F1 French GP 2019: Review

Another win for Hamilton and Mercedes
Another win for Hamilton and Mercedes

The French GP was Hamilton's 79th career win, sixth of the season and fourth in a row. It also happened to Mercedes' 50th one-two finish in Formula One.

Hamilton led every lap of the race from pole. He is currently leading the driver's championship with 36 points ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes is ahead of Ferrari by 140 points.

Hamilton said the race was not all easy. At the end of the race, his tyres had blisters but he just got lucky to hold his position despite the issue.The most difficult race track for all F1 teams invariably is Circuit Paul Ricard.

It has 15 turns with 53 laps on board. The temperature was too high. The track is a nightmare for tyre management. As it was seen throughout the practice sessions, every driver complained about the tyre temperature. With its colourful off track details, it is quite confusing sometimes to identify the track itself.

Bottas too had issues at the end with his engine misfiring but managed to defend his position till the end. The difference between Hamilton and Bottas is that the British driver lacks pace during the race but makes up for it during the race. Bottas is totally the other way round.

Leclerc held his starting position, but was pushing for P2 and missed it in the smallest of margins. His teammate Vettel is still under pressure and has not contributed to his fullest for Ferrari this time around.

Starting 7th on the grid, managed to climb upto P5 and got the fastest lap of the race. Still the Ferrari engine is not at its peak. One huge weakness of Vettel is that he cracks under pressure. He makes a lot of mistakes.

This was very evident in this season when he went off the track and got a penalty when Hamilton was behind him in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen has kept his record of not finishing below P4 in this season. The upgrade of Red bull Racing has no visible improvements in their performance.

It looks like Max is the one who is giving it all for Red Bull. Gasly's performance this season has not been good enough. In this crucial juncture in the season when they are just 60 points below Ferrari, a better performance is expected.

Mclaren had a great weekend with both the drivers into Q3 and also finishing in top 10 giving double points for the team. Mclaren could have got more points but Norris dropped three places in the last lap due to a hydraulics issue.

Ricciardo crossed the line seventh but dropped down after a 10s penalty for overtaking Norris and Raikkonen outside the track limits. Post race, he tweeted “No regrets. I tried. Would rather that than be a peasant and watch.”

The Racing point is still having tough times as Perez collected a five-second penalty for leaving the track on the opening lap. The Racing Point driver was unhappy with the decision.

Second race in a row without points for Haas. Principal Guenther Steiner said it was the worst race weekend for the team.

Williams made a second stop for safety reasons for Russell which was unplanned. Kubica did one stop but both ending the race with no points.

The race did not have many thrilling overtakes among drivers. When asked about the reason for lack of on track actions, many drivers and teams suggested to remove chicane on the mistral straight as it reduces the pace drastically leaving them with no chance of overtakes. The race officials said changes may be made in the future after assessing the impact of the same.

With more expectations every team awaits the Austrian Grand Prix. Let us see how the Austrian Grand Prix unfolds in the next weekend.


Have a look at the standings after the French GP right here.

Get all the results from the French GP right here.

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Edited by Alan John