Hamilton takes comfortable French GP win as Mercedes' streak continues

Lewis Hamilton continued his dominant start to the Formula 1 season with a comfortable victory in Sunday’s French Grand Prix, heading up a one-two finish for Mercedes.

In a processional, uneventful affair, perhaps befitting of the campaign that has unfolded thus far in 2019, Hamilton eased to his sixth win in eight races to stretch his championship lead to 36 points over Valtteri Bottas, as well as maintaining Mercedes’ 100 percent record this year.

Hamilton made a good start to maintain his lead over Bottas, and with the exception of a slight twitch in the opening stages that cost him a few tenths to his teammate, the five-time world champion was otherwise foot-perfect, leading every single lap en route to victory.

The only triumph missing from his French GP weekend was the fastest lap of the race, which Sebastian Vettel stole having taken a late pit stop for fresh soft tyres running in a lonely fifth place, meaning Hamilton just missed out on his first ‘grand slam’ since the 2017 British Grand Prix.

Hamilton was able to open up an eight-second margin over Bottas through the first stint of the race, pitting on Lap 24 to switch to Hards that would take him to the end of the race, eventually ending 18 seconds clear of his teammate.

After its brief revival in Canada, Ferrari reverted to its early-season form as it lagged far behind Mercedes at the front of the pack, taking up its regular positions of P3 and P5 split by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc managed to pick up his third podium finish of the season for Ferrari after starting and finishing third, keeping Verstappen at an arm’s length throughout the race. A late charge saw him catch Bottas up and attempt a last-corner lunge for second, but was too far back to ever realistically stand a chance of taking the position.

After qualifying seventh, Sebastian Vettel recovered to fifth after passing both McLarens in the opening stages despite an attempt to catch Verstappen with fresher tyres at the end, running five laps longer than the Red Bull driver in the first stint.

Ferrari later switched Vettel on to “Plan F” – a highly intricate code to pit late on and go for the fastest lap on fresh tyres – with a second stop coming two laps from the end to allow him to pip Hamilton to the best time and pick up a bonus point for Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz led the midfield by taking sixth place for McLaren, having been closely tailed by teammate Lando Norris for the majority of the race. A late hydraulic issue cost Norris pace late on, allowing Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg to all pass for positions 7-9 as the quartet scrapped for position on the penultimate lap, at one point going three-wide. Norris crossed the line 10th to pick up the final point for McLaren, his first since Baku.

Pierre Gasly’s difficult start to the year continued as he finished 11th for Red Bull, complete with the ignominy of being overtaken by Ricciardo - the man he replaced at the team – soon after the pit stops.

Racing Point drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll finishe 12th and 13th respectively ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon. Haas had another difficult day as Kevin Magnussen finished 16th, with teammate Romain Grosjean retiring late on, while Antonio Giovinazzi slipped down to P17 on a two-stop strategy for Alfa Romeo.

Williams once again propped up the running order, albeit led by Robert Kubica for the first time this year as he finished ahead of teammate George Russell in P19.