Max Verstappen took the French Grand Prix with ease following another mistake by a Ferrari up front. It’s becoming the story of the season as the consistently reliable Red Bull team – credit to the pit wall who rarely put a foot wrong – capitalised on a mistake by Charles Leclerc to cruise to victory.
Lewis Hamilton celebrated his 300th race with another strong performance to come home in second while Russell came home in third in a fantastic race for Mercedes.
Remarkably it was the first time they have had two cars on the podium this season.
It was a strong race for McLaren and Alpine with both their drivers in the top 10. Ricciardo will be particularly happy coming home in 9th in a race he looked like he could match his teammate.
Lance Stroll beat his teammate to 10th taking a valuable point for the struggling Aston Martin team.
Leclerc had a good start from the front retaining his position despite coming under pressure from the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Hamilton, on his 300th race in F1, jumped up to third getting past Sergio Perez.
Further down the grid it was a lightning start off the line for Kevin Magnussen. After starting in 20th he did well to make up seven places on the opening lap.
It was a relatively clean getaway at the tight and twisty Le Castellet. All except Yuki Tsunoda who found himself facing the wrong way after being tapped by an understeering Alpine. A five-second penalty quickly followed for home favourite, Esteban Ocon.
Overtaking was proving difficult, but it was clear Verstappen had more confidence in the car, as he darted around the back of the Ferrari.
After his superb opening stint Magnussen came in for a set of hard tyres on lap 8 – the first car to do so – as he set up an aggressive two-stop race.
Further down the grid there were two McLaren’s and Alpine’s in the top 10 while Lance Stroll was having a good race in the final points position.
Another missed opportunity for Leclerc
The Ferrari had done well to resist the pressure from behind and had broken the 1-second barrier to take away Verstappen’s DRS advantage.
However in a familiar tale this season the Scuderia were once again left ruing an error. Leclerc dropped the car and slid into the barriers as his race and win fizzled out with a whimper.
The scream down the team radio said it all and a Safety Car quickly followed leading to a flurry of activity in the pits.
Once the race restarted the majority of the field were on the hard compound with Sainz – who had a grid penalty – making good progress on the medium tyre in 5th.
The flying Dutchman looked in control up front. The Mercedes was able to keep up with the Red Bull without ever really looking like it was able to challenge for the lead.
Russell had done well to fend off Sainz in 4th place. That all came to an end on lap 30 though as the Spaniard used his cars superior pace to get past.
The McLarens and Alpine’s continued to be evenly matched as the race went past the half way point.
The wily old fox, Fernando Alonso ran comfortably in sixth ahead of the two papaya cars and his teammate.
However Ocon was looking to make moves as he hustled and harried Daniel Ricciardo who enjoyed a positive weekend in which he was only 0.1 seconds behind Norris in qualifying and looked more comfortable matching his teammates pace than he had done all season.
Indecision and aggression in the closing stages
The race had become slightly processional heading into the final stages. That all changed once Carlos Sainz reeled in the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
Ferrari – doing a Ferrari – tried to call him in despite the fact he was all over the back of the Red Bull.
As Sainz sounding exasperated declined this request he forced his way through at the final corner but then was swiftly brought in the next lap.
It seemed a strange decision for Ferrari that brought him out in 9th. Fresh tyres or not it seemed that they threw away a possibly podium – even with the five second penalty he had to serve.
Russell got in on the action and was shocked to see no action taken against Checo Perez with some aggressive defending. He was kept in check by the authoritative voice of Toto Wolff demanding that he get his head down and have another crack at the Mexican.
Mechanical issues for Zhou Guanyu brought out the VSC in the closing laps. However Sergio Perez seemed to be away with the fairies.
Incredibly, Russell got him as the green flag was flown, moving up to third position.
No one could get close to Max Verstappen however after an imperious drive that further opens up the gap at the top of the WDC.
Next weekend we go to Budapest for the Hungarian GP.