Felipe Massa, Brazilian Formula One driver, led a Ferrari one-two to win the French Grand Prix and take the lead in the Formula One drivers' championship for the first time at the Magny-Cours circuit.

Massa's third victory of the season, and eighth of his career, made the 27-year-old Sao Paulo driver the first Brazilian to lead F1 standings since the late triple-champion Ayrton Senna in 1993.

Kimi Raikkonen, Massa's Ferrari teammate and defending world champion, led from pole position but conceded top spot to Massa just after the halfway mark when his car slowed with a broken exhaust.

Raikkonen, who won at Magny-Cours last season, was able to nurse his car home to a podium finish, 17.9 seconds behind Massa on an overcast and damp afternoon at the circuit in the heart of rural France.

"I didn't expect that, sometimes you need a little bit of luck," Massa said after Raikkonen's mishap.

"The championship is still 100 per cent open and we still have many races to go.

"It's nice but my dream is not to lead the championship, it is to win the championship. And I'm going to do my best to achieve that."

Raikkonen could not hide his disappointment but, with his car almost stopping in the closing stages, accepted second place.

"I'll take the eight points and it looks much better in the championship," the Finn told reporters.

Toyota's Trulli third

Italy's Jarno Trulli gave Toyota their first podium finish since the Australian Grand Prix of April, 2006, after holding off McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen in a thrilling battle for the final podium spot.

The two cars came close to colliding when side-by-side on the penultimate lap as Kovalainen tried in vain to pass.

Poland's Robert Kubica, the championship leader for BMW-Sauber going in to Sunday's race after winning in Canada, finished fifth with Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber sixth.

Renault's Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet finally took his first point in Formula One, at the eighth attempt, with seventh place ahead of team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso in eighth.

Massa, who is the fourth driver to lead the championship in the space of eight races, now has 48 points to Kubica's 46 with Raikkonen ending a two-race run without points to move up to third place with 43.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who had been level with Massa in second place going into the race, finished 10th after starting 13th due to a 10-place penalty on the grid incurred for colliding with Raikkonen in the Canadian Grand Prix pit lane.

The 23-year-old Briton suffered a further setback when he picked up a drive-through penalty for leaving the track while passing another car, that dropped him from ninth to 16th place.

Honda's Briton Jenson Button was the only driver to retire from the race.