@LewisHamilton extends title lead with dominant #FrenchGP victory. #F1

Lewis Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship after cruising to a dominant French Grand Prix victory at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

 

 

Hamilton comfortably out-paced Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium and Sebastian Vettel fell to 76 points behind the Briton after finishing fifth.

 

Vettel was unable to make much progress from starting seventh on the grid, although the German claimed the bonus fastest lap point on the final lap after making a late stop for fresher rubber.

 

Polesitter Hamilton kept the lead at the start and only managed to make a small margin over the initial stint.

 

However, the drivers who remained out longer on the medium compounds saw Hamilton’s gap grow bigger.

 

The Briton was eight seconds clear of team-mate Bottas when the latter made a stop on lap 23 for the C2 white side-walled hard tyres.

 

Hamilton remained out for an extra lap with the Silver Arrows extending their driver’s stints to ensure they were enough ahead of Vettel’s Ferrari, which continued on longer.

 

After the pitstop window, Hamilton’s advantage continued to build and after switching fastest lap times with team-mate Bottas, the lead built to 18.056 seconds right to the finish line as the Briton extended his points lead to 36 over the Finn.

 

Bottas claimed second place for the first time in three Grands Prix, although Hamilton’s fourth successive victory could be a huge hit in the Finn’s title quest.

 

Behind the two Mercedes F1 W10 EQ Power+ racers, Leclerc held onto the tail of Bottas and the lead Ferrari put the Finn under intense pressure right to the chequered flag, even though he was a few seconds behind in the closing stages as the young-Monegasque driver scored his second podium in a row.

 

Leclerc had to face a hard opening-lap fight with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen as the two ran wheel-to-wheel on the run to turn three.

 

Leclerc was squashed in by Bottas into the second corner, which gave Verstappen a good run around the outside before the former moved clear as they approached the next corner.

 

After that, Verstappen’s attention towards the other Ferrari of Vettel.

 

Vettel cut the gap to just three seconds in the initial stint, but after making his stop, he emerged 5.9 seconds behind the Dutchman and dropped further behind.

 

That gave Verstappen, who was dealing with throttle lag issues earlier on, comfortable space and Vettel had too much time to close down the margin with the German starting to close in again during the closing stages.

 

Ferrari then opted to pit Vettel for a fresh set of softer rubber with two laps remaining to attempt to claim the bonus fastest lap point.

 

Vettel posted a blistering 1:32.740 lap record and snatched the fastest lap point from Grand Prix winner Hamilton by 0.024 seconds after the latter also set a quick time on the final lap.

 

Behind Vettel, McLaren was the best of the rest with Carlos Sainz crossing the line in sixth place.

 

Sainz jumped passed team-mate Lando Norris at the start when the latter had nowhere to go into the first corner and had to back out, giving the former the upper hand and the place.

 

Norris managed to do well despite his hydraulics problem that continued to get worse as the race continued on with braking and steering issues also hampering the young Briton as he fell behind Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg in the other R.S.19 Renault.

 

Ricciardo pushed Norris on the outside of the chicane but ran too deep, so Norris hit the throttle and attempted to pass him through the second part of the corner, but the Briton went too wide after being squeezed out by Ricciardo and took a trip into the run-off area.

 

That caused multiple cars to run wheel-to-wheel as Raikkonen and Hulkenberg joined in the battle, with Ricciardo originally taking seventh ahead of Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and the problem-hit Norris.

 

Ricciardo however, was demoted to 11th place following a stewards post-race investigation with the incident involving Norris after the Australian was deemed to re-join and “unsafely force another driver off” and thus was handed two five-second timed penalties to his result and two points off his superlicence.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly was promoted to the final point’s place at his home Grand Prix and in-front of the penalised Ricciardo and two Racing Point RP19’s of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll who were 12^th and 13^th respectively.

 

The two Honda-powered STR14’s of Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon followed in 14^th and 15^th respectively, finishing ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who was 16^th.

 

The sole VF-19 Haas of Kevin Magnussen finished in-front of the two ROKiT Williams Racing FW42’s of George Russell and Robert Kubica who brought up the rear and two laps down.

 

The other Haas of Romain Grosjean was the only retirement of the race with the Frenchman forced to retire from his home Grand Prix on lap 44.

 

The Top Three

 

1^st – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “It’s definitely been a really good weekend, it’s such a challenge out there and I love that, really trying to find the edge. I couldn’t do it without this incredible team. We’re creating history together and I’m so proud to be a part of it. Valtteri did a great job this weekend – I’m hyped.”

 

2^nd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “Not that much happening from my side honestly. The start was kind of the best bet for me, but Lewis had a good start too, ultimately, he was quicker today, and I couldn’t match his pace. It’s important to understand today what I can do better for next time.”

 

3^rd – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “I gave it everything, obviously the first run was okay, but the Mercedes were just too quick. I was catching Valtteri, I think he was struggling to turn his tyres on after the VSC. It’s a great day for us”

 

Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix De France 2019 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)

 

POS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	GAP
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	53	1h24m31.198s
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	53	18.056s
3	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	53	18.985s
4	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	53	34.905s
5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	53	1m02.796s
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	53	1m35.462s
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	52	1 Lap
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault F1 Team	52	1 Lap
9	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	52	1 Lap
10	Pierre Gasly	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	52	1 Lap
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team	52	1 Lap
12	Sergio Perez	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	52	1 Lap
13	Lance Stroll	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	52	1 Lap
14	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	1 Lap
15	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	1 Lap
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	52	1 Lap
17	Kevin Magnussen	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	52	1 Lap
18	Robert Kubica	ROKiT Williams Racing	51	2 Laps
19	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing	51	2 Laps
–	Romain Grosjean	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	44	Retirement

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 187 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 151 Points.
3. Sebastian Vettel – 111 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 100 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 87 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 37 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 26 Points.
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 19 Points.
9. Daniel Ricciardo – 16 Points.
10. Nico Hulkenberg – 16 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 338 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 198 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 137 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 40 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 32 Points.
6. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 19 Points.
7. Alfa Romeo Racing – 19 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 17 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 16 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

Round nine of the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season heads straight to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria next weekend for the Formula 1 MyWorld Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2019 from June 28-30.