Magny-Cours, France (My Sportsbook) - Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen captured Sunday's French Grand Prix at the famed Circuit de Nevers in Magny-Cours, France. The No.6 Ferrari crossed the finish line 2.414 seconds ahead of teammate Felipe Massa.

The victory was Raikkonen's second of the season and 11th of his F1 career.

It came just days after Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo chided that "We are waiting for the real Raikkonen, the one that everyone fears."

Massa won the pole on Saturday and led the field to the green flag on Sunday. He got off to a good start as did Raikkonen who beat Lewis Hamilton into the first turn.

The two Ferraris set the early pace pulling away to a three-second lead on Hamilton. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso, who started a distant 10th after a gearbox problem in the final qualifying session, quickly picked off three drivers and was into seventh after the first three laps.

By lap 10, Massa's lead over Raikkonen was 3.6 seconds as the Finnish driver was backing up into Hamilton's grasp. At the same time Alonso was struggling to find a way past Nick Heidfeld and his progress towards the leaders was slowed.

Massa set a fastest lap of the day on lap 14 as he continued to expand his lead on Raikkonen and Hamilton. It looked to be a three-man race as Robert Kubica, in fourth place, was already 15.4 seconds behind.

The two McLarens were the first to pit, so not only were the Ferraris faster, but they were carrying more fuel too. It appeared that barring mechanical problems or a mental error, the race already belonged to Ferrari.

Massa finally pitted on lap 19 and returned to the track in second place. Two laps later Raikkonen pitted after setting fastest lap and after the round of stops the margin was 2.0 seconds. Hamilton was over 10 seconds back.

On lap 33 Alonso finally got around Heidfeld in turn nine and took over fifth place.

At the mid-point of the 70-lap event, Massa lost half of his two-second lead to Raikkonen and Hamilton was slightly faster than both Ferraris and cut the gap to 7.3 seconds.

Hamilton made his second stop and fought grimly to stay ahead of Kubica after coming out of the pits. They exchange positions once, but Hamilton prevailed and went after the leaders.

Alonso made his second stop and stayed a long time. It looked like he was going to finish the race without another stop unlike his teammate who would need to make one more stop for fuel.

Up front, Massa was 2.8 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and more than 32 seconds ahead of Hamilton, though he was one pit stop behind the points leader.

Massa made his final stop and returned to the track 21.6 seconds behind Raikkonen. If Raikkonen could get in and out of the pits in less than that time he would take the race lead.

Two laps later Raikkonen pitted and taking less fuel he re-entered the track ahead of his teammate. Raikkonen now had a 1.8-second lead. Hamilton was 7.7 seconds back, but he was lapping quicker than either Ferrari.

Twenty laps to go and Hamilton made his final stop, a quick one, but he now had no chance to win the race because he was more than 27 seconds behind Raikkonen.

Raikkonen maintained his lead at about two seconds as they passed the 60-lap mark. It appeared that Massa had settled for second and Hamilton had been in "cruise" mode for awhile too.

Raikkonen took the checkered flag for his first win since the season opener in Melbourne.

Hamilton, Kubica, Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alonso and Jenson Button completed the points-scoring positions.

Hamilton will bring a 14-point lead over Alonso (64-50) to next Sunday's race at Silverstone, England.