It was an incident filled day in the South East of France with Max Verstappen capitalising on the mid race retirement of Charles Leclerc. For the first time this season, both Mercedes cars finished on the podium at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
The Monegasque driver admitted an error at Le Castellet was the reason his F1-75 pirouetted into the barriers which resulted in the end of his race. Thereafter, Max Verstappen enjoyed an uneventful race from the front of the grid which had the Dutchman enjoy the full 25 point haul in France, extending his championship lead comfortably.
The remaining podium places were concluded by the Mercedes duo who have enjoyed their best Sunday of the season. This is reassuring news for the Brackley based outfit since the race-pace of the W13 has been consistently improving from the season opener despite a remaining qualifying pace deficit.
Russell was the benefactor of a late virtual safety car restart which saw the Briton launch himself ahead of Perez who finished in fourth. Carlos Sainz, after starting from the back of the grid with new engine unit components, concluded the top 5 after a late race charge on fresher tyres was too little too late to secure a podium place.
Fernando Alonso, representing the French Alpine Team at their home circuit, led a double points finish in sixth position ahead of teammate Ocon in eighth. McLaren were the other team who doubled up on points with Norris in seventh and Ricciardo finishing in ninth.
Aston Martin, celebrating a hundred year milestone, rounded up the points places after Lance Stroll yielded off teammate and former world champion Sebastian Vettel to the final corner of the 53 lap race at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
With Mercedes consistently benefiting from ill-Ferrari reliability and occasional Red Bull misfortune, the team is now only 43 points behind Ferrari. The top three teams remain in their current positions with the following points tally:
Bull Racing – 396
Ferrari – 313
Mercedes – 270
Here are the current constructors standings.
Hungary will host the second race of the double header. Catch all of the action at the Hungaroring on the 31st of July before teams break for the summer.
