French Grand Prix: Formula One live race updates, blog

Well that wraps up what was an exciting French Grand Prix! Who'd have thought that after the race here in 2019? And what a blow as well to Mercedes in terms of the championship. Never in the hybrid-turbo era have they lost three consecutive races and next week we head to Austria - which has been a circuit kind to Red Bull in recent years. Until then, thank you for tuning in to this live blog on The Roar and I will be back same time next week for the Styrian Grand Prix. Ciao.

-------- DRIVER'S -------- 131 - Max Verstappen 119 - Lewis Hamilton 84 -- Sergio Perez 76 -- Lando Norris 59 -- Valtteri Bottas 52 -- Charles Leclerc 42 -- Carlos Sainz 37 -- Pierre Gasly 34 -- Daniel Ricciardo 30 -- Sebastian Vettel 17 -- Fernando Alonso 12 -- Esteban Ocon 10 -- Lance Stroll 8 --- Yuki Tsunoda 1 --- Antonio Giovinazzi 1 --- Kimi Räikkönen 0 --- George Russell 0 --- Mick Schumacher 0 --- Nikita Mazepin 0 --- Nicholas Latifi

----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 215 - Red Bull Racing Honda 178 - Mercedes AMG 110 - McLaren Mercedes 94 -- Ferrari 45 -- Scuderia AlphaTauri 40 -- Aston Martin Racing 29 -- Alpine 2 --- Alfa Romeo Racing 0 --- Haas Ferrari 0 --- Williams Mercedes

RACE REPORT An incredible finish to the French Grand Prix saw pole sitter Max Verstappen nail a two-stop strategy to reel in and pass Lewis Hamilton for the victory, on the penultimate lap of the race. Verstappen led the initial start phase of the race, but lost the rear into Turn 2 and was forced to use the run-off, which allowed Hamilton to inherit the lead on the opening lap of the race. The race then fell into a procession, heading into the pit-stop phase where Verstappen pitted on Lap 19 for the hard compound tyre – to undercut Hamilton, who came in on the following lap only to have had his strategists miscalculate the gaps on the pit-exits. Then despite leading the race, Red Bull and Verstappen made the decision to switch to a two-stop strategy – emulating Hamilton’s winning strategy from the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the season. Another set of mediums were fitted on Lap 33 and then Verstappen set about hunting down the leading Mercedes duo. Radio problems aside, Verstappen forced Valtteri Bottas, who was rather vocal in his requests for switching to a two-stopper, into a mistake at the chicane on Lap 44 and allowed the Red Bull through to second. Then with just over a lap to go, Verstappen lined up Hamilton down the Mistral straight with the assistance of DRS and passed the seven-time world champion for his third win of the season. As well as Red Bull’s first hattrick of wins since 2013. Adding salt to Bottas’ wound, Mercedes elected not to pit him for fresh tyres in the final stages of the race in order to gain an extra point for fastest lap. This is despite the Finn holding a healthy 50-plus second advantage over Lando Norris in fifth. Norris led his teammate Daniel Ricciardo to a solid points haul for McLaren, despite the pair qualifying behind the Ferraris. Ricciardo pitted early to stay within touch of both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – only to ultimately undercut Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. The Monegasque driver suffered from tyre graining towards the end of the race, which saw him drop out of the top ten, while Sainz too fell to eleventh as the McLarens both stayed kind to their rubber. Aston Martin also maximised their one-stop strategy for both cars, which started on the hard compound tyres from outside the top ten. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll both went long into the race before pitting for the mediums and then ended up ninth and tenth – behind Fernando Alonso in the Alpine.

STANDBY FOR RACE REPORT & UPDATED STANDINGS

POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by Martin Brundle VERSTAPPEN - "In the beginning it was difficult out there with the winds." "When we made the call for the two-stop, we worked hard for it and it paid off." "We were fighting each other and it will be like this for the rest of the season." HAMILTON - "Congrats to Max, they had the better power and strength all weekend." "I had no tyres at the end, but still a good race." "We've got to find some pace, we lost time on the straights today." PEREZ - "Yeah it paid out." "The first 5-10 laps the car was undriveable with the wind." "We managed to go quite long in the first stint and it paid off." "I'm happy we won the race today and good points for the team."

RESULTS FROM THE 53-LAP FRENCH GRAND PRIX 1 M. Verstappen (Fastest Lap) 2 L. Hamilton 3 S. Perez 4 V. Bottas 5 L. Norris 6 D. Ricciardo 7 P. Gasly 8 F. Alonso 9 S. Vettel 10 L. Stroll 11 C. Sainz 12 G. Russell 13 Y. Tsunoda 14 E. Ocon 15 A. Giovinazzi 16 C. Leclerc 17 K. Räikkönen 18 N. Latifi 19 M. Schumacher 20 N. Mazepin

MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE FRENCH GRAND PRIX! What an incredible race at Les Castellet, as Lewis Hamilton comes home defeated in second. And another podium in as many races for Sergio Perez. Well done Checo!

Lap 53/53: FINAL LAP

He'll hold on surely.

Lap 52/53: And Verstappen does it going into the chicane! He's passed Hamilton for the lead of race with less than two laps remaining. What a French Grand Prix!!!

Lap 51/53: Max is within DRS range then of Hamilton!

Lap 50/53: And no pit-stop just yet for Bottas, while Verstappen is clear of the lapped traffic and has only the Mercedes of Hamilton ahead of him.

Lap 49/53: FIVE LAPS TO GO Perez gets the better run off the chicane and will get the job done going into Turn 10! Bottas relegated to fourth and no doubt will pit with that 54 second gap to Norris in fifth. They can at least get an extra point for fastest lap.

Lap 48/53: Perez not yet properly having a go at Bottas' Mercedes. 3.3 seconds between Hamilton and Verstappen, with two lapped cars still between the Mercedes and the Red Bull.