Red Bull’s strategic triumph at Paul Ricard. The French Grand Prix hosted the umpteenth battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen , who flew to his third win of the season to gain strength at the helm of the World Cup thanks to Red Bull’s superb strategy . The Dutch driver is more of the leader after taking victory in a race in which Lewis Hamilton and Checo Pérez completed the podium.
As for the Spanish drivers, Fernando Alonso took a great eighth place in France after a great second half of the race on hard tires. The Alpine rider had set the French GP as the start of his comeback and ends the weekend in a great position and again ahead of Esteban Ocon. For his part, Carlos Sainz also surpassed his teammate, but was unable to finish in the points zone with his eleventh place on a horrible day at Ferrari.
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS! LATE, LATE DRAMA!
What a move that was by the championship leader on the penultimate lap to regain P1 from Lewis Hamilton!#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/IBH2gVhsMY
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 20, 2021
After a spectacular qualifying, Max Verstappen headed the weekend with pole position at the French Grand Prix. The Dutchman was defending position at the start, but over -braking at the first corner of Paul Ricard . Lewis Hamilton took the lead after Mad Max’s mistake, which put the seven-time world champion on a plate. For his part, Fernando Alonso signed a great start to get into a seventh position that would later yield in a beautiful battle against Charles Leclerc.
Brilliant Red Bull strategy
Despite Max Verstappen’s mistake in the first corner, Red Bull’s strategy carried the World Cup leader in the air. towards his third win of the season . A triumph built from two great maneuvers by Red Bull, which once again ate Mercedes’ toast. The first was an undercut by Verstappen to Hamilton, after the team error of the champions, who decided that the Briton would not stop on the same lap as the Red Bull driver. Toto Wolff’s team shot themselves in the foot , but the best remained ahead at Paul Ricard.
Meanwhile, the undercut was not so successful on the part of Ferrari , who erred in the calculation of the strategy of the undercut of Leclerc to his partner Sainz and Gasly. The red team took fifth place from Sainz, who suffered with a very low rhythm that his pursuers took advantage of. The day turned out to be horrible for Ferrari, with Leclerc and Sainz out of the points. For his part, Alonso overcame a difficult start and signed a great second part of the race to climb up to eighth place.
Max Verstappen led the race and Red Bull turned the race upside down: the Dutchman’s second stop , who wanted to make Hamilton the strategy that the Briton did at the Barcelona Grand Prix. New tires and flying to victory: Verstappen overtook Bottas and on lap 52 overtook Hamilton in a brutal overtake that put the icing on the red Bull’s very successful strategy. Also, Checo Pérez surpassed Bottas to get on the podium and complete a perfect day for the Austrian team.
For his part, Fernando Alonso endured the type and finished in eighth position at the French Grand Prix. Great work from the Asturian, who continues to improve in Alpine and once again surpassed Esteban Ocon. It was not a great day for Sainz and Ferrari , both red drivers finishing outside the points zone.
