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Mercedes Finds Double Podium As Verstappen Wins: Three Takeaways From France

Charles Leclerc made a critical mistake that resulted in a retirement while Red Bull’s star Dutchman extended the championship gap to 63 points.

Madeline Coleman

Max Verstappen cruised away with la victoire at the French Grand Prix, marking his seventh victory of the season and extending his championship lead. 

But, his engineer made an interesting comment over the radio that F1 fans may agree with after the beginning of the race—“Shame, I think that would have been a good race.” Charles Leclerc, who was leading the race, lost the rear and crashed into the barriers in lap 18. The Ferrari driver was animated over the team radio, saying, “I cannot find throttle” before letting out an anguished “no.” 

He admitted that he made a mistake and now trails Verstappen by 63 points with one more race to go before summer break. Team boss Mattia Binotto echoed that it was a “genuine mistake” by Leclerc, but he also clarified what fans heard on the radio regarding the throttle. 

“It’s nothing to do with Austria,” Binotto said in the post-race press conference. “…What you heard on the radio was about when he was in the reverse gear trying to get out from the barrier.”

Meanwhile, Mercedes scored its first double podium of the season as Lewis Hamilton snagged second in his 300th race start and George Russell jumped past Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez after a virtual safety car restart in the final laps. 

Pérez, though, said after the race that he received incorrect information about when the VSC would end. 

“I got the message it was going to end out of Turn 9, so I went for it and then it didn’t end. Then I got the message saying it was going to end through Turn 12. And I was just too close to it,” the Red Bull driver, who finished fourth, said, per Autosport. “It seems like George had different information and he was able to prepare better for it [the restart].

“I mean it’s a shame the virtual safety car interfered with the result, to be honest. It shouldn’t be the case, but today it was the case.”

The FIA said in a statement to Autosport concerning the second VCS message that it “was sent due to a hardware issue” and that “the same information is supplied to all teams concurrently.” 

Here are three takeaways from Circuit Paul Ricard:

Carlos Sainz zips through the field as a smooth operator.

It was hard to miss the Spaniard’s scarlet Scuderia speeding up the grid at Le Castellet after his back-of-the-grid penalty. 

Sainz did make it all the way to Q3 on Saturday, knowing that he would not be competing for pole but stayed focused on the same goal in the name of teamwork. He was able to offer a tow to help Leclerc snag pole, a move the Monaco native was grateful for and said it was helpful but not the defining component in qualifying for P1. The move was attempted twice, the second time being more successful. 

Slipstream reduces the drag while increasing top speed, giving an advantage on the Mistral straight. 

Starting at P19, Sainz had his work cut out for him come Sunday, but his flashes of speed throughout the weekend. The 27-year-old made it all the way to fifth before disaster struck under the safety triggered by Leclerc. While pitting, Ferrari released Sainz straight into the path of a Williams car, triggering a five-second penalty for an unsafe release. 

Sainz had two options—serve the penalty if he pitted or finish out the remainder of the race and be docked afterwards. The Spaniard continued his hunt for a podium finish, and en route to passing Perez for third, the dreaded message came over the radio—time to box. 

He emerged at ninth but continued his sprint, quickly passing Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo. With nine laps to go, Sainz set the fastest lap, but ultimately, time ran out. He ended his comeback with a fifth-place finish, and while some may question Ferrari for its strategy tactics, tire management had been a concern across the grid due to the heat. Additionally, setting the fastest lap is a point.  

“No doubt, I think we made the right choice,” Binotto said. “…We realized that there was not sufficient tire life to go to the end of the race, as simple as that. And to stay out without being a risk in terms of safety and reliability in terms of tires’s life, so we had to stop. 

“More than that, I think that the pace of Carlos would not have been sufficient to open the gap more than five seconds with Perez and Russell.”

The midfield battle mirrored on-track temperatures—scorching. 

Alpine vs. McLaren is turning into a red-hot duel as both teams ended the French Grand Prix not only with double points but their drivers intermingled in the final results. 

Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished sixth and eighth for Alpine while Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo filed in at seventh and ninth, respectively.

Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris at the French Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris during the French Grand Prix :: IMAGO / Eibner

Both teams had a mixed bag during the last race as Norris had a shaky qualifying and the Alpines had possible car troubles. Heading into Austria’s Saturday Sprint, McLaren was just six points ahead of Alpine, and only Ocon scored points (three) in the Sprint out of the four drivers. 

McLaren revived itself, recording a double points finish, which tied the two teams at 81 points in the constructor standings. Then, all eyes fell on France. 

Fresh off of the bye week, McLaren brought a slew of upgrades to France, and it showed in qualifying. But, making it to Q3 was still a surprise. 

Norris and Alonso dominated in qualifying at Circuit Paul Ricard with the young McLaren star finding himself sandwiched between the Mercedes duo at P5 and Alonso behind Russell in P7. Meanwhile, Ocon and Ricciardo didn’t make it out of Q2 but started a position higher due to Sainz’s engine penalty sending him to the back of the grid. Ricciardo, who has had his fair share of struggles this season, was out of the top 10 by less than 0.1 second. 

The younger McLaren driver was approximately a half-second faster than Alonso in qualifying, and the Alpine driver admitted it was worrisome. But as scorching temperatures continued to rise in Le Castellet, the French Grand Prix boiled down to tire management and strategy. 

An example of such strategy is when Alonso and Ocon sandwiched the two McLaren drivers, and the two-time world champion was warned about how Norris was getting closer. 

“I want them very close to me to kill their tires,” Alonso said over the team radio. 

Alpine has edged past McLaren in the standings, leading with 93 points to McLaren’s 89. But, as the battle for fourth place continues to heat up with summer break around the corner, the top three teams—Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes—are lightyears ahead, the latter resting at third and 177 points ahead of Alpine. 

Mercedes adds a twist into the Ferrari-Red Bull battle. 

This season started out rocky for Mercedes, which has won the last eight constructor titles. But its quiet consistency of finishing races and implementing upgrades has paid off. 

Not only did Hamilton record his fourth consecutive podium, but he was joined with Russell, who hasn’t been on the podium since Azerbaijan last month. 

Sunday marked Hamilton’s 300th Grand Prix, making him just the sixth driver to record that many F1 races. In that span, he’s tallied 103 wins, 103 poles, seven world championships and now 187 podiums. 

Hamilton spent a majority of the race on his own, cruising in a comfortable P2 after Leclerc’s retirement. And although his drinks bottle didn’t work during the race, it didn’t dampen his spirits despite being “a little bit dehydrated.” 

“I couldn’t really be much happier,” Hamilton said, per formula1.com. “Of course, if we’d won that would be another step but definitely didn’t expect that result today. Obviously, I was praying and hoping that we could fight for a podium, like a third, but I can’t believe we have a second—this is huge for us.

“Obviously unfortunate for Charles, but we’ve done a great job with reliability as a team, so I have to really give huge thanks to the team for that.”

Russell, meanwhile, has been the more consistent of the duo this season, finishing in the top five for every race aside from his DNF at Silverstone. But, the young Brit did have multiple battles on his hands to make it to the podium thanks to Sainz and Perez. 

The Ferrari driver did overtake Russell, but when he pitted and served the time penalty, Sainz dropped back several spots, leaving Perez and Russell to battle for P3. 

The two made contact on the Turn 8 chicane, which forced the Red Bull driver to run through the corner. Russell insisted over the radio that Perez kept that position, but the stewards did not punish the Red Bull driver after the investigation. But, Russell’s emotions prompted team boss Toto Wolff to hop on the radio to tell him: “George, keep your head down. You can hunt him down.”

A late virtual safety car glitch caught Perez flat-footed, and Russell got the jump on him at the restart. 

The double podium lifted Mercedes in the standings, placing them just 44 points behind second place Ferrari. Additionally, Russell is now one point behind fourth place Sainz in the driver standings, and with 10 races to go, Mercedes is poised to be a threat.  

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Madeline Coleman
MADELINE COLEMAN

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