Dylan Bettencourt
If Ferrari lose out on the constructor championship to Red Bull come the end of the season, they can only blame themselves.
The last three French Grand Prix’s were all won by the driver who secured pole position on Saturday.
Charles Leclerc claimed that honour on Saturday and looked in line to get Ferrari’s third victory in a row.
After managing to keep Max Verstappen behind him for the large part of the race, Leclerc was pushing too hard on fading tyres.
That mistake proved to be his downfall as he spun into the wall and was forced to retire the car – a mistake he took full responsibility for.
Verstappen gladly took the lead from him and that’s where he stayed for the rest of the race.
Verstappen and Red Bull got back to winning ways after two race weekends without a victory.
Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes finished second and claimed his fifth podium of the season despite the car not being up to standard compared to Red Bull and Ferrari.
Hamilton shared the podium with his teammate George Russell for the first time this season.
The Ferrari woes continued as Carlos Sainz flew through the grid after starting from the back of the grid following an engine change penalty.
The Spaniard managed to climb through the grid all the way to third spot behind Perez.
Sainz and Ferrari battled on the radio over whether to stay out or pit one more time as his tyres faded.
Just as Sainz was about to overtake Perez, the team called him in for a pit stop, which he politely declined.
He eventually followed the orders and went into the pits and came out in ninth spot. He however managed to finish in fifth spot in an amazing comeback from Sainz.
Verstappen and Red Bull extended their lead in both the driver and constructor championships before the race in Hungary next weekend.
The Hungarian Grand Prix is set for Sunday 31 July before the four-week summer break.
Image source: @B24PT
