PARIS, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Kimi Raikkonen revived his hope of a Formula One title by leading Ferrari to a one-two French Grand Prix win on Sunday.

    It was the Finn's second win of the Formula One season, but his first podium finish since Bahrain in April five races ago.

    With seven points behind Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa who won the pole position for the fourth time in eight races, Raikkonen who started third, swept past McLaren's rookie championship leader Lewis Hamilton to take second place at the start and then made the most of the pit stop strategy to get past Massa and stay ahead to the chequered flag.

    "I think we needed that," he said, "the work starts paying off now. It took maybe longer than we expected, but in the end it is good that we got the win and are back in the right place now."

    "I think we are back where we expected to be," added the Finn, still 22 points off Hamilton's tally of 64 but just five adrift of Massa and eight behind McLaren's double world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

    McLaren had won the last three races, after Massa's victories in Bahrain and Spain, but Ferrari showed their form in testing at Silverstone last week.

    "Both drivers got great starts, then they drove exceptionally well and fought it out between themselves for the win," said team boss Jean Todt.

    "This one-two is crucial for the rest of both championships," added the Frenchman. "There are still nine races to go and everything is still possible."