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It's time to take a look at all the insanity that went down at Formula One's return to France in 2018.
The first race of F1's first ever triple header, and the first race back on French turf in ten years turned out to be an exciting one. Lewis Hamilton has retaken the lead of the championship, Sebastian Vettel may just have let something slip, and the likes of Ricciardo and Bottas keep fighting, although on the back foot.
Even the midfield saw some amazing battles, from the many crashes to the battles between those in all cars. Paul Ricard may have been met with some apprehension, but overall it gave us a great return to France! What were the five best moments of this insane French GP? It's hard to tell, but like always, that won't stop us from trying to find them.
#1 Ocon & Gasly have a Frenchman's disaster
With all eyes on the French drivers at Paul Ricard, the hometown curse of this season struck again. After LeClerc saw disaster in Monaco & Stroll in Canada, Esteban Ocon & Pierre Gasly found themselves out of the race on the first lap in France.
In the run down into turn one, it seemed that all the Frenchmen were being pulled together by magnets as Ocon ran into the side of Romain Grosjean, giving his Force India a lot of damage that he stated could have probably ended his race on it's own.
However, his luck just kept getting worse as the Toro Rosso of Gasly saw an opening and went for it in the following turns and ended up careening into the side of him. Not a great sight for the many French fans in attendance I'm sure, but certainly was an exciting way to kick off the return to France with a safety car.
#2 Vettel & Bottas have a Run In
One of the reasons that Lewis Hamilton was able to lead the race from start to finish without any challenge was due to the first turn incident between his teammate and his rival. With all three trying to escape the first lap with a lead, they went hard into turn one, with Max Verstappen also applying pressure from the side.
Ultimately, Bottas & Vettel went a little too hard as the German attempted an overtake down the inside but locked up and instead made contact with the back of the Mercedes in front of him.
Lewis Hamilton narrowly escaped, meanwhile Vettel & Bottas had to limp back to the pits and rejoin the race at the back of the pack. Even with a five-second penalty, Vettel managed to put on an overtaking show at Paul Ricard, and he and Bottas slowly made their ways up the field.
#3 Sainz's Rollercoaster Sunday
After all of the first turn carnage one of the most surprising sights was that of Carlos Sainz's black and yellow Renault riding up in P3. Starting the race in P7, somehow the talented Spaniard managed to weave his way through a catastrophe and end up in P3, possibly in sight of a podium.
This must have been an amazing sight for the French fans after two of their drivers were eliminated. Being able to see F1's resident French constructor running in the podium positions is a rare sight nowadays.
However, this didn't last long as eventually, the speed deficit between Sainz and the Red Bull of Ricciardo & the Ferrari of Raikkonen was just too much. After this, Sainz managed to hold on to his position for a while but eventually was passed by Bottas and Vettel who had fought up. Right at the end when it seemed P7 was his, Sainz ran into a power issue. This let Kevin Magnussen by and dropping him one place below where he started.
#4 Stroll's Last Minute Burst
Two races in a row Lance Stroll has had a very bad weekend, and many races in the row have yielded the same fate for Williams. Just after facing a first lap crash at his home race, Stroll was subject to an unfortunate tyre failure in France.
Making it almost through the entire race without much issue, the Canadian's left front tire suffered a puncture with just three laps to go. This has not been a strong season for Williams, and Lance Stroll through no fault of his own has been having a very sub-par year.
His crash saw the virtual safety car come out and essentially end the race under it. Meaning that Stroll's misfortune ended the race for himself, and essentially put a cap on any racing that could take place in France.
#5 LeClerc's Overachieving Fight
One of the great success stories of this French Grand Prix weekend has been of Sauber and their star rookie driver; Charles LeClerc. After qualifying a blistering P8 and avoiding the carnage on the first lap, LeClerc put on an amazing show for all to see.
At the end of the first lap, LeClerc found himself in P6 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, in what could be considered a fair bit of foreshadowing. While he didn't last long ahead of the Ferrari it was testament to the ability of the Monegasque driver.
Charles managed to keep faster cars such as Grosjean, the McLaren's and for a long while Magnussen and Hulkenberg behind him. Eventually the pace of Hulkenberg & Magnussen, as well as the rising cars of Vettel & Bottas were too much, dropping LeClerc to tenth, however, he gave us some great battles along the way.
The pace of the Sauber was impressive too, and LeClerc made the most of this, even putting pressure on a supposedly faster Haas at one point. Let's hope that LeClerc keeps showing off his talent like this, as he certainly makes the midfield exciting to watch!
