Red Bull and Aston Martin excel, Mercedes inadequate

Red Bull Racing – 9.5

Red Bull was well advised by Paul Ricard. Max Verstappen was three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton when he entered the pit lane, but a few minutes later the Mercedes driver’s lead was gone. The reputation of letting Sergio Perez drive a longer first stint earned the Mexican a podium, and Verstappen’s second pit stop also turned out to be gold: It brought the Dutchman the victory.

Mercedes – 4.5

The German formation made a mistake. Toto Wolff has already indicated that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are not so much to blame, so James Vowles’ team is likely to be the main culprit. The Mercedes car was a close match with Red Bull’s, so Hamilton should never have given up his lead at turn one. Bottas said on the radio that he was not satisfied with the strategy and let the Mercedes men fail.

McLaren saw a very strong Ferrari at the last two Grands Prix in Monaco and Baku and so it was up to the formation from Woking to take over the momentum. McLaren managed this task one hundred percent because Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo got access to a very competitive car and managed to conquer places 5 and 6 in the world championship.

Ferrari – 6.0

Ferrari knew it would be difficult to repeat the performance of the last two GPs, but P11 and P16 are just disappointing. The speed was not there at all on the hard tire and so Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc slid through the field, where qualifying looked promising. There’s a lot to do because Ferrari can’t afford to repeat a weekend like this in the battle for third place in the constructors’ championship when we travel to Austria for a one-two victory next week.

AlphaTauri – 8.0

AlphaTauri’s car was good again, it’s just a shame that Yuki Tsunoda had to start from the back row. Pierre Gasly showed what the AT02 was capable of and finished the French GP in a solid seventh place. As soon as the Japanese rookie actually collects points, it seems clear that AlphaTauri will occupy fifth place among the constructors this year.

Aston Martin – 9.0

Aston Martin was strategically strong in Monaco and Baku, and the same scenario played out in the south of France. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll both had to start from outside the top ten, but at the end of Sunday afternoon, Lawrence Stroll’s team was still three points richer after a P9 and P10. If the race had lasted longer, Vettel would have finished eighth if he had overtaken Fernando Alonso. Strategically, Aston Martin are at the top of the list, but in terms of sheer speed, they have to move up a gear for the rest of the season.

Alpine – 7.5

It was a solid race again, but it’s clear that Alpine had to take a step back from 2020. Podium places are out of the question, the French have to be satisfied with a score. Fernando Alonso made sure of that with eighth place, but otherwise everything that Alonso and Esteban Ocon can show in their Alpin this season is pretty bland.

Speaking of colorless, it wasn’t Alfa Romeo Racing’s weekend either. The stable is in a small no man’s land. Alpine and Aston Martin are too fast and Williams and Haas F1 are usually not up to them on Sunday. Alfa Romeo appears to have its sights set on 2022, however, so spots will be the exception rather than the rule.

Williams – 7.0

Williams delivered a nice car in terms of race speed, or was it just George Russell who stood out from his car? Either way, it was one of Williams’ better performances. It didn’t score any points, but P12 in a non-stop race isn’t bad.

Haas F1 – 5.0

Well what can we say Not much to say. For Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin it was a year of learning and failure.