Hamilton has won the 2018 French GP after leading from start to finish. Verstappen managed to get P2 while Ferrari man Raikkonen made it an even podium by finishing in third.
The top ten from the French GP 2018 were 1 Hamilton; 2 Verstappen; 3 Raikkonen; 4 Ricciardo; 5 Vettel; 6 Magnussen; 7 Bottas; 8 Sainz; 9 Hulkenberg; 10 Leclerc
The French GP had an almost perfect start when Hamilton led the field from pole, it was Bottas and Vettel who brought out drama when the Ferrari tagged the rear of the Mercedes. Bottas was sent spinning while Vettel incurred front wing damage. The safety car was out.
The top ten order was reshuffled to Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Leclerc, Raikkonen, Perez, Grosjean and Hulkenberg.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED (LAP 1/53)
CARNAGE in France!
Vettel hits Bottas – both pit with damage 💥
Home heroes Ocon and Gasly OUT 😭#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/SFpFRUEkqu— Formula 1 (@F1) June 24, 2018
The restart was smooth on lap 6, but yellow flags flew in the next lap after Alonso spun on lap 4. By lap 9, Vettel had moved to P11 while Bottas was up to P13. Vettel however was awarded a 5s time penalty for his incident with Bottas. Little bit of action on lap 10 when Raikkonen breezed passed Magnussen to take P4 with the help of DRS.
Vettel kept rising, and was within points within no time after he was awarded his penalty, By lap 14 the Ferrari man was running P8. By lap 21, the German was already in P5 behind Raikkonen, Verstappen and Ricciardo were in P2 and P3 respectively. Bottas seemed to be struggling behind the field, up to P10 but not as smooth as Vettel made it look like.
REPLAY: Renault fans go wild when @Carlossainz55 moves up to 3rd
😍 #FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/lcxWK9aD6i
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 24, 2018
Hamilton still in the lead had a comfortable pace and managed to set a fastest time on 1m36.1s. Sirotkin was then given a five-second time penalty for driving his Williams too slow behind the safety car. Perez was called in to retire on lap 30 after his team discovered an engine problem, the new Mercedes 2.1 spec.
By lap 34, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were yet to pit. But Hamilton came in after that lap, rejoined in second on softs. Raikkonen took the lead but pitted in the next lap, allowing Hamilton to retake the front. In that same lap, Ricciardo managed to out-brake Vettel and take third.
“No brakes, no tyres, we are out of the points and trying to do whatever but I don’t care too much,” a frustrated Alonso said, he was three positions outside the points in P13. With less than 10 laps to go, Hamilton had a comfortable 5s lead over Verstappen. Ricciardo began to slow down, and Ferrari urged Raikkonen to push harder and seize the moment. Traffic however played a major role in the battle for third, allowing Ricciardo to secure his place with a little more breathing space.
Three laps to the end, Stroll brought out the yellow flags after his tire blew off forcing him off the track.
Hamilton started off the final lap under the VSC brought out by Stroll’s incident, the Brit went ahead to win the French GP 2018 from Verstappen and Raikkonen.
