Formula 1 2021 French Grand Prix results

Having been caught out by a combination of cold tyres and a gust of wind, the rear end of his Red Bull got away from him and he drifted wide.
The Dutchman was fortunate to only lose a single position to Lewis Hamilton as he cut back across the inside of Turn 2 and rejoined in front of Valtteri Bottas.
However, in getting back on the track that way, Verstappen appeared to have breached track ...

read on

During Sunday's French Grand Prix Norris branded Gasly ?an idiot? on the McLaren team radio after the Frenchman forcefully passed him and then slid wide himself.
?It was hard racing, but I really enjoyed it," Gasly commented when asked about the Norris incident by Motorsport.com. "You can't expect to go around the outside and the guy not to fight.
?So I tried to keep it clean. It's ...

read on

Neither Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz were able to keep their tyres alive long enough to match the lap times of their rivals, and their pace drop off and need for extra stops saw them slump to outside the top ten.
But while Ferrari was not alone in suffering more degradation in the French GP than expected, the Maranello outfit definitely felt things much worse than the opposition. And that has left ...

read on

Max Verstappen was leading at Paul Ricard on Sunday after the first round of stops and had eked out a slight advantage over the pursuing Lewis Hamilton.
However, his Red Bull team elected to pit for a set of medium tyres, handing the advantage at that stage of the race to Hamilton. But Verstappen had a big pace advantage with the fresher rubber and managed to close in and overtake his Mercedes ...

read on

Bottas struggled in the closing stages of the race at Paul Ricard after being the first of the leaders to pit, leaving him to complete a long stint on the hard compound tyre.
Bottas was passed by Max Verstappen with 10 laps to go after Red Bull moved the Dutchman onto a two-stop strategy that would ultimately win him the race.
Mercedes kept Bottas on a one-stop strategy ...

read on

After a lacklustre final race to the 2020 campaign where there was little action, race promoters agreed that they would look into the possibility of revising the circuit.
Now the track says those plans have been given the green light and work will commence soon on changes to a number of corners. They will be ready in time for this season?s race on 12 December.
Saif Al Noaimi, acting CEO ...

read on

After two fairly turgid affairs since returning in 2018, Formula 1 finally enjoyed a memorable French Grand Prix as the title rivals went wheel-to-wheel once again.
Max Verstappen ended Mercedes' stranglehold on modern-day F1 at Paul Ricard after Red Bull's aggressive strategy paid off, allowing him to pass Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap of the race.
It was a big statement for Red ...

read on

Mercedes fell to a late defeat to Red Bull at Paul Ricard as Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton for the lead on the penultimate lap, making an aggressive two-stop strategy work.
After Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 32 and switched to the two-stop, Mercedes committed to a one-stop strategy with both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton and Bottas were heard on the radio at points ...

read on

Hamilton was able to take the lead at Paul Ricard on the opening lap after Verstappen made a mistake at Turn 2, and worked to create a small gap through the first stint.
But when Hamilton pitted at the end of Lap 19, he emerged from the pits behind Verstappen, who had come in one lap earlier and made the fresher tyres work to his advantage.
It paved the way for Verstappen to win the race for ...

read on

After a struggle off the line from his 14th spot grid berth, and an opening lap that saw him shuffled backwards, Russell produced an impressive drive, making the most of an early pit stop, to climb to 12th at the chequered flag.
Such was his and the Williams' pace, Russell was able to pull off a string of overtakes including passes on the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda to ...

read on

Perez was fighting with Bottas in the closing stages of the race at Paul Ricard, and drafted past his Mercedes rival on the run out of the chicane on the back straight on lap 49.
However, as he and Bottas ran through the high-speed Signes right hander, Perez went off track and across the white line on the exit.
The stewards did investigate the incident in the closing stages, but decided that ...

read on

Hamilton was able to pass pole-sitter Verstappen on the opening lap of the race after a mistake from the Red Bull driver, and led the opening stint.
But it was third-placed Bottas who was the first to pit at the end of lap 17, moving from the medium to the hard-compound tyre.
Red Bull responded by bringing Verstappen in one lap later, with the powerful undercut allowing the Dutchman to jump ...

read on

Bottas was looking strong in the opening stages of the race at Paul Ricard, shadowing Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in third.
Leader Verstappen came in for a second stop for medium tyres on lap 32, which was the planned optimal strategy for the race.
Knowing it would lose the race by default if it were to follow Red Bull's strategy, Mercedes decided to leave both Hamilton and ...

read on

Verstappen executed an aggressive two-stop strategy to win the 2021 French GP ahead of one-stopping Mercedes driver and title rival Lewis Hamilton, with the circumstances of the race playing out along similar lines to the season opener in Bahrain and the Spanish GP. 
Hamilton won both of those events after Verstappen botched his late passing attempt in Bahrain and Hamilton was switched to ...

read on

Sainz qualified as the leading midfield driver in fifth place on Saturday, and was able to retain the position through the opening stint of the race on the soft compound tyre.
But after being undercut by teammate Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo in the pits, Sainz began to slip back as he struggled with his tyres, losing positions to Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso ...

read on

Hamilton fell to a late defeat to Verstappen at Paul Ricard after an aggressive switch to a two-stop strategy paid off for Red Bull.
Hamilton took the lead from Verstappen on the opening lap after the Red Bull driver ran wide at Turn 2, only to drop behind again at the first round of pitstops.
Verstappen ran less than a second clear of Hamilton in the Mercedes behind shortly into the second ...

read on

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 ...

read on

Verstappen had earlier lost the lead by running off track ahead of the race's second corner, before gaining first place back when the power of the undercut caught out Mercedes at the first pitstops.
But, with all the drivers struggling more with tyre degradation than had been expected in what were cooler conditions at Paul Ricard on race day compared to the rest of the weekend, this time it was ...

read on

Pirelli has been under fire since the failures experienced by Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll in Baku, with tyres the main topic of conversation in the Paul Ricard paddock after the FIA introduced new restrictions on how teams operate them.
At the end of Friday evening's regular driver briefing, Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola stated the company's position regarding the failures, and answered ...

read on

The addition of Saudi Arabia to the 2021 calendar has raised questions from human rights groups, while other venues such as Bahrain, China and Russia have also proved controversial in the past.
Todt said his road safety role with the United Nations has given him the opportunity to meet human rights experts who agreed that F1 should visit such countries.
"It's something which is very dear to ...

read on

Verstappen?s late-race tyre failure in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix he had been dominating, as well as a similar incident for Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll earlier in the race, has been much discussed during this weekend?s subsequent event at Paul Ricard ? where Verstappen will start Sunday?s race from pole position ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton.
After conducting an investigation ...

read on

The French car manufacturer has been open that key to scoring more points this year is getting a better understanding of why its A521 car is quicker over a single lap in qualifying than it is in a race.
Alonso says the team has some ideas about what could be causing the problems with its tyre management, but is aware the situation is complicated by the team having had some especially strong ...

read on

Max Verstappen scored his second pole of the 2021 season in qualifying at Paul Ricard on Saturday, edging out Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the end of Q3.
The result marked the first non-Mercedes pole since F1 returned to Paul Ricard, with the track having traditionally been one of the German team?s strongest on the calendar.
Red Bull has won the last two races in ...

read on

"You are looking at an astonishing situation," cried legendary commentator Murray Walker - and he wasn't exaggerating. Ivan Capelli was holding off Alain Prost's Ferrari and was just a few laps away from winning the 1990 French Grand Prix for Leyton House, a team that had failed to qualify on half of its attempts in the season's previous six races. Impossible, surely...
Things could scarcely ...

read on

A planned switch of the monocoques on Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton's cars has become one of the biggest talking points of the race weekend. As is often the case with modern-day F1, through the chase to ham up stories in a search of controversy, the debate has quickly been exhausted.
In short: it became a thing that isn't a thing.
Walking the story back to Thursday, news of the chassis ...

read on

The Barcelona race was the last event before the championship raced on street circuits in Monaco and Baku ? where Mercedes, which won the Spanish race with Hamilton, struggled and Ferrari was able to qualify at the front of the grid as the layout of those tracks favoured and disadvantaged different packages. 
Red Bull won both street track events, although Hamilton?s title rival, Max ...

read on

Max Verstappen will line up on pole position ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after topping qualifying on Saturday.
Baku winner Sergio Perez will start fourth in the second Red Bull, with Carlos Sainz the top Ferrari driver in fifth.
When is the Formula 1 French Grand Prix
The 2021 Formula 1 French Grand Prix will be held at the Paul Ricard circuit from 15:00 local ...

read on

The 17-lap Saturday race will determine the starting line-up for Sunday's grand prix at the Silverstone and Monza events, and also at one flyaway event that has yet to be confirmed.
Todt believes that the sport doesn't need the novelty of a Saturday sprint, but he's willing to give the new format a go, believing that there's nothing to be lost by experimenting.
"Number one, we don't call ...

read on

Verstappen picked up his second pole of the 2021 season by edging out Lewis Hamilton for the top spot in qualifying at Paul Ricard on Saturday, ending Mercedes' dominance in the sessions that matter at the French GP since it returned to the F1 calendar in 2018.
He claimed his fifth F1 career pole by 0.258s and later explained that "from FP2 I think we made a good step forwards and basically ...

read on

Leclerc arrived at Paul Ricard off the back of consecutive pole positions in Monaco and Baku, but downplayed Ferrari's chances of factoring in the fight at the front upon the move back to a permanent circuit.
While Carlos Sainz was able to qualify fifth on Saturday, Leclerc struggled more through qualifying, scraping through to Q3 after a difficult final run in Q2.
Leclerc was heard on team ...

read on

Verstappen will start ahead of the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Read Also:

French GP: Verstappen beats Hamilton, Bottas to pole


French Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from ...

read on

Wolff had said in an interview provided to media by the FIA that it was possible for the world champion team to delay making a final call on whether or not to retain Valtteri Bottas.
Asked about the timing of a second driver decision if Lewis Hamilton was definitely staying, Wolff had indicated that the team was in no rush.
After giving a cheeky first response about waiting until ...

read on

Max Verstappen grabbed pole position at Paul Ricard, where Mercedes has been dominant in the past.
The Dutchman's form was helped by Red Bull electing to run its low-downforce rear wing configuration, which helped boost its speed on the straights.
But while Mercedes acknowledged that Verstappen was gaining an advantage thanks to his extra top speed, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff does not ...

read on

Hamilton and Bottas swapped chassis ahead of the Paul Ricard race weekend as part of Mercedes? planned rotation through the season.
Bottas impressed throughout practice on Friday, beating Hamilton in both sessions, and was able to lead Mercedes? charge again in final practice on Saturday morning.
Hamilton struggled more in Friday?s running, leading to questions about whether the ...

read on

After he'd topped FP3 by over 0.7s, Verstappen led the way again after the first runs in Q3, with a 0.386s advantage over Hamilton.
The world champion found enough time on his final run to out-do Verstappen's first flying effort in the final segment of qualifying, but the Dutchman had already put the P1 benchmark out of reach as he led the top four runners to the line, as they ran at the rear ...

read on

Schumacher was left furious with Mazepin after the Russian aggressively chopped across the front of him as they ran to the chequered flag at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
After the race, Steiner had talks with both of them to draw a line under the matter and try to ensure that there would not be repeat trouble further down the road.
Ahead of the French Grand Prix, Steiner said he hoped the ...

read on

The 2021 F1 schedule currently stands at 22 races, but doubts remain over some of the flyaway events later in the year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Singapore Grand Prix scheduled for September has already been cancelled, while there are questions marks over events in Japan, Australia, Mexico and Brazil.
One option under consideration to make up for Singapore's cancellation is ...

read on

No cars appeared on track for the first 10 minutes of the one-hour session, which took place in overcast and cooler conditions compared to the opening running on Friday.
The Haas pair Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher eventually became the first drivers to head out, soon followed by another pack of drivers, with all the teams eschewing running the medium tyres, which will likely be critical ...

read on

In the wake of the Aston Martin and Red Bull tyre blowouts at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Pirelli concluded that one of the factors in the incidents was teams not running tyres at pressure levels it expected.
As a result, the FIA has revised tyre checking procedures from this weekend?s race in France, with tyres now being checked after they have run on cars to ensure that teams are running ...

read on

After Valtteri Bottas ran wide over sausage kerbs early in FP1, Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows called FIA race director Michael Masi and highlighted the severe damage caused, and the associated financial cost.
Masi pointed out that the kerbs were already in place at the last French GP in 2019.
Max Verstappen also had an incident with kerbs that caused damage and led to the Dutchman ...

read on