Mercedes sweeps one-two with Ferrari (Leclerc) third.
LE CASTELLET, France—June 23rd—Many people who viewed the French Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon at the Circuit Paul Ricard called it “Master Class.” Lewis Hamilton certainly fits that description. The Briton dominated the entire race, from start to finish, winning 18 seconds over Valtteri Bottas. Charles Leclerc took third.
“It was really a great weekend.” said Hamilton afterward. “It is always a challenge out there, and I love that. We have created a great team. I am so proud to be part of it.”
Hamilton jumped in front–right from the beginning. After only a couple of laps, the Briton was 2.4 seconds ahead of Finnish teammate Bottas. But Bottas never got close, and Hamilton continued his domination by increasing his lead more and more, including taking the fastest lap of the race, breaking the track record of 1:33:724. Bottas responded with a 1:33:586 of his own. Then, Hamilton returned the favor–right as he crossed the finish line! But even that effort was eclipsed, this time by Sebastian Vettel, who clocked a 1:32:740 with fresh tires.
Vettel took fifth, sandwiched between Max Verstappen in fourth and Carlos Sainz Jr. in sixth.
While the front of the grid was without incident, the rest of the field was in a fight. Sixth through tenth places were in battle. McLaren’s Lando Norris, having one of the best drives of his career, suddenly found himself with hydraulic failure just laps from the finish. Not being able to steer his car properly, the young Briton was passed with two laps to go by the Renault pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen. Norris ended up in tenth, Ricciardo took seventh with Raikkonen eighth and Hulkenberg ninth.
Amazingly, one quick incident occurred when a track bollard brought out a virtual safety car just laps from the end. But it was quickly removed from the circuit by a track marshall.
Of the twenty drivers in the race, only Romain Grosjean of the American Haas F1 Team retired from the race.
Hamilton’s focus on this day was the technical aspects of his car. “There are real technical areas where you can do well on this track.” Hamilton surmised. “It was not easy at all. There is always everything happening. You are always on edge, and everything is about wear and reliability.”
With a comfortable 36-point lead and the winner of six out of the last seven races, it will be tough to stop Hamilton–even with the season not yet half over. The next round is scheduled in Austria next weekend at the Myworld Grosser Preis von Osterreich with every other team in full chase mode.
