F1 French Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins from Hamilton at Paul Ricard

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 relentlessly chased down Hamilton, passing him to take the win on the penultimate lap.

2021 F1 French Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	53	1:27'25.770
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:27'28.674	2.904
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	53	1:27'34.581	5.907
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	1:27'40.388	5.807
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	53	1:28'29.802	49.414
6	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	53	1:28'41.627	11.825
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	53	1:28'42.366	0.739
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	53	1:28'43.465	1.099
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	53	1:28'45.436	1.971
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	53	1:28'57.716	12.280
11	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	53	1:29'05.107	7.391
12	George Russell	Williams	52	1 lap
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	52	1 lap
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	52	1 lap
15	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	52	1 lap
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	52	1 lap
17	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	52	1 lap
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	52	1 lap
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	52	1 lap
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	52	1 lap
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How the F1 French Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position, Verstappen led Hamilton until the first corner where he overshot the corner, which meant he cut the inside of Turn 2, and allowed Hamilton to grab the lead. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) held third place, ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).

Behind Ferrari’s seventh-placed Charles Leclerc, McLaren duo Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris passed Fernando Alonso’s Alpine on Lap 11 to run eighth and ninth. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who passed Alonso’s team-mate Esteban Ocon early on, also overtook Alonso two laps later.

Ricciardo sliced past Leclerc on Lap 14, the Ferrari then diving for the pits to switch from medium tyres to hards. This undercut put him ahead of Ricciardo, who himself proved the power of the undercut by getting ahead of both Sainz and Gasly.

At the front, Bottas pitted first on Lap 18 which triggered Verstappen (who had dropped 3s behind Hamilton) into responding on the next lap. Hamilton pitted on the following tour and seemed surprised when Verstappen was able to pass him going into Turn 1, Red Bull’s team leader taking full advantage of the undercut to retake the lead he’d lost in the opening seconds of the race.

Hamilton was in DRS range of Verstappen straight after the pitstop cycle and also had Bottas right behind as the top three ran nose to tail as the race hit half distance. Perez ran long and led for a few laps before rejoining in a distant fourth.

Verstappen pitted for a second time on Lap 32, switching back to mediums. He rejoined in fourth, Perez quickly letting him by into third, with Verstappen catching leader Hamilton by 2s per lap to begin with.

Verstappen caught Bottas with 10 laps remaining, Hamilton having extended his lead to over 4s. Verstappen passed Bottas at Signes on Lap 44, but was 5s behind Hamilton.

As Verstappen closed on Hamilton – running 3s behind with five laps remaining – Perez caught Bottas, passing him with four laps to go for the final spot on the podium.

The battle for the win was decided in the very closing stages, Verstappen passing Hamilton at the chicane with less than two laps remaining.

The McLarens won the battle for best of the rest, Norris passing Ricciardo for fifth. Gasly was seventh, ahead of Alonso and the two Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, who both started on hard tyres.

2021 F1 French Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	35	1'36.404			218.156
2	Sergio Perez	53	1'36.693	0.289	0.289	217.504
3	Valtteri Bottas	19	1'36.960	0.556	0.267	216.905
4	Sebastian Vettel	52	1'37.138	0.734	0.178	216.508
5	Lewis Hamilton	44	1'37.410	1.006	0.272	215.903
6	Lando Norris	52	1'37.425	1.021	0.015	215.870
7	Fernando Alonso	44	1'37.646	1.242	0.221	215.382
8	Charles Leclerc	43	1'37.681	1.277	0.035	215.304
9	Lance Stroll	44	1'37.828	1.424	0.147	214.981
10	Kimi Raikkonen	46	1'37.992	1.588	0.164	214.621
11	Pierre Gasly	44	1'38.103	1.699	0.111	214.378
12	Nicholas Latifi	50	1'38.313	1.909	0.210	213.920
13	George Russell	52	1'38.314	1.910	0.001	213.918
14	Daniel Ricciardo	45	1'38.324	1.920	0.010	213.896
15	Esteban Ocon	33	1'38.645	2.241	0.321	213.200
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	36	1'38.702	2.298	0.057	213.077
17	Mick Schumacher	51	1'38.847	2.443	0.145	212.765
18	Carlos Sainz Jr.	19	1'38.931	2.527	0.084	212.584
19	Yuki Tsunoda	18	1'38.980	2.576	0.049	212.479
20	Nikita Mazepin	34	1'39.317	2.913	0.337	211.758
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2021 F1 French Grand Prix tyre history

Cla	Driver	Chassis	1		2		3
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	M	21	H	14	M	24
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	M	22	H	34
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	M	27	H	29
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	M	20	H	36
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	M	29	H	29
6	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	M	21	H	37
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	M	22	H	36
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	M	21	H	35
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	H	37	M	19
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	H	34	M	19
11	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	M	20	H	36
12	George Russell	Williams	M	17	H	35
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	M	15	H	37
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	H	28	M	27
15	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	H	28	M	24
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	M	17	H	24	M	17
17	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	H	33	M	19
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	M	18	H	34
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas	M	15	H	37
20	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	H	31	M	21
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