Max Verstappen leaves it too late for Paul Ricard to extend the championship advantage

After a rain shower this morning and overnight, and since all the rubber that every car shed at every session this weekend was washed away by that rain, this was sure to be a wild race at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. In the end Max Verstappen With a major overtaking maneuver towards the end of the race, a big statement to maintain the lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship in 2021.

The race started with a balanced start for the top three. Carlos Sainz Jr. had a superior start in Sergio Perez but could not seal the position. On turn two, Verstappen unlocked himself and went far for no reason, since he was not under any pressure from anyone behind him, and he was gifted in the process Lewis Hamilton the leadership.

A lap later, Hamilton almost did a powerslide around the fifth corner and called his team to check his rear tires as he couldn’t find any grip. Further down the field Daniel Ricciardo got off to a fantastic start and was ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, and Sebastian Vettel made a nice move Esteban Ocon for eleventh place. Nikita Mazepin almost took his out Uralkali Haas F1 Team Teammate Mick Schumacher On lap five, Gasly began complaining about the balance of his car, calling it “a disaster”.

On lap eight, Hamilton started complaining about his tires, saying they were getting hot, reporting the grain of the front tires and believing the tires would not last that long Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team awaited them. It seems Hamilton was right when Mercedes announced to its pit crew that they would hang two laps on their planned strategy.

Ricciardo has finally found his way to the Alpine F1 team Car from Fernando Alonso on lap eight and only three laps later his teammate Lando Norris also found his way. Just a few laps later, Daniel found his way past Charles Leclerc by doing Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnowwho decided a short time later to be the first driver to pit.

The McLaren F1 team, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 team and Red Bull Racing seemed to handle their tires much better than anyone else on the grid at this point in the race as they were the only teams not struggling with the grit of their tires. Ricciado pitted to get on the hard tire ahead of Gasly so that he could undercut the French. He eventually managed to undercut both Gasly and Sainz.

The leader pitted on lap nineteen to fend off the undercut from his teammate and Verstappen, but again Mercedes misjudged its strategy! After a fantastic break, Verstappen found his way past Hamilton into the first corner. On lap twenty-one, Pérez hadn’t pitted and was ahead of Verstappen in second, Hamilton in third and Bottas in fourth. The Mexican pitted on lap 24.

If you just focused on the race at the top of the grid you would be missing out on all of the fun that happens in midfield like Gasly’s McLarens, Ferraris and Alpha Tauri which have had a mix of overtaking maneuvers throughout the race . On lap thirty-two, McLaren had won that fight in seventh place behind the Aston Martins who had yet to pit.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull have decided on a two-stop race! It is the first car to do this and if the Mercedes cars had decided to do the same, both Red Bulls would have taken the lead again. Mercedes didn’t make an immediate decision to pit and with Verstappen being over a second faster than Hamilton per lap, Red Bull put the Constructors’ champions into a real mystery.

With ten laps to go, Verstappen caught Bottas. Bottas goes far into turn eight and concentrates too much on the approaching Dutchman, which means that even without the help of DRS, Max was able to get through to second place on the next straight.

A very angry Bottas over the radio berated his team for not having committed to a two-stop race, something he announced very early on. Bottas has a point because after losing that position, Pérez joined him closely, making it almost inevitable that he would lose his podium, which he does on lap 49. After a slight overtaking maneuver, Verstappen is now behind Lewis.

Hamilton has overtaken four laps and Verstappen. Max has a great advantage in pace and is within DRS range on lap 52, where he easily overtakes Hamilton. After 53 exciting laps on a track that is normally not that exciting, Max Verstappen has the French Grand Prix, Red Bull won three races in a row for the first time in the turbo-hybrid era.

Another terrible day for Mercedes in terms of strategy and the reigning champions will have to deal with the next two races Spielberg in Austria, a route on which they weren’t their strongest in the past. These next two races will be a serious opportunity for Red Bull and Max Verstappen to build a big lead in the championship, and doing that with just a lap and a half could be the turning point of this season.

Norris’ great start to the season continued with an excellent run in fifth, while team-mate Ricciardo achieved his best result of the season in sixth, albeit just behind Gasly, Alonso and Vettel. Lance walk completed the points, ran very late before making his only stop and finishing in the top ten despite starting 19th on the grid.

Ferrari’s promise turned into a nightmare when Sainz and Leclerc dropped the order like a rock due to tire fighting. Sainz lost points in eleventh place, while Leclerc had an even worse day and was the only driver apart from Verstappen to pit twice. He was eventually ranked a low sixteenth.

George Russell had a quiet impressive run for Williams races, with the Briton taking an excellent twelfth place in the checkered flag, while Yuki Tsunoda brought his AlphaTauri out of the pit lane to thirteenth place. Esteban OconHe didn’t remember his home race too fondly when he came home in 14th in the second Alpine.

It was a disappointing day for too Alfa Romeo Racing ORLENwho wanted to score points for a third race in a row. It shouldn’t be there, however Antonio Giovinazzi could only be fifteenth and Kimi Raikkonen seventeenth. All twenty drivers are done with Nicholas Latifi, Schumacher and Mazepin bring up the rear.

Verstappen’s victory keeps him at the top of the drivers ‘championship ahead of the first of two races next weekend at the Red Bull Ring, while Red Bull itself can further extend its lead at the top of the constructors’ championship. But it’s still very early in the season but France have shown that Verstappen against Hamilton is likely to be a fight for the ages.

Final results
* denotes extra point for the fastest lap