F1 Blog: is the title decided? Another Ferrari failure, a great Mercedes and a Verstappen winner. What did the French Grand Prix show?

Comment: The French Grand Prix was the twelfth race of the season to be dominated by Max Verstappen in a Red Bull. The Dutch driver has a significant points lead in the championship, with Charles Leclerc crashing out of first place in the race. Mercedes can also celebrate with two cars on the podium, with both Alpine and McLaren also finishing on points. So what did the French Grand Prix bring?

The French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit once again offered and showed us a lot. So if we subject the twelfth round of this season to our classic close look, we find out a lot. For example, that the talk of a title has now been given a real basis, and also that Mercedes is back in contention for victory.

But fans of Leclerc and Ferrari, who prematurely ended their French Grand Prix run on lap 18, will be very disappointed. A great performance in France by Fernando Alonso, who once again proved that he still belongs in Formula 1. Can we expect a McLaren revival?

A seventh win for Verstappen

The Red Bull driver drove to his seventh victory of the season in France, with Leclerc being a big help. Verstappen, however, put in a consistent performance and despite the slow Red Bull in the corners, came away with the top spot.

After Leclerc’s retirement, the 24-year-old Dutchman almost had the race in his hands and enjoyed a comfortable ten-second lead over second-placed Lewis Hamilton at the end of the French Grand Prix.

Red Bull, it must be noted, must be commended for its quick reaction and aggressive strategy in calling Verstappen to the pits on lap 16 in an attempt to undercut Leclerc.

Leclerc’s crash, Red Bull’s brilliant strategy

An absolutely shocking moment that made the French Grand Prix another standout spectacle of this year’s F1 season. But why did this moment happen at all? Verstappen was close behind Leclerc for the first few laps and managed to put a lot of pressure on him.

The Red Bull was a very strong car in France, especially on the straights, and in the corners Verstappen had much more trouble with his monoposto than the first Leclerc in the Ferrari. This is probably the reason why the reigning champion was unable to overtake the race leader on the track.

Verstappen was 1.5 seconds behind Leclerc on lap 15, and then lost the most on laps 13 and 14, when he was almost four and then three tenths of a second slower. By the end of lap 15, the gap was already 1.8 seconds.

This left Red Bull with only one way to get ahead of Leclerc in the race – an undercut. At the end of the sixteenth lap, the Austrian team called its driver into the pits for a tyre change. An aggressive, yet perfectly logical strategy.

The question remains whether Ferrari had missed its chance to stop at this point. For Leclerc had started to lose ground against Verstappen’s exit lap, due to tyre overheating problems. So Red Bull showed great timing indeed and once again capitalised on the experience of last year when they were battling Mercedes for the title.

Verstappen’s hilarious pit-stop

The pit-stop lasted 2.4 seconds, with Verstappen returning to the track behind sixth-placed Lando Norris in the McLaren. In short, Ferrari were worried about their track position, and therefore that Leclerc would lose his lead with an earlier pit stop. But the fact is that leaving Leclerc on track with worn tyres that were also overheating was the worse and undesirable alternative.

Verstappen was over 1.6 seconds down on Norris after pit-stop, but he managed to not only eliminate that deficit but overtake Norris in a few corners. But of course – Verstappen was wearing fresh but hard tyres. Ferrari understood at that point that the lead Leclerc had to make a safe pit-stop to remain ahead of Verstappen in the final showdown was gone.

It should be added, Verstappen was also very quickly pulling away from fifth-placed Fernando Alonso. So Ferrari, led by Leclerc, still wanted to regain that safe lead on the track to complete the pit-stop. But at this point we come back to Ferrari’s tragic planning and poor timing of their pit stops.

Mamma mia, Leclerc crashes out of first place!

And what happened next is more than a logical consequence of Ferrari’s efforts. On worn tyres, which Leclerc also began to blister, the Ferrari driver was driving far beyond his maximum capabilities.

The result? A shocking crash, a heart attack for the Ferrari fans and another ruined race.

Can we call racing in France another Ferrari failure?

Leclerc admitted in a subsequent interview that his collision was not due to any technical fault, but a simple driving error. But my personal opinion is that Ferrari should have reacted better to the situation. Like Red Bull, though of course – after the battle, everyone is a general, as the popular saying goes.

But the criticism of Ferrari is spot on. Again, and unfortunately. We can only speculate on how the hardest specification tyres would have worked on Leclerc’s car, but they suited Max Verstappen’s Red Bull perfectly. The subsequent safety car was, of course, used by a number of drivers for pit stops. However, if it was clear that Leclerc’s tyres wouldn’t last much longer, there was nothing to wait for.

In fact, I dare say that one of the factors why Leclerc couldn’t stay on the track at Turn 1 was just tyre wear and a lot of pressure to claw back the time advantage to complete the pit-stop. Even though it was an unrealistic scenario on worn tyres.

Track position is one thing, of course, but if there are a number of other factors at any given time that would make it a good idea to alter your strategy a little, it is reprehensible to wait. Red Bull’s planning is truly exemplary in this regard, and the experience of fighting for the title is plain to see.

So instead of a hungry and bold Ferrari hungry for the title, we have once again seen a team that seems to be aching to make some sort of crucial move. So to answer the question above, can we call the race in France another failure – well, actually yes.

After all, Leclerc produced a fatal driving error and the team was once again unable to react adequately to the evolving situation of ever faster tyre degradation. This despite a brilliant move by Red Bull.

Did the French Grand Prix decide the title?

How do the concrete numbers speak? Verstappen’s victory means that he has now leapfrogged Leclerc in the drivers’ championship standings by 63 points! And that’s a big loss in the middle of the season. So if Leclerc were to win the next two races and Verstappen were to fail to finish both, the 24-year-old Monegasque would still be 13 points short of first place.

Yes, there are still ten races to go in this season and it’s still Formula One that can deliver some truly Hollywood stories. However, Verstappen is so experienced and Red Bull so strong that some brutal change in status is less likely at the moment.

The hope for Ferrari, however, is that they have managed to deliver relevant and successful upgrades. Especially on the floor. Moreover, we can only look forward to what the mandatory summer break will bring and what form the teams will return to Belgium with.

This is how the standings in the Constructors’ Cup and Drivers’ Championship look anyway. Verstappen is safely guarding his top spot for now, with Mercedes closing in on Ferrari on points. Leclerc, it should be added, had a 46-point lead over Verstappen after the Australian Grand Prix, when he was still in first place. Now Leclerc is second and 63 points behind.

A great day for Mercedes

It’s the first time this season that Mercedes has managed to get both of its drivers on the podium. Verstappen was joined on the podium by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. For the seven-time world champion, this is even the fourth race in a row in which he has finished on the podium.

The German stable also brought new upgrades to France and also focused on the floor. And at the moment, it looks like Mercedes is really getting back into the game for the win. While the pace of Hamilton and Russell didn’t look good in Saturday’s qualifying, both drivers did well in the race.

So, if Mercedes can bring in more successful upgrades that will also increase the performance of their monoblocs, we can look forward to a battle of the top three teams after the summer break.

Both Alpinas and McLarens on points

Alpine and McLaren also had a successful race weekend. Alonso finished sixth in France and was the best driver from the rest of the world, while Esteban Ocon finished eighth. The French Grand Prix also ended on a positive note for McLaren.

Lando Norris crossed the finish line seventh, Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth on Paul Ricard’s circuit. However, the big technical package that the British team brought to France also speaks positively for the British team from Woking.

Over the next few races, then, McLaren should finally pick up again, as the current concept seems to be something the bunch around Norris won’t have to be ashamed of, and which will allow them to continue to develop the car to perfection.

Aston Martin rounds out the top ten

Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel put up a truly awesome battle at the very end of the French Grand Prix. The four-time world champion was looking to snatch Stroll’s tenth place and it didn’t take much to stop the teammates from colliding.

The Canadian driver scored at least one point for his team, but all in all Aston Martin is the worst team in Formula 1. And the mood in the team is correspondingly bad. According to the latest speculation, it is uncertain whether Vettel will extend his current contract, Lawrence Stroll’s team is also not in an ideal financial situation.

K-Mag viking start

Absolutely phenomenal – this is undoubtedly a safe way to interpret Kevin Magnussen’s performance at the start of the French Grand Prix. The Haas driver started from the very tail of the grid due to a power unit component change and improved seven positions during the opening lap!

However, the Danish driver retired from the race after 37 laps, blamed on mutual contact with Nicholas Latifi (Williams). However, he also retired his car after three more laps. The American team did not score any points in France, with Mick Schumacher finishing 15th.

Red Bull and the next fastest pit-stop

If there’s one thing Red Bull has that it’s probably clearly the best at out of the entire starting field, it’s pit stops. This is the fourth time for the Austrian stable to be awarded the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award, following races in Australia, Miami and Monaco.

This time it’s a tyre change at Verstappen, and it’s from lap 16. Red Bull’s most serious competitor so far is McLaren, who have come for the fastest pit stop three times.

Finally, Carlos Sainz and Ferrari again

The Spanish driver in the service of Ferrari finished fifth in France, but this race will also carry a certain bitter aftertaste on his part. During a pit stop, his team launched him dangerously into the path of one of the Williams cars, for which Sainz subsequently received a five-second penalty from race directors.

On lap 41, he then had an interesting and successful battle for third place with Sergio Pérez, whereupon his team called him to the pits two laps later. It was then that Sainz served his penalty and received a set of medium tyres, on which he then had a truly incredible pace.

Sainz set the fastest lap of the race and rightfully earned an extra championship point. However, Sainz sounded angry on the team radio when the team decided to pull him from third place to change tyres. The question was whether or not his worn tyres would make it to the end. And as a result of those concerns, the team called him to the pits.

The next Formula One race is scheduled for Sunday, July 31, and will be the last race before the mandatory summer break. Let’s hope for another attractive spectacle, because it will be held at the Hungaroring in Hungary.

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