BOITUMELO RANTAO
RED Bull driver Max Verstappen won a fantastic French Grand Prix – passing reigning championship winner Lewis Hamilton of the penultimate lap at the Paul Ricard Circuit.
Verstappen, who was aided by an exquisite team strategy, found himself making two stops where the rest of the field stuck to the premeditated one-stop strategy. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, fresh off his maiden Red Bull win, executed the one-stop strategy to perfection gaining a place on Mercedes’ Valterri Bottas.
The race in Le Castallet was Red Bull’s first double-podium in over two years and the first time Red Bull has won three races in a row since 2013. On lap 32 Verstappen entered the pit lane and switched to a used set of medium compound tires. This dropped him to fourth, a few seconds behind his team mate Sergio Perez. Verstappen immediately set fastest lap, going 2s faster than race leader Hamilton and one second faster than Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen would continue cutting into Hamilton’s time until passing the Briton on lap 52.
Mclaren pair Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo showed blistering race pace – tearing through the field en route a fifth and sixth place finish respectively. Alpine Racing’s Fernando Alonso survived fast decaying tires to finish a solid eighth, ahead of Aston Martin pair Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. Stroll, who started on the harder compound tire, started from 19th on the grid and made up 10 places with a superior strategy.
Home town heroes Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished 7th and 11th respectively, a welcome result after colliding with each other in the last GP at the Paul Ricard Circuit
Ferrari, after two impressive outings at street circuits, had a difficult French GP finishing without a car in the points for the first time this season. The team tried two different strategies, pitting Charles Leclerc on a twice, whilst Carlos Sainz only pitted once. Sainz would finish in 11th, with Leclerc finishing an unsavoury 16th.
