Advertisement

How Max Verstappen topped Lewis Hamilton at the F1 French Grand Prix

Photo credit: Pool - Getty Images
Photo credit: Pool - Getty Images

It's game on in Formula 1 after Max Verstappen's win in the F1 French Grand Prix on Sunday at Paul Ricard Circuit at Le Castellet, France.

The win was the third in a row for Red Bull and the third of the season for Max Verstappen, who passed Lewis Hamilton on the next-to-last lap of the race to increase his points lead in the championship. Verstappen came into the race with a four-point lead and left France with a 12-point advantage over seven-time champion Hamilton.

Verstappen and Red Bull pulled off a successful two-stop strategy, as Red Bull proved to win both on the track and on strategy. Verstappen made his first pit stop on lap 19 of the 53-lap race an committed to the two-stop strategy with a second stop on Lap 32. Hamilton made his lone pit stop on Lap 20 and was unable to hold off Verstappen and the Red Bull's fresher tires.

Photo credit: Rudy Carezzevoli - Getty Images
Photo credit: Rudy Carezzevoli - Getty Images

The final margin of victory was a comfortable 2.9 seconds.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sergio Perez, who won last time out in Baku, completed the podium for Red Bull. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas also fell victim to the one-stop strategy and finished fourth after watching Perez make the pass on Lap 49.

No cars outside the top four finished within a minute of the winner.

All 20 cars were running at the end to mark just the 10th time in F1 history there were no retirements in the race.