France: Flashback 2018 and Prediction of the Winner

Hamilton shines, Vettel falters

A year ago, almost to the day, Formula 1 was preparing to return to the French Grand Prix, 10 years after the last Grand Prix in France, at Magny-Cours. This time held at Le Castellet on the Paul Ricard circuit, this return largely rewarded Mercedes and Hamilton, with the British driver’s victory on Sunday afternoon! Already dominant on Friday, Hamilton faced little obstacle in his triumphant march on Saturday, with an undisputed pole, ahead of Bottas and Vettel. Benefiting from a motor improvement, Hamilton capitalized in the race, well aided by the setbacks of his main rivals.

Because in this French Grand Prix, everything was mainly decided at the start. Starting third on ultra-soft tires, Sebastian Vettel attempted a bold move by darting inside the first corner. It was in vain, with a braking that was too late, sending him into Bottas’s Mercedes, which started on super-soft tires. In the incident, both drivers were pushed to the back of the pack, forced to return to the pits to repair their cars. Additionally receiving a 5-second penalty during his second stop, Vettel still managed a comeback, reaching fifth place at the finish.

In France, Vettel lost 15 points and crucially the lead in the drivers’ championship to Hamilton. The toll was also significant for Bottas, who finished seventh, 1’3″ behind an impressive Kevin Magnussen in his Haas. This collision between the contenders benefited Verstappen and Räikkönen, who finished second and third: in his Ferrari, the Finn delayed his pit stop as long as possible to overtake Daniel Ricciardo towards the end of the race.

Among our three French drivers, the outcome was disastrous, with Romain Grosjean finishing in eleventh place and, most notably, the collision between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon at the start, in the Sainte Baume corner!

In the blind spot, the Force India driver hadn’t seen his counterpart from Toro Rosso: Ocon dragged Gasly beyond the curb. The collision was fatal and both drivers retired one after the other. The worst part? Ocon had been squeezed at the start… by Grosjean. Enough to infuriate the Haas driver, upset with his colleague in the interview area. With still zero points on the board and a qualification marked by an exit into the tire wall in Q3, the leading driver at Haas was on edge.

Not exactly what you hope for at your first home Grand Prix 😭

Gasly and Ocon were eliminated on the spot on the opening lap #FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/d0djVfOKwl — Formula 1 (@F1) June 24

Fortunately, the satisfaction for the French-speaking side was Charles Leclerc, 8th on the grid and 10th at the finish. On board his Sauber, he simply achieved the first Q3 of his career, the first for his team in three years!

He notably resisted in the race… against Romain Grosjean! Third at the end of the first lap, Carlos Sainz took advantage of the chaotic start for a few laps, ultimately settling for a rather meager eighth place at the finish on board his Renault, one ahead of Nico Hülkenberg.

The time @Charles_Leclerc booked his first ever slot in Q3…

And got so excited, he forgot how to use the radio 😂📻#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/IwlM781Qni

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 17, 2019

The editorial team’s predictions

On this meeting at home, the editorial team couldn’t agree on the same profile! Regarding pole position, three names stand out: Hamilton, and the two Ferrari drivers, Vettel and Leclerc, with Bottas simply forgotten, despite his three poles this season! The same goes for the race, as Vettel, almost a winner in Canada but ignored in our predictions, with only Leclerc and Hamilton favored by the editors. While Mercedes is naturally the favorite, with eight wins in as many races, the gap has closed over the last two races. But Monaco and Montreal remain atypical circuits: the long curves of Paul Ricard will be a test for Ferrari, which struggled in Barcelona a month ago.

For our big odds, we’re betting on a pole position for Max Verstappen and a top 3 consisting of… Leclerc, Gasly, Grosjean: an obviously very bold bet!