Verstappen win sends warning to Mercedes

LE CASTELLET (France) • Max Verstappen won the French Grand Prix yesterday to extend his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 12 points in the Formula One drivers' title race.

The Red Bull driver hunted down and overtook the seven-time world champion with over a lap to go at a gusty Le Castellet to claim his third win out of seven races this season.

"Towards the end, I enjoyed it. At the beginning, it was super difficult out there with the wind," said Verstappen, whose teammate Sergio Perez finished third.

This was a massive statement by the Dutch driver and his resurgent Red Bull team, who won their third successive race after Monaco and Baku, on a circuit that has favoured Mercedes in recent years.

Hamilton took the chequered flag for the Silver Arrows in 2018 and 2019 - last year's edition was axed due to the Covid-19 pandemic - but with back-to-back races on Red Bull's turf in Austria up next, his team are now on the back foot.

Team principal Christian Horner had said before the race "if we can beat them here, we can beat them anywhere" of Mercedes, who had been itching to get back onto a regular track like the Circuit Paul Ricard after getting lost on the streets of Monaco and Baku.

Things got off to a bumpy start for pole-sitter Verstappen, who went off the track coming out of Turn 1, as Hamilton accepted the unexpected gift to take the lead.

The Briton had led for 105 of the 106 laps for his two wins here, and he set about extending his stranglehold. Approaching a third of the 53-lap race, the Briton had established a near three-second gap to Verstappen, with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Perez in pursuit.

With drivers starting to complain of tyre wear, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was the first to come into the pits. Verstappen was not far behind, with Hamilton coming in for a slick stop on Lap 20, coming out as the former flashed past with Perez, still to pit, the new leader.

The Mexican, winner in Baku, was hauled in on Lap 25, leaving Verstappen in the lead and Hamilton half a second behind.

"We can't keep this up until the end of the race that's for sure," Verstappen told his team over the radio, referring to tyres on Lap 29.

1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1hr 27min 25.770sec

2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes +2.904sec

3 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull +8.811

4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes +14.618

5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren +64.032

1 Verstappen 131 points

2 Hamilton 119

3 Perez 84

1 Red Bull 215 points

2 Mercedes 178

3 McLaren 110

On Lap 32 he came in again, resuming in fourth, 25 seconds behind Hamilton, but with better grip, he was only seven seconds behind in third by Lap 40.

With nine laps to go Verstappen muscled past Bottas and the gap ahead to Hamilton was just five seconds. Hunting his prey down, he succeeded on the penultimate lap to trigger wild celebrations in the Red Bull garage.

"The whole race me and Lewis were fighting each other, so it will be like this the rest of the season," Verstappen said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE