From Azerbaijan the F1 circus moved to France to kick off the first triple-header of the season. The circuit of Paul Ricard is known as Mercedes' playground, as since 1990 the pole-setter has always been a driver with a Mercedes-powered engine. However, year 2021 finally brought a wind of change.
Qualifying was quite messy, especially the first segment, which was red-flagged twice. The second red flag brought out by Haas' Schumacher was a turning point for many drivers, as it came with only 22 seconds remaining in the clock, ruining the last flyers. In Q2 Williams' Russell was the only driver to come out on the softs, as even Vettel in his Aston Martin headed out on the medium compound. Bottas and Hamilton topped the time sheets, with Perez and Verstappen being third and fourth.
When it came down to the shootout for pole, Red Bull's Verstappen was in a class of his own. The flying Dutchman took provisional pole by three tenths to Hamilton, but Max's final flyer saw the Red Bull ace snatch three additional tenths off his first benchmark. Hamilton proved unable to match his rival's pace and had to settle for the second grid slot. Bottas and Perez locked down the second row, with Ferrari's Sainz 5th and AlphaTauri's Gasly 6th. Leclerc finished 7th in the sister Ferrari, leaving McLaren's Norris 8th on the grid. So finally there was a Honda powered driver on pole in France!
The tyre strategy for the race couldn't have been any more unanimous; the entire top ten started to the race on the yellow-marked medium compound. Lights out saw a clean start. Verstappen had an excellent acceleration into Turn 1, keeping Hamilton and Bottas behind. However, the Red Bull ace ended up slightly wide going into Turn 2, which enabled Hamilton to take the lead. Soon the top three -Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas- disappeared into the horizon. Perez in the sister Red Bull in P4 proved unable to match the top three's pace.
Unfortunately Ferrari's race pace proved extremely poor compared to that in Baku two weeks ago. Charles' medium Pirellis lasted for 15 laps only, and the Monegasque was the first driver to pit on lap 15 already. After the switch to the hard compound, Charles rejoined the track in modest P19. Perez stayed out, as the top three all pitted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Bottas pitted before Hamilton, and Verstappen managed to move ahead of Hamilton during the Briton's pit stop. After the pit stop roulette both Silver Arrows were right at Verstappen's tail putting pressure on the Red Bull ace.
Both Mercedes drivers and Red Bull's Verstappen were heard to report on the team radio, that the hard tyres weren't going to last till the end. Surprisingly Red Bull made a bold move and called race leader Verstappen in on lap 33 for a second pit stop. The Dutchman rejoined the track on fresh mediums in P4, aiming for an aggressive hunt. A similar strategy was seen in Barcelona by Mercedes, so now it was Red Bull's payback time. Verstappen's pace was quite timitating, as the Dutchman was two seconds faster than Hamilton in the lead. Hunting down teammate Perez and making an overtaking move on him was like a walk in a park for the storming Dutchman, who now had the Finnish Mercedes ace in his radar. Bottas was seven seconds ahead. Meanwhile, also Charles had to opt for a second pit stop, which dropped the Monegasque down to P16. The Scuderia drivers were utterly toothless especially in terms of straight line speed.
With nine laps to go, Verstappen had chased down Bottas, who aggressively questioned the team's one-stop strategy on the team radio, as the Finns front tyres were totally finished. The Finn had no chance to defend his second place against storming Verstappen. And in addition to Max, Bottas had a Mexican threat coming from behind. Perez in the second RB16B was also rapidly closing the gap to him. And with just four laps to go, Perez had made it in the striking distance from the Finn and didn't hesitate to attack. Bottas was deprived of the third place as well due to the failed one-stop strategy. Meanwhile, Verstappen's hunt had proved successful, and the Dutchman could already smell his rival's blood. On the second last lap Max made his move with the help of the DRS and moved ahead of Hamilton, who seemed to settle for his destiny.
Verstappen crossed the finish line as the race winner and the Driver of the Day. Hamilton had to settle for playing the second fiddle, as Perez completed the podium for Red Bull, leaving disappointed Bottas fourth. McLaren showed excellent performance again, as Norris finished 5th and teammate Ricciardo 6th. Gasly brought valuable points to AlphaTauri by finishing 7th. Alonso brought four points for Alpine, and Vettel and Stroll brought the last three points for Aston Martin. This victory was remarkable for Red Bull, as France has been Mercedes' turf for a long time. Verstappen now has a 12-point lead in the drivers' championship, and Red Bull's lead increased into 37 points in the constructors' standings. McLaren, too strengthened their position in the fight against Ferrari in terms of the third place in the constructors' standings. The iconic British team now have 110 points to the Scuderia's 94.
Next week the F1 circus moves to Red Bull's playground, as Austria will host a double-header at Red Bull Ring. Ferrari definitely have homework to do to extract better performance out of their car. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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