Nothing had changed in terms of the pecking order, as the Formula 1 caravan arrived in France for round 8. Mercedes were still the favorites, with no questions asked. Mercedes set the benchmark in qualifying, which was well expected. The red-walled soft compound had proved extremely short-lasting in the free practice sessions, so predictably Mercedes and Ferrari opted for the medium rubber in Q2. More of news was the fact, that some midfield teams, too sent their drivers out on the medium Pirellis, which turned out to be an extremely competitive compound. Both McLaren drivers and both Renault drivers set their fastest lap times on the mediums, as did Red Bull's Verstappen. Gasly, on the other hand, was struggling badly to make it into the last segment on the soft tyres.
Like expected, Mercedes locked down the front row, with championship-leading Hamilton having the upper hand on his Finnish teammate. Leclerc's pace entitled the Monegasque for P3, and Verstappen qualified in the familiar P4. McLaren had clearly taken a step forward in terms of their performance, as Norris and Sainz locked down the third row! It was a refreshing change, although unfortunately it meant, that Sebastian was left in modest P7 on the grid, which was the worst grid slot for the German this season.
The tyre strategy for the race was quite atypical. Red Bull's Gasly and Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi were the only drivers to start to the race on the soft tyres. All other top ten drivers had the medium Pirellis on. Kimi (P12), who had been out-qualified by his teammate, had a free choice of tyres, and the Iceman opted for the white-walled hard rubber. There were no surprising turns at the start. Both Mercedes aces took a splendid start, and Hamilton held on to his lead. Leclerc maintained his third place, and Verstappen was fourth. Sainz managed to get past his teammate at the start, and Sebastian seemed stuck behind the orange cars. However, Sebastian's race pace was consistent, and he attacked Norris on lap 5, making it past the young Briton. A couple of laps later it was Sainz's turn to become overtaken by the determined German. Great job from Sebastian; he was in P5 already.
The pit stop roulette brought no changes to the order of the top five. The top drivers' tyre strategy was identical; everyone opted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Hamilton's performance was in a class of his own, as the reigning world champion had built up a 10-second gap to his teammate already! For some reason Bottas seemed utterly toothless against his dominant teammate. Other gaps behind the top two drivers were also safe, so there were no battles for positions, which made the race very boring, to be honest. The McLarens had no chance to match Ferrari's race pace, but Sebastian, on the other hand, wasn't fast enough to challenge Verstappen for P4. This made the Red Team switch to "plan F", which meant going for the fastest lap time. Sebastian could easily afford to an extra pit stop, without losing any positions. And the fastest lap time would be firmly on Sebastian's grasp on the fresh set of softs!
There was some excitement at least on the closing laps of the race. McLaren were driving an impressive race, as Sainz was 6th and teammate Norris 7th. Unfortunately Norris' car was hit with a hydraulic issue, which made the car very difficult to drive. To the Briton's misfortune, both Kimi and Renault's Hulkenberg were able to overtake him. Ricciardo was right at the tail of this fighting duo. On the penultimate lap Ricciardo made an "all or nothing" move on the duo. The Australian managed to pass both drivers, but by leaving the track with all four wheels!
Hamilton cruised to a supreme victory for the 6th time this season. Bottas made it another 1-2 for the Silver Arrows, although Leclerc had managed to sneak right behind the Finn at the end of the race. Verstappen drove to the chequered flag in P4, and Sebastian finished in modest P5. McLaren's Sainz was "the best of the rest", which made McLaren's day. Ricciardo crossed the finish line in P7, but the Australian was handed not one but two 5-second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage! The penalty dropped the Honey Badger down to P11. On the other hand, the penalty promoted Kimi to P7 and Hulkenberg to P8. Norris managed to bring his limping McLaren to the chequered flag in P9, which was well done from the British rookie. Gasly scored the last point for Red Bull. The joy of the day for me was, that Sebastian scored the extra point for the fastest lap time, although Hamilton didn't make it easy in spite of his worn hard tyres.
Mercedes have won all eight races of the season! I desperately need a change! Hamilton has now a 39-point gap to Bottas in the drivers' championship standings. The dominance by Mercedes and Hamilton is killing all the excitement. The course needs to be turned... Maybe in Austria already this week? Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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