On the back of a long awaited win, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari looked strong against a bold Red Bull coming into the weekend of the French GP. One may have considered it a very important race in the fight for the title: a step closer for Verstappen towards that second crown; or a possible fighting chance for Leclerc to claim his first.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, at their home Grand Prix had the aim to impress; with Gasly hoping to change his recent misfortune.
Practice
Soon enough, Mercedes learned that the gap between themselves and the top two teams may have been too large to close down. A familiar three names we’re becoming accustomed to seeing showed up as our top 3 in all three sessions, with only the positions varied.
FP1 saw Leclerc lead his rival Verstappen, not even a tenth of a second between them. Russell, the leading Mercedes in P4, a further nine tenths back from third placed Carlos Sainz. Mercedes used this practice session to give Nick De Vries, the teams reserve driver, the opportunity to run in the W13.
Although he would start from the back of the grid due to penalties received for new car components (caused by his engine issue in Austria), Sainz showed he was just as good as the two front runners with a fine lap, a tenth ahead of his teammate. Verstappen was a further half a second back from the lead and the two Mercedes took up forth and fifth position.
Many teams used the opportunity to collect as much data as possible with the new updates, testing how much of a difference they made. AlphaTauri, Mercedes and McLaren were teams with sizeable upgrades coming into the weekend.
Verstappen finally topped the charts ahead of Ferrari in FP3 and he did it with notable gap between himself and the prancing horses. Hamilton put his Mercedes in the top 4, ahead of Perez who had been around a second behind his teammate in all three practice sessions.
Upgrades for the Williams saw them in P8 and P12, a positive sign for the team. Meanwhile at Haas, Kevin Magnussen would be joining Sainz at the back of the grid with an engine penalty and Mick Schumacher sandwiched at the back in 19th between the two Aston Martins— Vettel missed out on some of the session due to floor damage.
Qualifying
All eyes were on the Ferrari- Red Bull battle for the top spot. A little bit of wind meant that certain drivers may have been fought off guard, surprise eliminations a possibility.
The front runners set their times, while others struggles- and some others struggled even more. Although Sainz and Magnussen were taking grid penalties, both escaped elimination from Q1. Schumacher had set a final flying lap time promoting him to P11 but it was instantly deleted, bringing him back down to P19. Gasly, unfortunately didn’t have the pace to take him through to Q2 in his home GP, setting a lap good enough for 16th.
Out in Q1: Gasly, Stroll, Zhou, Schumacher, Latifi
Speedy Sainz set a blistering time that left him nine tenths of Verstappen on first runs, but Leclerc closed that gap on his second run to just a tenth of a second. Sebastian Vettel, who made in out of Q1, was unable to replicate that pace to get his car into Q3 and took P14. Ocon, in 12th— the other Frenchman, was also not fast enough to get his car into the top 10 like his teammate.
And again, Sainz and Magnussen saw their times, good enough for Q3— Sainz with the opportunity to provide a tow to his teammate who was fighting for pole.
Out in Q2: Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Albon
Teamwork makes the dream work as they say— it did so for Ferrari. A provisional pole for Leclerc, with the help of a tow from Sainz saw him 0.008s ahead of Verstappen, who did not have the benefit of a tow on his lap.
Another tow from Sainz to Leclerc on the final flying lap saw the Monegasque driver put a larger gap between himself and Verstappen, and most importantly— it got him pole position. Perez took P3, a tenth of a second behind his teammate. Lewis Hamilton took a decent P4 for Mercedes, continuing his fine form, while Lando Norris stuck himself in a Mercedes sandwich and got himself P5 for McLaren.
Top 10: Leclerc, Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Alonso, Tsunoda, Sainz, Magnussen
Race Report
The French Grand Prix this year was by far one of the most interesting in recent years. It was Max Verstappen who finished on the top step of the podium after taking the lead from Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in second place on the weekend of his 300th Grand Prix start. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell finished in third place, an excellent finish for the Mercedes team.
After starting in third place, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez finished in fourth, after being overtaken by Russell in the closing stages of the race and being unable to fight back.
After starting in 19th place due to a number of power unit-related changes, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished in fifth place, picking up an extra point for the fastest lap, as well as the Driver of the Day award along the way. Unfortunately it was not as good a day for Charles Leclerc, who made a critical mistake while leading the race which resulted in a DNF, his third of the season.
It was another strong outing for the Alpine team in their home race, with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon (who was also celebrating his home race) finishing the race in 6th and 8th place respectively. With McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in seventh and ninth place, this was a crucial race for Alpine in the fight between the two Constructors.
It was a similarly strong day for the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, who finished in tenth and eleventh place, a good result for the team considering they have not fought at the front of the midfield this season.
Sadly, it was another disappointing weekend for home hero Pierre Gasly, who failed to score points for Alpha Tauri at his home Grand Prix. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda suffered from a DNF due to contact early on in the race, meaning that the Italian team leave France with no points gained.
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