The dominance from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was maintained with the British driver winning the 2018 Formula 1 French GP with his title rival Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel only fifth at Paul Ricard.
It was a frantic start to the 53-lap race when Vettel made contact with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas going into Turn 1. Vettel had the incident running behind Hamilton with Bottas on the outside – but the Finn had the racing line to take the corner.
As he turned in, Vettel’s right wing clipped the left rear of Bottas – spinning the Finn and causing a puncture while the German had a broken nose after another hit with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Behind, the other Haas of Romain Grosjean hit Force India’s Esteban Ocon.
And immediately, Ocon was hit once again from behind by Toro Rosso Honda’s Pierre Gasly – ending both their races. Grosjean was handed a five-second penalty as a result. The safety car was out to clear the debris as Hamilton led Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
Amazingly, Renault’s Carlos Sainz made his way up to third from Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo as Magnussen and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc both got ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Grosjean, Force India’s Sergio Perez and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg completed the Top 10.
Both Vettel and Bottas rejoined the race at the back of the field after their pit stop as the race went green with Hamilton comfortably leading Verstappen. Behind, Sainz came under pressure from Ricciardo soon to concede the podium position to the Australian.
The man on the charge apart from Vettel and Bottas was Raikkonen who first cleared Leclerc, then Magnussen and soon Sainz to move himself up into fourth. He had Vettel in fifth after the German also went past the lower half of the Top 10 to get into the Top 5.
But he was some way off Raikkonen, while Bottas remained in the fight in the lower half due to floor damage – thereby the Finn lapping slower than Vettel in his charge. In the meantime, the stewards handed a five-second penalty to Vettel for causing a collision.
Meanwhile, at the front the position remained the same with Hamilton continuing to lead Verstappen who was in no position to challenge the British driver. But Ricciardo in third became vulnerable after Ferrari put Raikkonen on supersoft tyres in a different strategy.
And soon the Finn caught up Ricciardo and passed him on Lap 47 to take third. In the end, Hamilton took the win in the returning French GP by a solid 7.090s from Verstappen who was comfortably ahead of Raikkonen – the Finn making up three places from sixth to third.
With Vettel in fifth having to stop again, Hamilton (145) retook the championship lead by 14 points from Vettel (131) after eight races in the 2018 season. It was a good result for Magnussen in sixth after the Dane was gifted the place due to power issue to Sainz.
The Spaniard was running sixth with three laps to go but started to lose power which helped Magnussen and Bottas to pass through. The Finn had to settle for seventh with the second stop and a damaged Mercedes – which hindered his chances to passing Magnussen.
Sainz eventually finished eighth after he was helped with a late VSC period due to a mishap for Williams’ Lance Stroll. Hulkenberg recovered from an average qualifying to ninth with Leclerc rounding out the Top 10.
The Monegasque couldn’t have the pace to challenge the cars further ahead in the end. Just outside the points was sole Frenchman Grosjean, finishing a lap down ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
The Woking-based outfit had a awful race from the back with Fernando Alonso forced to retire on the last lap with left rear damage. The Spaniard was not enjoying himself especially after an early spin when Vettel passed him.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson finished 13th leading Toro Rosso Honda’s Brendon Hartley and Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin. Even though Alonso and Stroll didn’t finish, but they were classified in 16th and 17th.
It was a terrible day for Force India as well after Ocon’s first lap retirement, Perez was forced to retire with an apparent engine issue – a rare double DNF for the Indian outfit as their rivals continue to score good.