LE CASTELLET, France (AP) – Max Verstappen won the French Grand Prix on Sunday after Charles Leclerc crashed while leading, a mistake that dropped the Ferrari driver to 63 points behind the reigning Formula 1 champion.
Verstappen’s seventh win in 12 races this season took his career total to 27 wins, all with Red Bull. He said his lead in the title race is misleading because Red Bull and Ferrari have been pretty evenly matched this season.
“Of course, he is a great leader, but many things can happen. It’s probably a bit bigger than it should have been when you look at the performance of both cars,” Verstappen said. “We still need a bit more of a lap race. I think Budapest (Hungary) will be a bit difficult for us and Ferrari will be very, very fast.”
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton finished second in his 300th grand prix, his fourth successive podium and his best result in what has so far been a winless season, while team-mate George Russell overtaking Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after a late restart to give Mercedes their first double. podium of the year
“This is an incredible result for the team, great job George,” said Hamilton, who estimated he sweated “about three kilos” as track temperatures reached 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) at the Paul Circuit Ricard in the south-east of France.
“It was a tough race because my drink bottle wasn’t working,” Hamilton said. “But what a great result considering we’ve been so far behind these guys all weekend.”
Hamilton lay on his back in the cooling room while Russell watched a replay of the action.
“On lap 20 I said, ‘I could really do with a cup,”’ Hamilton said. “Maybe the water has evaporated.”
Hamilton’s first win with Mercedes came in Hungary in 2013. He has won a record eight times at the Hungaroring, twice as many as Michael Schumacher, and the F1 was contested there the following week.
“I hope the car feels good there,” Hamilton said. “I love this track.”
Leclerc’s race ended on lap 18 when he lost the rear of his car coming out of turn 11, spinning 360 degrees before crashing into a tire wall. Leclerc was unable to speak at first, breathing heavily into his helmet before telling his team the mishap was caused by a problem with the accelerator.
He then screamed a “Nooooooooooooo!”
It is the third time this season that Leclerc has failed to finish a race, while Ferrari have had seven DNFs in 12 races. Leclerc’s failure on Sunday came two weeks after a throttle problem almost cost him victory at the Austrian GP.
Leclerc, who is just seven points ahead of third-placed Perez in the title battle, later said the crash was driver error.
“We will add things up at the end of the season, but if we are 25 or 30 points short of the season I can only blame myself,” said Leclerc. “I couldn’t go backwards, but they’re small. details. You just can’t put a car on the wall.”
Verstappen was tentative early on and Leclerc held him off, but the Dutchman looked for an undercut on lap 17 on hard tyres. Ferrari didn’t try to counter Red Bull’s strategy, only for Leclerc to crash a lap later.
“It was a mistake. It was a bit strange how I lost (the car),” said Leclerc. “If I stay at this level, I certainly don’t deserve to win the championship. Two mistakes, here and Imola, that’s a bit too much.”
Verstappen asked over the radio if Leclerc was OK.
“I’m told it is, Max, thanks for asking,” his team replied.
As the drivers changed tires under the safety car, Ferrari’s mistakes continued. Carlos Sainz Jr. he was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe launch that almost caused a collision with a Williams car.
Sainz had passed Russell and Perez when his team told him to pit for fresh tires with 10 laps to go.
“Wow guys, I can’t believe you told me to box,” Sainz muttered. “I don’t know why we boxed. I don’t understand.”
After the race, he explained his position.
“At Ferrari we get a lot of criticism for things that other teams might happen in their pit stop window. We’re not the disaster that people seem to say we are,” Sainz said. “Yes, I wanted to stay out, maybe I saw a podium position. The team has a lot more data on their screens. They did it with the best intention and the best spirit.
“My point of view is that if I couldn’t pass Checo, I would box. The moment I passed him, I thought, “Let’s see if I can pull away.” At the time, the numbers said it was impossible to make it to the end. At the moment, my feeling was different, but I didn’t see the numbers.”
Meanwhile, Russell tried to pass Perez on the inside and they touched wheels. Perez came out and cut the corner to retake the lead with Russell calling for position. The marshals deemed it a racing incident and Russell eventually passed him anyway.
“The restart was tasty,” Russell said. “I had a really good run and I timed it perfectly. It was pretty sweet.”
Perez finished fourth ahead of Sainz, who earned a bonus point for fastest lap.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished sixth, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Montreal’s Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounding out the top 10.
“We had a great first lap which set us up for a great race,” said Stroll, who qualified 15th. “We continue our trend of being more competitive on Sundays.”
Toronto Williams’ Nicholas Latifi didn’t finish.
Approaching the midway point of the 53-lap race, Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo clipped Mick Schumacher’s Haas and Zhou received a 5-second time penalty.
Sainz started at the back of the grid with Kevin Magnussen as a penalty for changes to his engines before the race.
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