Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins F1 French GP

Max Verstappen won the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard for Red Bull Racing on Sunday, the seventh race of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season, after a thrilling dice with Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

Watch: Formula 1: Verstappen passes Hamilton to win in France

Hamilton was initially gifted the lead at the second corner, as Verstappen overshot Turn 1 and had to cut inside the apex of Turn 2. But Verstappen regained the lead when he undercut Hamilton in the pitstop sequence.

Verstappen gave up the lead once more, when he opted for a second pitstop and Hamilton stayed out. He relentless chased down Hamilton, passing him to take the win on the penultimate lap.

Read Also:

2021 F1 French Grand Prix race results

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Interval
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 53 1:27'25.770
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 53 1:27'28.674 2.904
3 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 53 1:27'34.581 5.907
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 53 1:27'40.388 5.807
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 53 1:28'29.802 49.414
6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 53 1:28'41.627 11.825
7 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 53 1:28'42.366 0.739
8 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 53 1:28'43.465 1.099
9 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 53 1:28'45.436 1.971
10 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 53 1:28'57.716 12.280
11 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 53 1:29'05.107 7.391
12 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 52 1 lap
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 52 1 lap
14 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 52 1 lap
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 52 1 lap
16 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 52 1 lap
17 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 52 1 lap
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 52 1 lap
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 52 1 lap
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 52 1 lap

How the F1 French Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position, Verstappen led Hamilton until the first corner where Max overshot, which meant he cut the inside of Turn 2, and allowed Lewis to grab the lead. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) held third place, ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).

Behind Ferrari’s seventh-placed Charles Leclerc, McLaren duo Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris passed Fernando Alonso’s Alpine on Lap 11 to run eighth and ninth. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who passed Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon early on, also overtook Alonso two laps later.

Ricciardo sliced past Leclerc on Lap 14, the Ferrari then diving for the pits to switch from medium tyres to hards. This undercut put him ahead of Ricciardo, who himself proved the power of the undercut by getting ahead of both Sainz and Gasly.

At the front, Bottas pitted first on Lap 18 which triggered Verstappen (who had dropped 3s behind Hamilton) into responding on the next lap. Hamilton pitted on the following tour and seemed surprised when Verstappen was able to pass him going into Turn 1, Red Bull’s team leader taking full advantage of the undercut to retake the lead he’d lost in the opening seconds of the race.

Hamilton was in DRS range of Verstappen straight after the pitstop cycle and also had Bottas right behind as the top three ran nose to tail when the race hit half distance. Perez ran long and led for a few laps before rejoining in a distant fourth.

Verstappen pitted for a second time on Lap 32, switching back to mediums. He rejoined in fourth, Perez quickly letting him by into third, with Verstappen catching leader Hamilton by 2s per lap to begin with.

Verstappen caught Bottas with 10 laps remaining, Hamilton having extended his lead to over 4s. Verstappen passed Bottas at Signes on Lap 44, but was 5s behind Hamilton.

As Verstappen closed on Hamilton – running 3s behind with five laps remaining – Perez caught Bottas, passing him with four laps to go for the final spot on the podium.

The battle for the win was decided in the very closing stages, Verstappen passing Hamilton at the chicane with less than two laps remaining.

The McLarens won the battle for best of the rest, Norris passing Ricciardo for fifth. Gasly was seventh, ahead of Alonso and the two Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, who both started on hard tyres.

2021 F1 French Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla Driver Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
35 1'36.404 218.156
2 Mexico Sergio Perez
53 1'36.693 0.289 0.289 217.504
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
19 1'36.960 0.556 0.267 216.905
4 Germany Sebastian Vettel
52 1'37.138 0.734 0.178 216.508
5 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
44 1'37.410 1.006 0.272 215.903
6 United Kingdom Lando Norris
52 1'37.425 1.021 0.015 215.870
7 Spain Fernando Alonso
44 1'37.646 1.242 0.221 215.382
8 Monaco Charles Leclerc
43 1'37.681 1.277 0.035 215.304
9 Canada Lance Stroll
44 1'37.828 1.424 0.147 214.981
10 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
46 1'37.992 1.588 0.164 214.621
11 France Pierre Gasly
44 1'38.103 1.699 0.111 214.378
12 Canada Nicholas Latifi
50 1'38.313 1.909 0.210 213.920
13 United Kingdom George Russell
52 1'38.314 1.910 0.001 213.918
14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
45 1'38.324 1.920 0.010 213.896
15 France Esteban Ocon
33 1'38.645 2.241 0.321 213.200
16 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
36 1'38.702 2.298 0.057 213.077
17 Germany Mick Schumacher
51 1'38.847 2.443 0.145 212.765
18 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
19 1'38.931 2.527 0.084 212.584
19 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
18 1'38.980 2.576 0.049 212.479
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
34 1'39.317 2.913 0.337 211.758

2021 F1 French Grand Prix tyre history

Cla Driver Chassis 1 2 3
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull M 21 H 14 M 24
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes M 22 H 34
3 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull M 27 H 29
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes M 20 H 36
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren M 29 H 29
6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren M 21 H 37
7 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri M 22 H 36
8 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine M 21 H 35
9 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin H 37 M 19
10 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin H 34 M 19
11 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari M 20 H 36
12 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams M 17 H 35
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri M 15 H 37
14 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine H 28 M 27
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo H 28 M 24
16 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari M 17 H 24 M 17
17 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo H 33 M 19
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams M 18 H 34
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas M 15 H 37
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas H 31 M 21

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article French GP: Verstappen passes Hamilton to win after start error
Next article Hamilton says sticking to one-stop strategy was his "only option"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia