A race-winning two-stop strategy worked wonders as Max Verstappen wins the 2021 F1 French Grand Prix

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The Red Bull team pulled off a fantastic two-stop strategy as they claimed back-to-back race victories with Max Verstappen on the top step this time around at the French Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton failed to hold onto first as the Dutchman overtook him with two laps to go which saw the Mercedes man finish in second ahead of Sergio Perez in third.

Valtteri Bottas was seemingly left angry as he wanted to go on the two-stop strategy as the Finn finished fourth ahead of the McLaren pair of Norris and Ricciardo who came fifth and sixth. Gasly came seventh with Alonso in eighth, Vettel in ninth and Stroll in the final points position in 10th.

Starting Grid

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Max Verstappen set a fantastic lap time of a 1:29.990 as he put his Red Bull car on pole position. The Dutchman was joined on the front row by Championship rival Lewis Hamilton with Valtteri Bottas directly behind him in third.

Sergio Perez started from fourth with Carlos Sainz the lead Ferrari car in fifth. Pierre Gasly qualified inside the top 10 for a third consecutive race as the AlphaTauri sat on the grid in sixth ahead of the second Ferrari car of Charles Leclerc in seventh. Lando Norris qualified in eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso in ninth and Daniel Ricciardo in 10th.

In his home Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on the top 10 as he started from 11th with Sebastian Vettel in 12th, Antonio Giovinazzi in 13th, George Russell in 14th and Mick Schumacher in a fantastic 15th for Haas.

Nicholas Latifi missed out by two-thousandths of a second on a Q2 appearance as he qualified in 16th with Kimi Raikkonen in 17th, Nikita Mazepin in 18th, Lance Stroll in 19th and Yuki Tsunoda started the pit lane after parts needed to be changed due to his crash in Q1.

As It Happened

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Verstappen and Hamilton got off the line well as the Dutchman looked to have kept the race lead into turn one. Unfortunately, the Red Bull driver went wide as he handed the lead to the Mercedes driver.

Stroll and Tsunoda were men on a mission as the Aston Martin moved from 19th to 15th with the AlphaTauri up to 16th after his pit lane start.

After 10 laps, Hamilton created a large gap as he lead the race ahead of Verstappen in second and Bottas in third. Perez was a couple of seconds behind Bottas in fourth with Sainz in fifth, Gasly in sixth, Leclerc in seventh, Alonso in eighth, Ricciardo in ninth and Norris in 10th.

The Aston Martin of Stroll made another overtake as the Canadian got ahead of Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo to move him up to 14th.

On lap 11, Ricciardo and Norris both overtook Alonso as the McLaren duo moved up to eighth and ninth respectively. The Alpine driver dropped further behind as Vettel got into the points at the expense of the Spaniard.

Verstappen made the undercut work fantastically as when the Mercedes driver came out of the pit lane he was overtaken by the Red Bull into turn one.

At the halfway point of the race, Verstappen was released into the lead of the race ahead of Hamilton, Bottas, Perez, Vettel, Stroll, Leclerc, Ocon, Ricciardo and Sainz who completed the top 10.

The two Ferrari’s of Sainz and Leclerc swapped position as the former moved ahead of the latter who was struggling with his hard tyres.

Norris moved up the field fantastically with overtakes on Gasly, Leclerc and Sainz moving him up to eighth after his pit stop.

Verstappen pitted for a second time with 20 laps to go. The Red Bull man fitted the medium tyres as he started to chase down leader Hamilton.

With 10 laps to go, Hamilton continued to lead the race ahead of Bottas in second and Verstappen in third. Perez followed in fourth with Norris in fifth, Ricciardo in sixth, Gasly in seventh, Alonso in eighth, Sainz in ninth and Vettel in 10th.

Bottas was visibly struggling with his tyres as Verstappen hunted the Mercedes man down. The Finn went wide at the chicane which allowed the Red Bull to have a good run on him and ultimately overtake him one corner later.

Perez moved into the podium places as the Mexican used the slipstream effectively to move up into third place in the final laps of the race.

With two laps to go, Verstappen regained the lead of the race as the Red Bull man made the overtake on Hamilton to complete a fantastic two-stop strategy.

The Dutchman crossed the line in first ahead of his Championship rival Hamilton as the Brit finished second ahead of Perez in third.

Bottas finished fourth with the McLaren pair of Norris and Ricciardo finishing fifth and sixth. Gasly came seventh with Alonso in eighth, Vettel in ninth and Stroll in the final points position in 10th.

What’s Next?

Next weekend Formula 1 travel to the Styrian hills for the Styrian Grand Prix around the Red Bull Ring. Max Verstappen extended his Championship lead to 12 points over Lewis Hamilton as the Bulls will be hoping to extend their leads in both Standings at their home races.

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