Max Verstappen shows a brilliant late attack to deny Lewis Hamilton victory in the French GP

IIt was a bold decision by Red Bull, but one that would win them off. Mercedes knew that if they brought Hamilton in, Verstappen would recapture the lead, so they decided to keep the Brit and Bottas out in the hopes that they would be able to reach the flag.

For Verstappen, the Dutchman was 18 seconds behind to overtake in 20 laps. With the bite between his teeth, Verstappen set successive best times, brought Hamilton out 2.5 seconds in just one lap and nine remaining laps he overtook Bottas after the Finn, who was struggling with his worn rubber, was missing the chicane.

“Why the hell didn’t anyone listen to me when I said it was going to be a two-stop race,” yelled. Bottas. “F —— hell.”

Hamilton had a five-second lead and Verstappen was building the world champions’ lead with every lap.

With three laps remaining, Verstappen was just 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton, and on the following lap he made his move in the chicane, with Hamilton being powerless to prevent him.

“When we decided on a two-stop strategy, it paid off,” said Verstappen after his third win of the season. “We had to work hard for it, but it was very worth it.

“We fought each other the whole race, so it will be like that for the rest of the season.”

Hamilton said: “I’m not sure how we lost that position today. We didn’t know how strong that is.” [undercut] was about to become.

“They had a good strategy and it worked well. The only option I had was to stay out as long as possible and hope that the tires would hold together.”

After the checkered flag, Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles apologized to Hamilton and said over the radio: “It’s on us.”