Red Bull’s Max Verstappen executed a dramatic two-stop strategy to clinch victory at 2021 French Grand Prix and extend his championship lead.
Verstappen led from pole position but a mistake at Turn Two forced him wide as he dropped behind title rival, Lewis Hamilton to second where he stayed throughout the opening stint before regaining the lead with a undercut at his first stop.
Tyre wear however forced Verstappen into a second stop whilst Hamilton stayed on a one stop strategy which cost him as Verstappen passed Valtteri Bottas on lap 44 before passing him on the penultimate lap to seal victory.
Sergio Perez passed Bottas on lap 49 to finish third ahead of the Finnish driver as Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten.
In the driver standings, Verstappen now leads Hamilton by 12 points after also claiming the point for fastest lap, whilst Perez sits third on 84 points and ahead of Lando Norris by eight points with Bottas 17 points further back in fifth.
Red Bull meanwhile extended their lead over Mercedes in the constructor standings to 37 points as McLaren regained third ahead of Ferrari after the Scuderia endured a pointless race outside of the top ten.
Despite brief rain showers in the morning which affected the F3 race, F1 were greeted with dry conditions come race start as Verstappen retained the lead through Turn One but ran wide on entry to Turn Two to concede the lead to Hamilton as the top seven all held position in the opening laps.
Alonso and Ricciardo leapfrogged Norris at the start but both McLaren drivers got past Alonso on lap 11 into Turn Eight and through Turn 11 respectively.
Charles Leclerc triggered early pit stop mayhem amongst the midfield pack as he pitted first at start of lap 15 but Bottas was the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap 18 with Verstappen following suit a lap later to retain second.
Hamilton proceeded to pit on lap 20 but Verstappen’s outlap enabled the Dutchman to perform the undercut but he soon began struggling with his tyres, which forced him to do a second stop on lap 33 for used mediums.
Verstappen re-joined the order just over ten seconds off the lead and quickly was unleashed by Red Bull teammate – Perez as he rapidly proceeded to reel in Bottas at around two seconds per lap.
Bottas ultimately gifted Verstappen second on lap 44 after out-braking himself into Turn Eight, which allowed Verstappen to pull towards the inside of Turn Nine and sweep through into Turn 10 to take second.
Verstappen however struggled to reel Hamilton in as his medium tyres began to degrade and lose pace as he managed to slowly reel the Brit in at around half a second per lap before making the race-winning pass on the inside into Turn Eight to give Red Bull a third consecutive race win for the first time since 2013.
Bottas meanwhile finished fourth after Perez swept around the outside of Turn 10 on lap 49 as McLaren made an one-stopper work with Norris finishing fifth ahead of Ricciardo, whilst Pierre Gasly fended off Alonso for seventh as Vettel and Stroll recovered to finish ninth and tenth for Aston Martin.
F1 now heads to the Red Bull Ring, Austria for a double-header across 25-27 June and 2-4 July 2021, which serves as a double home race for Red Bull.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 53 | 1h 27m 25.770 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 53 | + 2.904 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 53 | + 8.811 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 53 | + 14.618 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 53 | + 1m 04.032 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 53 | + 1m 15.857 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 53 | + 1m 16.596 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 53 | + 1m 17.695 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 53 | + 1m 19.666 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 53 | + 1m 31.946 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 53 | + 1m 39.337 |
| 12 | George Russell | Williams | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 52 | + 1 Lap |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 51 | + 2 Laps |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 51 | + 2 Laps |
Leave a Reply