Max Verstappen Wins Exciting French Grand Prix

Max Verstappen won an intriguing and exciting French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez as Red Bull took their third consecutive victory for the first time in the hybrid era.

Starting from Pole Position, Verstappen nailed his start, maintaining the lead from Hamilton before sliding and running wide into turn one, handing the lead to the World Champion. Valtteri Bottas kept his third place with Sergio Perez fourth, and that is how the order stayed for the early part of the race before the pit stops.

Bottas eventually crossed the line a distant fourth, after lambasting his team on the radio for not listening to him when he said it would be a two-stop race. It came back to bite Mercedes, as although Hamilton was able to keep his tyres in a semi-decent condition, Bottas was unable to and his tyres disappeared by the end of the race, taking his pace with them. Lando Norris continued his fine form for McLaren and finished fifth, keeping himself in fourth in the championship standings. Daniel Ricciardo seems to be finally getting to grips with the McLaren and completed a double points finish for the team in sixth, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who had another solid drive in the AlphaTauri and crossed the line in seventh. Fernando Alonso finished eighth for Alpine at their home Grand Prix, ahead of the two Aston Martin’s of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll respectively.

Bottas Left Out In The Cold

Poor Valtteri. I’ve been quite critical of him in past articles, but he did nothing wrong this weekend. It transpired that the Mercedes drivers swapped cars, so Lewis was running with Bottas’ chassis, and vice versa.

It seemed to be a decision that was working in Bottas’ favour during the early stages of the weekend, as he topped FP1 and was quicker than his team mate in FP2. Unfortunately Saturday didn’t quite go how he wanted and he lined up third on the grid, behind Verstappen and Hamilton, using his old chassis.

His race pace was solid, if unspectacular. He offered some early pressure on Verstappen after the Dutchman’s mistake into turn 1, and enjoyed a battle with Sergio Perez for fourth. He warned his team about the condition of his tyres, advising them to switch him to a two-stop strategy. Mercedes didn’t take his advice however, and he was left out on worn tyres for the remainder of the race, and came on the radio saying “Why the **** didn’t you listen to me when I say it’s going to be a two-stopper? ****ing hell.”

He was virtually defenceless against a charging Max Verstappen, and faded fast, losing the final podium position to Perez. I felt so sorry for him, as if Mercedes had pitted him, he would have certainly been right up there, maybe offering a problem to Verstappen and getting his own challenge back on track. He was downcast after the race, and rightly so. He was doing everything right this weekend, but Mercedes really threw him under the bus.

Nightmare For Ferrari

Ferrari came back to earth with a bump in France. After two poles for Charles LeClerc in Monaco and Baku, they left Paul Ricard with no points. In their tight battle with McLaren for third in the championship, that is costly.

The car isn’t perfect, that’s for sure, but they were so far off the pace in France it was shocking. It is a very different circuit when compared to the previous two venues and it showed Ferrari’s weaknesses. Carlos Sainz finished just outside the points in eleventh, but LeClerc was frequently passed by cars that on paper are usually further down the pecking order and finished a lowly sixteenth, and was even lapped by the leaders. A terrible weekend for the Scuderia.

They have said they are already switching focus to the 2022 car, therefore there won’t be any further updates to the 2021 machine. That could really hurt them in their battle with McLaren, obviously depending on what McLaren decide to do with their own car. The British team seem far more consistent and quick however, so even if McLaren don’t update their current car, I can’t see Ferrari catching and passing them for third place.

LeClerc and Sainz are definitely getting the best out of what is clearly a subpar car, but it can’t be easy for the two talented drivers. Hopefully they’ll be back closer to the front when we head to Austria in a week.

George Russell Shines Again

He is known as Mr Saturday, and he delivered again. 14th on the grid in qualifying at a track which, on paper, really shouldn’t suit the Williams. A poor start saw him drop towards the back of the grid, and he ran behind his team mate for a portion of the race before passing him again and making up some good positions in the race through the pit stop period.

Williams nailed a one-stop strategy with George and he finished a fine 12th ahead of Tsunoda, Ocon, Giovinazzi and surprisingly, Charles LeClerc in the Ferrari. What was brilliant is the fact that he finished 12th on merit, on pace, with no retirements to help him up the grid. The Williams is still clearly quite a poor car, lacking in downforce and appearing quite draggy still, so that only makes what George is doing in that car all the more impressive, especially when you compare his results to team mate Nicholas Latifi.

His future is still up in the air of course, with him saying that he wants it sorted by the summer. Whether that will be at Williams, or he will be moved up to the Mercedes team remains to be seen, but he has certainly proved he deserves to be in a car which can showcase his obvious talent. The fact that Esteban Ocon has recently signed a long term deal at Alpine has also helped, with some people speculating that Mercedes could be weighing up the Frenchman as a potential replacement for Bottas instead of Russell.

Importantly, Russell’s 12th place finish moves Williams back up into 9th in the constructors championship ahead of Haas.

Double Podium For Red Bull

After the bittersweet race for Red Bull in Azerbaijan, where they were robbed of a likely 1-2 finish due to Verstappen’s tyre failure, we finally saw two Red Bull’s on the podium since Bahrain last year.

Max Verstappen made a late(ish) change to fresh Medium tyres and fought his was through traffic, past Bottas and, with two laps to go, race leader Hamilton to take another win and extend his lead in the championship. Sergio Perez let his team mate through to enable him to go and fight the two Mercedes cars and mounted a late charge on Valtteri Bottas, who was struggling with old tyres, before passing the Finn and cementing a double podium for the Red Bull team, also extending their lead in the Constructors Championship.

Mercedes may still have the strongest car on the grid, but the Red Bull is definitely on a par with them and has outperformed Mercedes over the majority of the season. This was, on paper, very much a Mercedes circuit with sweeping turns and long straights, but that actually benefitted Red Bull more as they ran a lower downforce set up. The Mercedes could stick with the Red Bull through the corners, but was then left behind on the straights. With DRS open, the Red Bull was unstoppable.

Red Bull lead the Constructors Championship for the first time since 2013 after their strong weekend in Monaco, and must be confident that they can win both titles. It’s a long season however, and there are plenty of races to go. And you should never count out Hamilton and Mercedes.

How Does The Championship Looking Now?

Max Verstappen has extended his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 12 points, with Sergio Perez in third. Lando Norris remains fourth with Valtteri Bottas moving up to fifth, ahead of Charles LeClerc.

In the constructors, Red Bull extend their lead with Mercedes in second. McLaren are third with a healthy buffer over Ferrari following the Scuderia’s poor weekend. AlphaTauri are an impressive fifth with Aston Martin sixth.

Williams and Haas remain the only teams yet to score.

Where Are We Heading Next?

Austria! We head there in a week, as it’s the first of two races in the Styrian mountains. Historically, it’s a Red Bull track, so we could be in for another excellent Grand Prix at the fast past, flowing and beautiful (and aptly named) Red Bull Ring.

Lastly, I would like to apologise for not having written reviews following both the Monaco and the Azerbaijan Grands Prix, and rest assured it will not happen again!

Remember, you can catch our F1 Fans Show Live every Monday, where we love for you all to get involved, give us your opinions and have your say!

As always, take care and stay safe.

Steve Thomson