F1 News

Hamilton dominates in France to extend Championship lead - French GP report

Hamilton dominates in France to extend Championship lead - French GP report

23-06-2019 15:30 Last update: 16:12
3

Lewis Hamilton secured a dominant victory at the French Grand Prix, winning from pole ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc.

After escaping unscathed off the line the Brit comfortably opened up a gap to his teammate Bottas and was able to pit on lap 24 for the hard tyres which saw him over the line.

Valtteri Bottas came home in second after a relatively quiet race but was never troubling Hamilton as he helped secure Mercedes’ 45thth one-two in the V6 turbo era. Charles Leclerc secured a second consecutive third-place finish but a late assault on Valtteri Bottas wasn't to be as he chased down P2.

Max Verstappen was able to hold on to his P4 from qualifying to finish in the same position with Sebastian Vettel back in fifth, making up two places after his disastrous qualifying session.

McLaren completed a fine weekend with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris finishing sixth and tenth respectively. After holding off Sebastian Vettel in the opening laps both drivers were caught within three laps of each other. Norris was caught on the final lap, by Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg to finish tenth after struggling with hydraulic issues.

Daniel Ricciardo (P7), Kimi Raikkonen (P8) and Nico Hulkenberg (P9) completed the points finishes with Renault securing a decent result at their home Grand Prix.

But it was Hamilton who once again proved why he is considered one of the greatest of all time, his qualifying superiority setting him up for a sixth win of the season and another in his bid for a fifth consecutive World Championship.

Further down the field

Romain Grosjean brought to an end a miserable home race as he was the only retiree from the race at Paul Ricard. Giovinazzi dropped from P10 in qualifying to 16th in the race and Robert Kubica beat his teammate, George Russell for the first time finishing P18 with Russell in P19.