Qualifying...
It was heart-warming to see fans filling the grandstands and great to see the enjoyment everyone got out of it. Even better, for all the fans who had travelled to Paul Ricard seeking thrills from high speeds, the weather got warmer moving on from FP3, with the track temperature hiking to a sweltering 43.4 degrees Celsius.
Quali
Q1:
The first cars to pass the green light at the end of the pit-lane were the Alfa Romeos, followed by all AlphaTauris and Haas cars. Pierre Gasly was ultimately the first car to set a lap time, who I’m sure was keen to impress his home crowd. Sharing similar sentiments was Esteban Ocon, who along with his teammate Fernando Alonso, was content to stay in the garage alongside both Mercedes and Red Bulls. However, Gasly’s early start was soon to be interrupted by his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda who was shown taking a little too much kerb at Turn 1, resulting in an impending spin before wiggling backwards into the barriers. Despite attempts to get back on track and return anxiously to the pits for an inspection, a containment in neutral meant Yuki’s qualifying was over- as well as Gasly’s first lap, as the race directors saw fit to wave the red flags. Fortunately, Gasly had plenty of time for another lap with 14 minutes and 19 seconds remaining on the clock. The session restarted at 15:13, with an array of tyre options suited and booted to the cars leading the field out of the pitlane - many, such as Leclerc, stuck with the tyres they had before the red flag.
Aston Martin, however, decided to change wanting to secure Q2. Perhaps these decisions were reflective of their performance in Free Practice, with Aston Martin not inching into the top ten once. So, they may have thought they didn’t have the pace for Q3 and could therefore afford to use another set of tyres.
Once everyone was back out on track, traffic became an apparent issue when Leclerc was evidently disrupted by cars near Turn 14 and 15, and further made clearer when his Ferrari teammate Sainz, went nine tenths quicker. Those times were quickly disposed of by the usual suspects; Verstappen (topping the front-runners’ first runs with a 1:31.001), Perez, Bottas and Hamilton. Unsurprisingly, they all looked rather comfortable and competitive, Hamilton boosting himself from 4th to 2nd with another hot lap. The two big teams looked cool and collected and were waiting to challenge each other for pole, saving their best laps for later to claw away at each other. At the other end of the spectrum, the usual Q1 boarder liners were also in trouble, with increased pressure on Lance Stroll who had a time deleted previously for exceeding track limits. Up to this point, many drivers had kept it pretty tidy, ironing out any issues that occurred in free practice.
However, with just over 20 seconds left, Mick Schumacher lost control of his sensitive Haas (sensitive by the teams’ own admission) at Turn 6, breaking the hearts of much of F1 Twitter in the process. Yet, there was a light at the end of the tunnel - Mick had scraped through to Q2 for the first time! Despite this, there was also the ominous possibility of a gearbox change to make his incredible efforts pointless. That incident concluded Q2, with the second red flag of the session. Eliminated were Yuki Tsunoda (after his early incident), Lance Stroll (denied the chance to show whatever pace he held), Nikita Mazepin, Kimi Raikkonen, and Nicholas Latifi. Overall, Free Practice had been reflective of Q1 - with the top eleven cars being the same as FP3, though not in the same order. It was clear to see a midfield battle was heating up.
Q2:
The next session began swiftly as everybody sported the medium compound of tyre - except for Russell deciding to run the softs, who continued his strong form in qualifying. Gasly was again keen to set his lap time first, followed by the two McLarens. The pressure was surely on for Lando, who like Stroll, had his time deleted however had less time to compose himself than the Aston Martin driver. If Lando failed to set a fast time on the mediums it could pressure him to fall onto the soft tyre contingency which would have been more likely to guarantee himself a place in Q3, but compromised his race strategy. However, he showed faith in himself, the car, and his tyres, by sticking with the mediums and improving to seventh. Despite this and with track evolution creating faster times, it was a risky place to sit - especially when he was denied another hot lap when he was called into the pits with a vague and mysterious radio message: “We’ll box this lap, I’ll explain later.” The issue was later revealed by Lando as a lack of fuel (“A slight issue. You sometimes need fuel to make it round!” he joked). But whilst Norris pulled into the pits, his teammate Daniel Ricciardo headed out on the softs just in case. In the end, the Honey Badger was safe and slowed down on what would have been his fastest lap in order to ensure he started on the desired medium tyres.
I’m sure, however, most of the crowd were more focused on their countrymen Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon - and although Gasly comfortably made it through, Ocon didn’t threaten Ricciardo who was on the edge of the top ten. A sure disappointment for Alpine, a French team at their home race with a French driver, at a time Free Practice appeared to be encouraging for the team and their fans. Settling in behind Ocon, also not making it through to Q2 were Vettel, Giovinazzi, Russell, and Schumacher (who unfortunately never got to compete in his first Q2 of F1). Looking up the leaderboard, Q2 went more in Mercedes’ favor with Perez the only other car besides the Silver Arrows to creep into the 1:30s whilst Verstappen didn’t improve on his Q1 time. Like the track temperature, the competition was hotting up, though Red Bull looked stronger on the softs while Mercedes looked stronger on the mediums - indicating an advantage for Red Bull coming into Q3 but perhaps Mercedes would have the optimum race strategy.
Q3:
During Q3, track temperature remained high but breezier conditions meant an increase in unpredictability and perhaps caution inside the drivers’ helmets. If you’re wondering who was out of the pit lane first, it was once again Pierre Gasly with the soft tyres. Surprisingly, both Alonso and Ricciardo chose mediums for their first outing in the final session, though everyone else preferred the red-walled soft tyres. All eyes, however, were on the competition for pole position and the front two rows, with the strategic possibilities beyond our comprehension. Mercedes could secure another front row lockout to add to their tally, or those positions in front could belong to Red Bull, but a Mercedes and Red Bull sandwich would certainly spice up the strategy aspect of the race. After the first few runs, Verstappen set the pace for Hamilton, Perez, and Bottas to beat - but it would be with a large gap of four tenths, and with Red Bull looking the quickest on the softs, it was looking doubtful that Mercedes would have the pace. As always with Formula One, pole went down to the last laps, with every driver in Q3 improving on their first lap times. Verstappen ran wide at Turn 2 on his make-or-break lap, but it is unclear how intentional that was as previous laps seem to indicate he prefers a wider line. Yet that line, intentional or not, didn’t help him as much as he desired, as Hamilton went faster than Verstappen in the first sector. With every driver improving their lap, but not necessarily their grid position, tension was high, and the strength of Red Bull shone when Verstappen flashed down the finishing straight, dipping into the 1:29s. The results relied on Hamilton, last to cross the line, as Bottas lay second and Perez third - but the Mercedes man and seven time world champion improved only to second, gifting Max his first pole in France by two-and-a-half tenths. Q3 would indeed end in a sandwich; Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas and Perez. Best of the rest was Sainz followed by Gasly, with a good performance at his home circuit. The top ten was closed out by Leclerc, Norris, Alonso, and Ricciardo. It was anyone’s guess who would come out on top between Mercedes and Red Bull, but for the championship battle behind, Ferrari were definitely prepared to extend their 3rd place lead from McLaren.
"The car was feeling good in Q1 on the soft, I was very happy with it, with the medium we felt like something went wrong." - Esteban Ocon
"We really did want to qualify on the medium, that was important." - Daniel Ricciardo
"At the end of the day we still managed to deliver and split the two Ferraris, put a very good lap together, and I'm very pleased with that." - Pierre Gasly
The Race...
There was steady rain falling at the Paul Ricard Circuit when the drivers started to arrive on Sunday. We all know that Max Verstappen, current leader of the championship, usually does well on wet tracks. Would that be the case during this race as well? Would he be able to maintain his first place on the starting grid all the way through the race until the checkered flag? His main competitor Lewis Hamilton, starting from second place, would not back down from a fight and most likely would seize every opportunity to get into the lead and score those highly wanted 25 championship points.
With a rather odd pre-race display, the trophy (which like previous years was a gorrilla designed by a local artist) was flew in by army helicopter and two soldiers placed it down on the track to take a photo of it on the red, white and blue runoff areas. Then usual service was resumed, the national anthem sung and the message against racism in motorsport was displayed we were ready to go. Drivers took to their cars, or travel to the pitlane for a pitlane start if you’re Yuki Tsunoda, took to the formation lap.
One by one the lights switch on and then… it’s lights out and away they go.
Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton got a great start as the battle for P1 commenced as soon as they got off the line. Bottas got away better than Pérez, who felt a lot of pressure from Carlos Sainz behind. Verstappen was still leading as the pack went into Turn 1, but going into Turn 2, the Red Bull driver lost the rear of his car, counter steered to correct it, and was forced to go over the run-off, through the escape road and past the bollards, as title rival Lewis Hamilton swept into the lead.
Verstappen returned to the track in P2, keeping the Mercedes of Bottas behind him. Following the Finn, Peréz was occupied defending his fourth place from Carlos Sainz, who continuously was looking to make a move on the Mexican driver. In sixth place, Pierre Gasly was breathing down Sainz’ neck, trying to get by and impress the fans at his home Grand Prix.
Further down the order, Lando Norris lost two places on the start, seeing Fernando Alonso and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo now in front of him.
Alonso was seen pushing the Ferrari of Leclerc, trying to get past the Monegasque. Tsunoda, who kept out of first lap drama starting from the pitlane, quickly overtook Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, leaving both Haas’ down in 19th and 20th place.
In the following laps, the cars found a rhythm, and the chaos and excitement from the start turned into a relatively quiet situation where drivers were simply waiting for their chance to overtake the car in front of them. Daniel Ricciardo, who overtook his teammate on the first lap, saw his chance in lap 11 and flew past Fernando Alonso, climbing to 8th place. Half a lap later, Lando Norris followed his lead by overtaking Alonso as well, with both McLarens starting to climb up the ladder.
It’s in lap 12 that Bottas went wide at Turn four and passed the bollard on the inside of the corner on the left. He didn’t rejoin the track as he should have done, as its stated in the rules, but according to Michael Masi, Bottas did the safest thing possible in those circumstances, lost a significant amount of time, and rejoined in a safe manner. Therefore, the FIA decided that no further action was necessary.
The following lap, Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel passed Alonso, kicking the Spaniard out of the points for the time being.
At the back of the field, the Japanese rookie had also passed both Williams’, climbing to 16th place, and now facing the experienced Kimi Raikkonen.
Daniel Ricciardo was driving steadily in P8 when he was called in by his team on lap 17 to undercut Pierre Gasly. “Daniel, box to overtake Gasly,” they told him, and so he did. The Australian driver switched to hard tyres, and rejoined the track in P17, behind Charles Leclerc, who had pitted two laps earlier.
On lap 18, Mercedes called Bottas to the pits and switched to hards. That same lap, Gasly, Sainz and Russell followed that same strategy. The Ferrari and AlphaTauri exited the pits in P15 and P16, making Ricciardo’s strategic pit stop on Gasly successful.
Verstappen also pitted on lap 18, trying to undercut Lewis and retake the lead of the race. With a pitstop of 2.3 seconds, Red Bull produced a lackluster pitstop. So, all eyes were on Lewis’ pitstop, to see if the undercut was a success. The Brit pitted the next lap, also switched to hards, and with a pitstop of 2.2 seconds, Mercedes was only a fragment faster than their rivals.
As Lewis Hamilton left the pitlane, Verstappen was clearly visible in his mirrors, getting closer every millisecond. The number 1 and 2 in the driver’s championship were side by side going into Turn 1. But, thanks to a great out-lap from Verstappen, he had the better racing line, and Hamilton had to let the Dutchman pass. The Brit had to settle for third place, behind Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, who yet had to pit and was currently leading the race.
Despite having both Red Bulls leading the pack, Verstappen sounded quite frustrated on the board radio in lap 22, asking his team to talk to him. Gianpiero Lambiase, Max’s race engineer, informed him of the gap with Hamilton and told his driver to calm down. The frustration Verstappen showed is understandable, as they still have over 30 laps to go and Max wanted to defend his position in front of both Mercedes’s at all costs.
In the meantime, Pérez was being told “Plan A + 3 more laps”, meaning that the Mexican was indeed taking care of his medium tyres at the beginning of the race, and showing that Red Bull was really playing a strategic came during the race.
The power of Red Bull’s undercut had also put Bottas right on the tail of his team mate, with the Finn’s side of the garage willing on their man, saying: “We’re enjoying this Valtteri.”
Perez was eventually brought in on lap 24 (along with the McLaren of Norris), making the order Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas – the top three cars running within three seconds of one another – with Perez around 15s behind when he emerged from the pits.
In the mid field, Daniel Ricciardo was steadily gaining places, leaving Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon behind him. The papaya-colored car of Lando Norris, who had just pitted and came out in 14th position, also started to make its way through the field. By lap 28, he was already back in 11th, his Australian team mate already in 8th.
Pierre Gasly was also working on his overtaking-game after his pit stop, climbing to 10th place and now had to defend against Norris. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he had to brake earlier than he wanted, to avoid a crash with Leclerc’s Ferrari, which allowed Norris to overtake and chase both Ferraris that were in front of him down. The young British driver soon overtook Charles Leclerc, who shortly after also saw the AlphaTauri of Gasly passing by. In lap 32 Carlos Sainz was left behind by his former teammate Lando Norris, who then reached 8th place. A couple of meters behind them, Alonso overtook Leclerc, leaving the Monegasque in 12th place.
After being surprisingly quick in Monaco and Baku, Ferrari didn’t have a great weekend in France, as both cars were now at the risk of not scoring any points.
In lap 29, the gentlemen in the front started complaining over their radios to their teams that it would not be possible to maintain the current race pace and spare their tyres until the end of the race, and rumor had it that Red Bull was thinking of a two-stopper.
Red bull decided to risk it; on lap 32, Max Verstappen dived in the pits again, switching to mediums. He emerged from pits in 4th place, right behind his teammate, who soon made way on track so Verstappen could easily pass, climbing back to a podium place again. The hunt on the two Mercedes’ in front of them had started.
Hamilton asked his team for an update on Verstappen’s position, checking if - with 17 laps to go - it would be easy for the Dutch driver to catch up with him. His team confirmed, telling him that it depends on how easy Verstappen would get past Bottas.
By lap 36, Gasly was breathing down Sainz’ neck, and a lap later the Frenchman overtook him. Alonso then also passed by his fellow-countryman, but thanks to a pitstop of Sebastian Vettel, both Ferraris were back in the points (P9 and P10).
Leclerc got called again into the pits in lap 39, coming out only in 16th place. This meant that Yuki Tsunoda, who started from the pitlane, and George Russell in his Williams, had climbed to 11th and 12th place.
In the meantime, Hamilton and Verstappen seemed to have some issues with their radios, as their teams couldn’t hear them well. In the garages the engineers quickly started to check the radios to the issue.
By lap 41 Hamilton is informed that Verstappen is closing in, and that the final laps “will be the painful ones”. Shortly after, Hamilton informed his team that his tyres weren’t feeling great, and Valtteri Bottas followed saying that he has got “no fronts anymore”. At this time, probably all engineers at Mercedes were calculating if the tyres of their drivers would last another 12 laps.
In lap 44 Verstappen was within 1 second of Bottas, and with the use of DRS he gained on the Mercedes, closing the gap between the two cars. Bottas went slightly wide during his lap, leaving a gap for Verstappen to put his Red Bull next to the Mercedes as they went wheel to wheel into the next corner. Having the better racing line, Verstappen pushed his car in front of the Mercedes, exiting the corner in second place.
With only 9 laps to go and a gap of a little over 5 seconds between numbers one and two, the excitement and tension was very much present.
Looking at the mid field again, the McLarens were running in 5th and 6th place, over 45 seconds behind the first four cars. Pierre Gasly was having a good day, currently running in 7th position. The Ferraris were still struggling with their pace and tyres. Both cars are outside the points, with Sainz in 11th place and Leclerc still in 16th.
Surprisingly in 12th place was George Russell in his Williams, who had passed Yuki Tsunoda.
In lap 46 Bottas showed his frustration over the radio, telling his team “Why the f*** does nobody listen to me when I was telling it would be a two-stopper?!”
Three laps later, the Finn had Sergio Pérez on his back, who was trying to overtake him as well. Although trying his best, Bottas didn’t manage to keep the Red Bull behind him, and Sergio Pérez climbed to third place.
For most of the race it seemed that Mercedes would have both cars on the podium again, now with Bottas in P4 tables have turned and Mercedes had to look at how Red Bull pushed their second car up on the podium.
With Verstappen closing in on Hamilton, it was also not sure anymore if Hamilton could keep up his first place. By lap 52, Verstappen is only 0.787 seconds behind Hamilton, who has only pitted once and is thus running on older tyres. On the straight, Verstappen could benefit of the DRS and the slipstream, crawling closer and closer to Hamilton and by the end of the straight, he placed his car next to Hamilton, hit his brakes a split second later and pushed his car in front of Hamilton’s when turning into the corner, taking back the first place he lost in the very first lap of this race.
As the fans went wild, Verstappen found the perfect racing line again and hit the gas, trying to leave Hamilton behind. “Simply lovely, come on mate,” Verstappen’s race engineer motivated him, as there was only one lap to go until the checkered flag.
Max pushed the car a little harder, leaving an almost 3 second gap between him and Lewis Hamilton as he came out of the last corner, onto the final straight, where his team was cheering on the side, celebrating its first triple win in a row in the turbo-hybrid era.
Verstappen was the first to cross the finish line, and with the fastest lap on his name as well, he added another 26 points to his name in the Drivers’ Championship. Lewis Hamilton, who had led most of the race, had to settle for second place. And Sergio Pérez could take place on the third step of the podium, giving Red Bull its first double podium in the 2021-season.
Valtteri Bottas finished fourth, Lando Norris fifth and Daniel Ricciardo sixth, making this the best race so far in the current season for the team of McLaren.
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