Massa to lead for Ferrari

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), June 20, 2008

Byline: By IAN PARKES Sports Correspondent

FELIPE MASSA is looking to maintain his Fer rar i 's dominance at Magny-Cours and hopefully strengthen his own hand in the four-way title race.

Ferrari have won seven of the last 11 French Grands Prix, and the odds are on the Prancing Horse again galloping away with the win.

That's due in part to the fact one of their main rivals in Lewis Hamilton faces a 10-place grid penalty after his gaffe in Canada when he ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane.

As for the current world championship leader, Robert Kubica, he is not expecting to be as strong as the Ferraris on such a circuit in his BMW Sauber.

That appears to leave the way for Massaand Raikkonen to fight for the victory, with the Brazilian hoping to go one better than his second and third places in his last two races at the track.

"I am looking forward to having a competitive race because I think it is a good track for us," said the Brazilian, who along with Hamilton trails Kubica by four points.

"We were pretty strong on the street circuits as well (Monaco and Montreal), so in terms of performance we were not behind.

"But I am happy to come back to this kind of circuit because we know we can be competitive.

"Usually on this kind of track the race is a little more normal, and if you start in a good position then you have an even bigger chance to finish in a good position.

"I think it can be good."