With a race victory in France, Lewis Hamilton retakes the World Drivers’ Championship lead from Sebastian Vettel, as Vettel and Valtteri Bottas collide on the first lap of the race. Despite falling to the rear of the field, Vettel was able to recover quite well, but it was not even to preserve his championship lead.
It was a chaotic opening lap. Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas collided in the first corner. Bottas was on the outside of the corner, but Vettel locked up slightly on the inside, making spinning the Mercedes. Vettel suffered severe front wing damage and Bottas suffered a rear puncture.
But they wouldn’t have to worry about losing time to pit on under the green flags, as a safety car was deployed for a race-ending collision between Force India and Toro Rosso. Esteban Ocon pinched an oversteering Pierre Gasly into a corner, taking both of them out of the race.
During the safety car period, some drivers pitted to change tyres and change their pit strategy, opting for the soft compound tyre with the hope of making it to the end of the race.
When the race resumed, some unusual drivers found themselves very far up the field. Carlos Sainz was running in P3, but he quickly fell down the ranks. Charles Leclerc was in P6, putting some pressure on Kimi Räikkönen. Fernando Alonso had pitted under the safety car for a strategy change, but he spun early into the restart, nearly collecting Vettel.
Vettel began his race recovery, quickly rocketing through the field and comfortably into a points scoring position. But the hurdle that Vettel would have to overcome became much larger, as the stewards reach a verdict on his first lap collision with Bottas, awarding Vettel a five second time penalty that would be added to his time after the race or could be served if he pitted again.
By lap 20, Vettel had cruised his way into the top five. Meanwhile, Bottas had only made it into P10, hampered by damage from his opening lap collision.
But there was further drama stirring in the race, as warnings of potential rain near the end of the race came over the team radio. This would be bad news for the drivers in the lead of the race, who have not yet pitted because the weather could come during their pit window.
Leclerc presented the race fans with some great action on the track, pursuing Kevin Magnussen and gaining time on the Haas. But it ended with Leclerc running wide and losing a position to Nico Hülkenberg.
Despite the threat of rain, Max Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit for fresh tyres, grabbing the soft compound tyre on lap 26. Verstappen was able to get out of the pits just in front of Vettel’s Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo pitted a few laps later for the soft compound tyres also, but he was not able to come out in front of Vettel, who found himself in between the two Red Bull drivers. But it wouldn’t last long, as Ricciardo overtook Vettel for P3.
As he approached the backmarkers in the race, Hamilton pitted for fresh tyres. This gave the race lead to Räikkönen, who hadn’t made his pitstop yet. He pitted shortly after Hamilton, returning the race lead to the Brit and slotting in behind Vettel.
Despite trying to make it to the end of the race, Vettel had to pit for new tyres. He also served his five second time penalty, maintaining his P5 position. However, he was too far back to gain any positions.
Räikkönen and Ricciardo began to battle in the closing laps of the race. Räikkönen was eager to earn a step on the podium. He was able to get by Ricciardo down the long straight, with some assistance from DRS, making his way into P3.
The race nearly ended under the virtual safety car, as Lance Stroll suffered a tyre blowout and shed a lot of debris on the circuit. However, the marshals cleared the debris to allow the drivers to finish the final half a lap under the green flag conditions.
With a race victory in France, Hamilton takes the World Drivers’ Championship lead with 14 points now separating him from Vettel. Verstappen and Räikkönen make up the rest of the podium.
The FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2018 marks the first race of Formula One’s triple header. The drivers will be in Austria next weekend for the FORMULA 1 EYETIME GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH 2018 on the weekend of July 1.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
