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Max Verstappen wins French Grand Prix

Phenomenal
Phenomenal

Mueez Ajao

– Charles Leclerc gifted Max Verstappen victory and a huge advantage in the World Championship by crashing out of the lead of the French Grand Prix.

– The Ferrari driver, in need of a good result to keep his title hopes alive, lost control at the Beausset right-hander two laps after the Red Bull had made its first pit stop.

– Verstappen’s seventh win in 12 races gives him a 63-point lead with 10 races to go.

Also Read: Verstappen wins Austria sprint to extend title lead

– Lewis Hamilton, on his 300th Formula 1 start, took a strong second, and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell third and the final podium place after a frantic and bad-tempered fight with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in the closing laps.

– Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fifth, questioning his team’s decision to make a second pit stop just after he had taken third place from Perez with 11 laps to go.

– “The car was quick today – of course, unlucky for Charles, I hope he is OK – but I just did my race and looked after the tyres,” said Verstappen.

– “We still have a bit of work to do, over a single lap especially, so we just have to keep on working.”

– Leclerc’s catastrophic error rendered redundant questions as to who would prevail in what had until then been a finely-poised race between him and Verstappen.

– Leclerc, who started from pole position, held on to the lead on the first lap and had to weather heavy pressure from Verstappen for the first 10 laps.

– But after that, Leclerc managed to extend his advantage to more than a second, preventing Verstappen from using the DRS overtaking aid, to make his lead a little more comfortable.

– Red Bull blinked first, bringing Verstappen in for his first pit stop on lap 16.

– Leclerc stayed out and the question was how long he would run before his stop, and whether he would be able to regain the lead from Verstappen after he pitted.

– But less than two laps later, none of that mattered, when the Ferrari looped into a spin at the demanding double-right corner after the long Mistral straight and the flat-out Signes curve.

– Leclerc spun across the run-off area before nosing into the barriers, relatively lightly given the speed at which he lost control.

– He tried to reverse out but couldn’t, saying over the radio: “I can’t go on the throttle.”

– Shortly after, well aware of the consequences of his error, he let out an anguished: “No!”

– It was the continuation of an extraordinary run for Leclerc, who led Verstappen by 46 points after three races at the start of the season.

– Until now, the errors have nearly all been from Ferrari – two engine failures and two strategy errors while leading – but now Leclerc has made a big one, to add to the small mistake that turned third place into sixth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix back in April.

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