Hamilton coasts to French GP win

Le Castellet, France

Lewis Hamilton capitalized on a mistake by rival Sebastian Vettel to enjoy a wire-to-wire victory at the French Grand Prix on Sunday and retake the lead in the Formula One title race.

Starting third behind Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Vettel tried to use his faster set of tires to make a good start.

But the German's lunge on the inside of the first corner crunched his Ferrari into the back of Bottas, damaging both cars and sending them into the pits for repairs.

Vettel emerged with a new front wing and the entire field to fight through, and even though he made quick work of the slower cars he had to settle for a fifth-place finish.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari crossed second and third to complete the podium at the Paul Ricard Circuit.

Defending champion Hamilton has 145 points after eight races. Vettel, who entered the race with a one-point lead, leaves trailing by 14.

While Hamilton thanked his team for its "great work" via the radio after crossing the finish line, Vettel regretted that he "had lost the race on the first lap."

"My start was too good. Then I ended up with nowhere to go," Vettel said. "It was my mistake, I tried to brake early and get out of it, but I had no room and no grip, being so close to the car in front and also next to me."

Hamilton dominated the race, qualifying and Friday's practice sessions boosted by an engine upgrade that Mercedes had expected to roll out in Canada, when Hamilton finished fifth and lost his lead to race winner Vettel.

It was Hamilton's 65th career win. Only Michael Schumacher has more victories with 91.

IndyCar: Josef Newgarden put in a lot of work to make his win at Road America look easy. With no caution flags all afternoon to slow him down, the pole-sitting Newgarden finally pulled away late from Ryan Hunter-Reay for a comfortable victory in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Newgarden led 53 of 55 laps, crossing the finish line with a 3.38-second cushion over second-place finisher Hunter-Reay for his third win of the season.