Hamilton wins French GP as Vettel and Bottas collide
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the Formula 1 championship lead by winning the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel collided with Valtteri Bottas at the start.
Hamilton, who started from pole position, dominated the race after his two principal rivals for victory were eliminated from the battle at Turn 1.
Leading the championship entering the race, Vettel launched well from third on the grid. Challenging Bottas’s second place at the right-hander Turn 1, he locked his left-front brake and pitched the Mercedes into a spin.
Both continued but required a lap one pitstop. Vettel had a new front wing fitted, while Bottas recovered to the pits with a left rear puncture. Their respective recovery drives were aided by a lap one safety car allowing them to catch the rear of the pack before the race restarted.
Extending and maintaining a four-second advantage to Max Verstappen in second for much of the race, Hamilton claimed a comfortable victory by an eventual seven seconds.
Verstappen had gained second place from fourth on the grid courtesy of Vettel and Bottas’ lap one dramas, taking evasive action on the run-off area at Turn 1.
His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo held third place for much of the race. However, debris damaged his front wing after his one and only pitstop. Having lost downforce in the closing stages, Ricciardo was caught and passed by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
Raikkonen, who extended his opening stint on ultrasofts to lap 34 of 53, fitted the supersoft rubber for the second stint en route to third place. Ricciardo ended up fourth.
Vettel finished in fifth. He made quick progress through the field after his opening lap pitstop, reaching fifth by lap 20.
He was unable to extend the soft tyres fitted on the opening lap to the end of the race, pitting for a set of ultrasoft tyres late on and serving a five-second time penalty issued for the Bottas clash. It did not cost him track position.
Valtteri Bottas was also unable to complete the race on the set of soft tyres fitted on lap one. He did, however, lose track position by pitting for a second time, falling to ninth place.
He caught Kevin Magnussen at the end of the race but was unable to pass the Haas. Magnussen finished sixth and Bottas seventh.
Both had gained an extra position in the last three laps, as Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr slipped from sixth to eighth reporting “no power.”
A late virtual safety car as Lance Stroll suffered a tyre blowout shortly after Sainz’s issue surfaced helped him to stay ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. On an alternative strategy, Hulkenberg finished ninth.
He passed Charles Leclerc late on. The Sauber driver, who ran as high as sixth after the lap one incidents, rounded out the top 10.
Force India suffered a double-retirement. Sergio Perez had a power unit issue develop with his ‘Spec-Two’ Mercedes engine. Team-mate Esteban Ocon was involved in a lap one crash with Pierre Gasly that eliminated both Frenchman.