@Max33Verstappen out-foxes @LewisHamilton to win #FrenchGP after start error. #F1
Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, celebrating after winning the Formula 1 Emirates Grand Prix De France 2021, Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France. Image credit to Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images. Verstappen French GP win. 2021 French GP. 2021 French GP Results. 2021 Styrian GP Preview.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made a pass on the penultimate lap to beat Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and win the French GP with an aggressive two-stop strategy in an unexpected two-stop strategy the key to his triumph.
Verstappen lost the lead in the early proceedings by running off the circuit at the second corner before gaining first place back when the undercut caught Mercedes out in the initial pit-stop window.
But with the field struggling with more tyre degradation than expected in what were much cooler conditions at Circuit Paul Ricard on Grand Prix day compared to the rest of the weekend, this time it was Red Bull who done what the Silver Arrows did back to them in the 2019 Hungarian and 2021 Spanish Grands Prix by giving up the race lead in the second half of proceedings to setup another thrilling finish for the Dutchman to win.
When the 53 lap French Grand Prix began, pole-sitter Verstappen lead Hamilton away from the front row on the grid and looked to control from the get-go as he went through the first corner, but as the Red Bull driver slid through the quick left-hander and began to move towards turn two’s right, the Dutchman had to catch a slide.
Verstappen was suddenly moving right when he should have been positioning his RB16B racer to the left ahead of the second corner and ran off the track as caught the slide, keeping tight to the yellow bollards on the inside of turn two.
As Verstappen caught his slide, Hamilton passed by the Red Bull to easily take the lead.
Hamilton built the gap to 1.4 seconds by the end of the opening tour, despite having to catch his F1 W12 on the dirty slide coming onto the main straight at the end of lap one.
The front-runners rapidly dropped Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was fourth in the other Honda-powered RB16B, as Hamilton ran without trouble upfront, his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas pressured Verstappen’s second place – going in and out of DRS range towards the end of the opening ten tours.
The top three were the only runners lapping in the low-mid 1:39’s throughout the initial stint, where Hamilton coolly built a solid gap over Verstappen.
The Briton’s lead reached three seconds when Mercedes brought Bottas in at the end of the 17th tour to switch his C3 yellow-marked medium compounds for the hards, after drivers who stopped earlier and were running in the pack – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo – made significant gains with the undercut.
Red Bull reacted by bringing in Verstappen at the end of the next tour and the Dutchman was able to emerge in a comfortable second place, also the C2 white side-walled hards.
Hamilton made the same swap a lap after, but Verstappen’s undercut stunned the reigning world champion by making it ahead into the first corner as the Mercedes, which was stable for a tenth less than a second at it’s stop compared to Red Bull, was still getting back to speed.
Verstappen was back in P1, but under intense pressure from both Mercedes who were running in DRS range behind net race leader (Perez lead until he made his stop of the 24th tour having sequenced to the front when the leading runners came in).
The ten laps after Verstappen reclaimed the lead, Hamilton was able to run within a second of the Red Bull, but, as the leaders were looking at the possibility of changing to a two-stop strategy, the gap began to edge out.
On lap 32, Verstappen had a 2.2 second lead as he remained in the 1:32’s margin, whilst the following Silver Arrow’s slipped into the mid 1:38’s, but at the end of the lap, Red Bull called the Dutchman in to go back onto the medium rubber.
After completing his out-lap, Verstappen had an 18 second gap to hunt down for the lead and began eating into that advantage by lapping two seconds quicker as he ran in the 1:36’s, while Hamilton was running in the mid 1:38’s.
Perez let team-mate Verstappen by at turn 11 on the 35th tour, with Mercedes reporting to Hamilton the catch would depend how long it would take his championship rival to pass by Bottas and if Verstappen could keep his tyres in good condition than most drivers could in their initial stints.
Verstappen caught Bottas with ten laps remaining, his rate of catching the two Silver Arrows slowing after his first charge, with Hamilton getting back to lapping regularly in the 1:37’s, as they made their way through traffic.
On the 44th tour, Verstappen charged in on Bottas with DRS down the first half on the Mistral Straight, and when the Finn defended on the inside of the first part of the turn eight and nine chicane, Bottas lost momentum.
This allowed Verstappen to run alongside the Mercedes on the rundown the rest of the straight and snatched second as they went through Signes corner, which gave Verstappen 5.1 seconds to chase down race leader Hamilton with nine laps remaining.
The gap came slowly down in little amounts, but as Hamilton was running in the 1:38’s as the race reached five laps to go, Verstappen was able to gain a second a lap as the traffic between the top two disappeared.
At the beginning of the penultimate tour, Verstappen made it into DRS range – the gap was 0.7 seconds – and he recaptured the lead heading into the chicane on the Mistral Straight.
Verstappen closed in fast with DRS, and although Hamilton defended the inside, the Red Bull got alongside the Mercedes approaching turn eight and Verstappen secured the lead at the apex of the first part of the chicane.
Verstappen moved clear to win the French GP by 2.904 seconds, with Perez completing the top three in-front of Bottas as the Mexican was able to bring his one-stopper life to his advantage in the closing stages.
Perez claimed third sweeping around the outside of Bottas at Signes, with the latter furious had he could not swap to a two-stop strategy.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was another driver who made a late stop on the one-stop strategy work to his advantage, as he made his way to finish fifth and ahead of team-mate Ricciardo who came home sixth.
Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished the race seventh and in-front of Alpine F1 Teams Fernando Alonso who was eighth and the two Aston Martin’s of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll who completed the final points positions.
Stroll finished in the points after starting on the hards and at the rear of the grid – and ran long in the Grand Prix before pitting.
Leclerc, the first driver to pit in the race, fell down the field as his harder rubber degraded and was eventually put onto a two-stop strategy and ended the race in a low 16th.
His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, also struggled with tyre life and came home in 11th after starting in fifth, with Williams Racing’s George Russell beating AlphaTauri’s pit-starter Yuki Tsunoda to 12th place.
Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon was 14th and in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who took 15th and the aforementioned Leclerc 16th.
The other Alfa of Kimi Raikkonen ended the race 17th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who was 18th and the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.
2021 French GP – The Top Three
French GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:
“At the beginning it was super difficult with the wind. We made the call to do the two-stopper and luckily it paid off, but we had to work hard. The whole race we were fighting each other so I think it will be like this for the rest of the season.”
2nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance:
“Considering where we were Friday, I have to be happy with today’s result. I had no tyres at the end. We’ve got to dig deep, try and figure out [what we’re missing] on the straight. It was really surprising to run out of tyre.”
3rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:
“Yeah, it played out, it was hard to keep behind. But the track was getting better, I picked up my rear temps, went long and it really paid off. We did a great race, great for the team.”
Formula 1 Emirates Grand Prix De France 2021 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 53 | 1:27:25.770 | 26 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 53 | +2.904s | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 53 | +8.811s | 15 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 53 | +14.618s | 12 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 53 | +64.032s | 10 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 53 | +75.857s | 8 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 53 | +76.596s | 6 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ALPINE RENAULT | 53 | +77.695s | 4 |
| 9 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 53 | +79.666s | 2 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 53 | +91.946s | 1 |
| 11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 53 | +99.337s | 0 |
| 12 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | HAAS FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | HAAS FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1070/france/race-result.html
Click here for the Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
Round eight of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championships returns to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria for the Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021 next weekend from Friday June 25-Sunday June 27.
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