 8 | Massa extends his lead to three seconds over Raikkonen |
| Lap 8 | Heidfeld is losing ground to Fisichella as he hold off Alonso. |
| Lap 9 | Alonso is ducking and diving behind Heidfeld's BMW but unable to find a way by at the moment. |
| Lap 10 | Sutil, who was pushed off the grid before the start, is in the race as he chases team-mate Albers. |
| Lap 11 | Button and Barrichello run ninth and tenth, but are losing ground to Rosberg. |
| Lap 12 | Massa is pushing hard but Raikkonen has pegged the gap at the moment. Kovalainen goes a lap down. |
| Lap 13 | Alex Wurz (14th) is defending from Sato who started lat after a penalty from the US Grand Prix. |
| Lap 14 | Six seconds cover the top three. Alonso (7th) has dropped over 20s off the lead. |
| Lap 15 | Ralf Schumacher is all over the back of Barrichello and keen to take teth position. |
| Lap 15 | Massa and Raikkonen pushing hard and the gap extends to just over four seconds with Hamilton close behind. |
| Lap 17 | Hamilton pits from third position. |
| Lap 17 | Alonso also pits from seventh position. |
| Lap 18 | Hamilton has rejoined behind Rosberg which will hurt him unless the Williams pits soon. |
| Lap 19 | Hamilton is now losing nearly a second a lap to the leading Ferrari duo as he is stuck behind Rosberg. Alonso has a clear track ahead as he looks to close on Button |
| Lap 20 | Massa pits from the lead. Sato also stopped. |
| Lap 20 | Kubica and Fisichella both pit. |
| Lap 20 | Raikkonen takes over the lead for now but has yet to make his first stop. Most seem to be three stopping, will Raikkonen? |
| Lap 21 | Nico Rosberg pits his Williams. Good news for Hamilton. |
| Lap 22 | Fisichella exited the pits just ahead of former team-mate Alonso |
| Lap 22 | Alonso attempts a pass on Fisichella into the hairpin. Cannot get ahead on the outside. |
| Lap 23 | Raikkonen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 23 | Heidfeld pits his BMW Sauber. |
| Lap 23 | Alonso makes the pass on Fisichella stick, down the inside this time. |
| Lap 24 | So the first stops are done. No changes but Hamilton has lost about four seconds overall. Heidfeld remains in front of Alonso in sixth and Fisichella has been the one to lose ground to Heidfeld and Alonso. |
| Lap 25 | Button has yet to pit and runs P5. |
| Lap 26 | Barrichello remains tenth and has a big line of cars behind him, none of which have stopped. |
| Lap 27 | Massa and Raikkonen remain a couple of seconds apart. Hamilton has dropped away now in third. |
| Lap 28 | Alonso is still stuck behind Heidfeld in a great battle for position. |
| Lap 28 | Alonso tries the outside line through the Adelaide hairpin, but no way though there. |
| Lap 29 | Wurz pits his Williams from 14th. |
| Lap 30 | Albers is out of the race with what seems the fuel hose attached to the car after his pitstop. |
| Lap 30 | A dangerous situation. Albers just seemed to leave the pit without being told to do so. |
| Lap 31 | Webber and Speed pit. |
| Lap 32 | Raikkonen gains half a second on Massa on that last lap. The race is still on at the front. |
| Lap 32 | Alonso runs wide into the hairpin. Way too late on the brakes. |
| Lap 33 | Button pits his Honda from fifth position. That is his first stop. |
| Lap 33 | Now Coulthard pits his Red Bull Renault. Button now runs just ahead of team-mate Barrichello. |
| Lap 34 | An agressive pass from Alonso who now does get ahead of Heidfeld for position. |
| Lap 34 | Alonso really risked a lot to pass into turn eight. Heidfeld was forced to run off track and miss the following left hander. |
| Lap 35 | That was a bit unfair from Alonso. He basically said 'we crash or you lift'. Alonso now runs fifth. |
| Lap 36 | Raikkonen closes more on Massa and there is now just over a second between them. |
| Lap 36 | Alonso is now closing fast on Kubica's BMW Sauber. He should catch him in five laps or so. |
| Lap 38 | Hamilton pits from third position. Good timing as he was about to get stuck in lapped traffic. |
| Lap 38 | Hamilton exits with Kubica as they battle for position. |
| Lap 39 | Hamilton manages to get ahead of Kubica. An importnat move. |
| Lap 39 | Alonso has now pitted from fifth position. |
| Lap 40 | Alonso (9th) runs wide though turn two but manages to get back on track. |
| Lap 42 | Barrichello now has two Red Bull cars right behind him. Schumacher is ahead having made up the position during the first round of stops. |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton is on three stops and the Ferraru duo on two. |
| Lap 44 | Massa pits from the lead. |
| Lap 44 | Critical laps for Raikkonen now as he was three seconds down on Massa. |
| Lap 45 | Raikkonen stays out for another lap. |
| Lap 45 | Massa is getting up to speed on the soft tyres. |
| Lap 46 | Raikkonen leads Massa by 21s but will stop any lap now. |
| Lap 46 | Kubica pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 46 | Routine stop for Kubica as he takes the soft tyre for his final stint. |
| Lap 47 | Raikkonen pits. this will be close. |
| Lap 47 | Raikkonen has done it, he leads Massa as he exits the pits. |
| Lap 47 | Rosberg has pitted his Williams |
| Lap 48 | So Raikkonen now leads by two seconds over Massa and his extra laps in the second stint have won him the race. Unless he makes a mistake. Heidfeld pits. |
| Lap 49 | After Heidfeld's stop, he has exited ahead of Alonso in what has been a race long battle. |
| Lap 50 | Hamilton is closing on Massa but has to pit again. He has yet to run the soft tyre. |
| Lap 51 | Button and Fisichella pit. |
| Lap 52 | Hamilton pits from third position. |
| Lap 52 | A clean stop for Hamilton buy he is now way behind the Ferrari runners. |
| Lap 53 | Barrichello pits from 11th |
| Lap 53 | After his pit stop, Fisichella slotted in between Heidfeld and Alonso. |
| Lap 55 | Button's very long first sting on his two stop strategy has moved him into eighth position and perhaps his first point. |
| Lap 56 | Alonso trying to pass Fisichella for sixth position. |
| Lap 56 | Kovalainen pits for the third time. He was battling with Wurz. |
| Lap 57 | Alonso is looking very scruffy as he attempts to get ahead of Fisichella. |
| Lap 57 | Speed (15th) is out of the race and in the gravel. A mechanical problem not a driver mistake. |
| Lap 58 | Alonso lining up to pass Fisichella again but needs to go down the inside not the outside. |
| Lap 59 | The top three have backed off now and are coasting to the flag. |
| Lap 61 | Alonso mauls the kerbing again at the final chicane and Button is actually closing in on him now. |
| Lap 63 | The Fisichella Alonso battle is the closest on track. |
| Lap 67 | No changes and the order seems set. Hamilton picks up the pace a little to get a lap ahead of Coulthard. |
| Lap 68 | Rosberg runs in ninth and that is where he started so not a great day for Williams at all. Wurz is in 14th ahead of Kovalainen who was spun out by Trulli on lap one. |
| Lap 69 | Alonso has given up the battle with Fisichella now and will take just two points away from the race, losing another four to Hamilton. The championship gap will be 14 points in favour of Hamilton ahead of next weekend's British GP. |
| Lap 70 | Kimi Raikkonen wins the French Grand Prix win from Massa. |
| Lap 70 | Hamilton takes third ahead of Robert Kubica in a fine fourth ahead of Heidfeld, Fisichella, Alonso and Button. |
