© Getty ImagesBulls Dominate In France With Victory And P3Max claims the Team's first French victory and Checo brings it home in P3.
After erasing a 16-second gap to Hamilton in the latter stages of the race and with less than two laps remaining, the Dutchman powered past the Mercedes driver to secure a superb 13th career win and to extend his Driver’s Championship lead over Hamilton to 12 points.
Checo, meanwhile, superbly worked a one-stop strategy, going deep into the race on his first stint before taking on hard tyres. The late visit to the pits allowed him to close down Valtteri Bottas in the final stages and he muscled his way past the Mercedes on lap 49 to seal his second podium finish of the season and the Team’s first double podium of the campaign.
A Tense Start In France© Getty Images
When the lights went out at the start of the race, Max made a good getaway to lead Hamilton as the field headed for the first corner. But in turn two the Dutchman made a mistake and went wide. The error allowed Hamilton to steal the lead as Max re-joined ahead of Bottas and Checo.
Over the opening laps Hamilton tried to build a gap and by lap nine he was almost two seconds clear of Max, though he was already complaining that his front tyres were beginning to suffer. Bottas, meanwhile, was just a second behind the Dutchman. Sergio was finding it hard to stay with the top three, however, and by lap 10 he was 4.4s off the back of Botttas’ Mercedes.
Bottas was the first of the pacesetters to pit at the end of lap 17, taking on hard tyres. The Team made its move on the next lap and Max pitted for hards in a 2.3s stop.
A Middle Stint On The Hards© Getty Images
Hamilton was then told to push on his in-lap in a bid to negate Max’s attempted undercut. His pit stop was clean and he took on hard tyres in a 2.2 stop as Checo, who had yet to pit, swept past to take the race lead.
Hamilton should have re-joined in P2, but Max’s out lap was superlative and as the Briton emerged from the pit lane Max drew alongside the Mercedes and got past into turn one.
Checo, meanwhile, went long on his first stint and stayed on track until the end of lap 24. And after taking on hard tyres he dropped to P4, 16 seconds behind Bottas.
The pace at the front now ramped up spectacularly as Hamilton tried to pressure race leader Max. The Dutchman resisted well but both drivers and Bottas were soon on the radio saying that their tyres would not last the race.
After a period of cat and mouse, the Team opted to switch Max to a two-stop race and on lap 32 the Dutchman pitted for a new set of medium tyres. He emerged in P4 behind Checo but quickly began to close on those ahead and he was soon past his teammate and hunting down Bottas.
Max-Attack On Mediums© Getty Images
By lap 44 he was within DRS range of the Finn and as they went into the chicane on the Mistral Straight, Bottas went slightly wide. The mistake allowed Max to pounce and he raced past the Finn at full speed as they swept through Signes.
Then it was Max’s turn. He closed hard and with two laps remaining he got to within DRS range of Hamilton. And on lap 52 (of 53) he too chose the chicane to make his move. Max got the perfect exit and with the aid of DRS he roared past the Mercedes driver to claim the race lead, and a little over a lap later, a stunning victory.
That's How Teammates Do It© Getty Images
Thanks to his pace on medium tyres in his final stint, Max was also able to collect the point on offer for fastest lap thanks to his time of 1:36.404, set just after he took on the new set.
Behind the top three finishers, Bottas was left with P4 ahead of hard-charging Lando Norris who collected 10 points for P5 after starting from P8. Norris’ McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly while Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished in P8. The final points on offer were taken by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll who finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Max's win and fastest lap put him on 131 points, 12 ahead of Hamilton, while Checo extends his third-place lead over Norris to eight points, 84 to 76. In the Constructors’ Championship the Team now has 215 points, 37 ahead of Mercedes.
French Grand Prix 2021: Race
Your Championship Leader© Getty Images
A Smile For Miles© Getty Images
Max-Attack On Mediums© Getty Images
"I Believe We Have The Best Team In The World." Christian Horner© Getty Images
Simply Lovely Max!© Getty Images
On His Way To Victory!© Getty Images
Checo Picks Up P3 In Paul Ricard© Getty Images
An Action-Packed Start© Getty Images
Bulls On The Charge© Getty Images
Taking The Chequered Flag© Getty Images
What. A. Drive.© Getty Images
To have a double podium at a track like this shows the hard work everyone is putting in here, in Milton Keynes and at Honda.
“Winning this race was an amazing Team effort and to have a double podium at a track like this really shows the hard work everyone is putting in here and in Milton Keynes at our factory and Honda’s. Of course I would have liked to pull off into the distance and cruise ahead on my own but it doesn’t often work like that in Formula One and we really had to work for it today.
We decided to go for the two stop strategy which worked out well as our car suited the conditions towards the end of the race. "You can see how close the two teams are and to win like this on strategy with two laps to go is very rewarding. It was certainly not an easy race and I got caught out at Turn 1 and lost the rear which meant I had to go off the track and lost a position to Lewis. I was of course upset at the time but I knew there was a long race ahead and I had to focus. In the first stint I didn’t really have the pace to fight with Lewis so we took the risk to pit first and to be honest I didn’t expect the undercut to work so well that I would come out ahead. They were pushing hard to try and pass me but luckily I could just about stay ahead and I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes.
In the end we made the right calls for both cars and it is great to be on the podium with Checo. "We decided to go for the two stop strategy which worked out well as our car suited the conditions towards the end of the race as the wind became a little less and the track rubbered in. In the end we made the right calls for both cars and it is great to be on the podium with Checo. We should all enjoy this for a few days until we get to Austria and start again.”
"The Team did a fantastic job today with great strategy and making the right calls at the right time so well done to everyone here and back at the factory. It’s a great result for them which is what really counts and so I’m happy with that. On my side, this weekend wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, as drivers we only want to win so I just have to keep working hard, continue improving and getting better results with the great car that I’ve been given.
Back to back podiums is still solid points but I just needed probably three more laps to get past Lewis for the 1-2 finish, so we’ll keep pushing to get it at our home race in Austria. I think it will be very good for me to have two races back to back in Spielberg as the first race will give me much more of an understanding of how the car performs around there and as a result a better baseline for race two. Hopefully we can be in contention for the win and continue this momentum.”
You can see how close it is between the two teams, there is very little between the cars so we’ve just got to keep pushing and looking for more performance.
“I’m so proud of the whole Team to bring home back to back race wins and a double podium which extends our lead in both championships. Max got a good start but lost the lead after an early excursion which we managed to survive and, after a stonking out lap following his first pit stop, he recovered track position. We didn’t want to find ourselves in the same position as we did in Barcelona so we pulled the trigger and went for the two stop which thankfully paid off today. It’s always a difficult thing to pit from the lead with 21 laps to go but we don’t shy away from risks and went for it.
I’m so proud of the whole Team to bring home back to back race wins and a double podium which extends our lead in both championships. "On Checo’s side, we split the strategy with a one stop which he made work coming home in third place so all round it was a fantastic Team performance. You can see how close it is between the two teams, there is very little between the cars so we’ve just got to keep pushing and looking for more performance. There’s such a long way to go in this championship so you can’t take anything for granted but now we’ll take this momentum with us to Austria for the first of two home Grands Prix for the Team.”
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Lewis Hamilton | Sergio Pérez | Valtteri Bottas | Lando Norris | Daniel Ricciardo | Pierre Gasly | Fernando Alonso | Sebastian Vettel | Lance Stroll |
| Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | McLaren | McLaren | AlphaTauri | Alpine | Aston Martin | Aston Martin |
