LE CASTELLET, France – Lewis Hamilton completed a perfect weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard by leading every lap of Sunday’s Pirelli Grand Prix of France for his 65th Formula 1 victory.
Hamilton shot out ahead of a chaotic start and never looked back, ultimately taking the checkered flag 7.090 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after 53 circuits.
Sunday’s performance came after the Mercedes driver led both Friday practice sessions and all three knockout rounds during qualifying on Saturday.
The win was Hamilton’s third of the season and puts him back in command of the F-1 championship fight, 14 points ahead of his chief rival, Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton tackled the weekend with a calm, cool approach from start to finish, including his post-race comments after celebrating on the podium.
“When you’re constructive and criticize yourself, approach a challenge with new methods and (have) a new-found determination, it’s a great feeling to then get the result,” noted Hamilton. “I was very comfortable with the balance this afternoon. Max (Verstappen) had decent pace, but I could maintain the gap at around five seconds. The fresh engine put us back in line with everyone else who took a new power unit in Canada, and everybody on the team should feel happy today for the good work they have done. However, there’s a long way still to go and we’ll keep approaching the rest of the season like we approached today.”
While Hamilton ruled the start, behind him, contact between Vettel and the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas led to a broken front wing for Vettel and a punctured tire for Bottas. Further back, Frenchmen Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon collided in an incident that put both young guns out of action on the spot.
A host of debris on the track led to a safety car period, with Hamilton leading Verstappen and the charging Renault of Carlos Sainz, who found his way through the early calamity to third place on-track after starting ninth.
Though Hamilton comfortably retained the lead on the ensuing restart at lap six, Vettel and Bottas were on the charge from the rear of the field. They found their ways back into the top 10 before the remainder of the leaders made their lone pit stops, but Bottas’ crew had an issue removing the right rear tire on his final stop at lap 39 that set him too far back to challenge.
Meanwhile, Vettel had a five-second time penalty that he had to weather, leaving Hamilton out in front with no serious threats to his lead in the closing stages.
Verstappen hung on to finish second, his best result of the season and third podium finish in the last four races.
“Finishing second here in Paul Ricard is better than we expected coming into the weekend,” said Verstappen. “As soon as we got to turn two, I was relieved not to have had contact, so from there it was just about managing my own race, which was fairly straightforward. I could see Lewis managing the pace but we were still not far off without pushing too much.
“I think we got the strategy spot on. The soft tires felt a little bit more robust and allowed me to find some good pace to make the final laps more comfortable,” Verstappen added. “After two clean races and good results in a row, it’s important for us to carry this momentum forward.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium after a late pass of Daniel Ricciardo at the chicane, with Vettel rallying to finish fifth despite his time penalty.
Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen and Bottas were sixth and seventh, respectively, with Sainz hanging on to come home eighth despite power issues that developed in the final three laps.
The sister Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc – who ran as high as sixth at one point – were the final two points-scoring drivers in the top 10 at the finish.
