Max Verstappen triumphs in pulsating duel with Lewis Hamilton at French GP

The French Grand Prix for once was the stuff of great saga, a titanic struggle that had it all as the two top teams and their two best drivers locked horns across the full race distance at Paul Ricard. Max Verstappen and Red Bull came out on top but only after a race that ebbed and flowed and could not be called until Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes for the lead on the penultimate lap.

A closely fought affair, both drivers’ skills were gloriously displayed as were the roles of their colleagues in the pits. This time it was Red Bull’s engineers who held the advantage, landing a striking blow on several levels. Verstappen now has a 12-point lead over Hamilton in the championship and with Sergio Pérez also taking third from Valtteri Bottas in fourth, his team a 37-point advantage over Mercedes in the constructors’.

Related: Max Verstappen pips Lewis Hamilton to F1 French GP win – live reaction!

Of more importance however was that Red Bull did it at what had previously been Mercedes’ citadel in France, with the team and Hamilton dominating the previous two meetings at Le Castellet. The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, had said if his team could beat Mercedes here, they could beat them anywhere. This win was that definitive statement. Horner’s analysis looks ominously accurate and Mercedes know they are playing catch up, with this the first time Red Bull have won three races in a row since 2013.

Hamilton conceded his team were on the back foot. “We did a great job today it just did not work out,” he said. “I am not massively disappointed, I did the best job I could. Of course there were things we could have done slightly better but overall they were quicker than us all weekend, it is a true reflection of the pace they have.”

There were no little celebrations in the Red Bull garage at what Horner described as “payback”. It was understandable. So close has the racing been this season, similar scenarios to the one at Paul Ricard had already played out twice. Once in Bahrain where Verstappen made an extra stop to attack Hamilton only to go wide in his attempt to pass for the lead and in Spain where Hamilton’s extra stop enabled him to catch and pass the Dutchman. This time Mercedes had to try and repeat their triumph at Sakhir by trusting Hamilton to make his worn rubber last to the flag.

The world champion very nearly made it happen, finding grip on tyres that were 30 laps old that his teammate could not fathom. Yet this time Mercedes’ roll of the dice failed and Verstappen on fresher tyres after a second stop swept past with a lap and a half to go. The victory decided on track between the two as it has been repeatedly this season.

Verstappen acknowledged just what a spectacle his duel with Hamilton was presenting.

“It shows you the two teams are super close,” he said. “One weekend you get it right in strategy and the other weekend the other team gets it right, it’s really exciting. It’s great to get on top. When I was second in Barcelona you just miss out but that’s the way it goes in racing, it’s good for F1 in the end.”

Mercedes were beaten fair and square but they will also examine how they were left with Hamilton going long as their only option. Hamilton had taken the lead on lap one after Verstappen went wide in turn one lacking grip on cold tyres. However the Dutchman had retaken it when Red Bull pitted their man first. He put in an immense out-lap while Mercedes left Hamilton out and after they pitted him a lap later Verstappen had the place, overturning almost a three-second lead. The team held their hands up to their mistake, underestimating the value of the undercut, with chief strategist James Vowles admitting: “This one’s on us, thank you, you did incredibly well,” to Hamilton after the race.

Hamilton was left to pressure Verstappen and when Red Bull, mindful of avoiding a repeat of what happened in Spain, pitted the Dutchman a second time, Mercedes had no option but to see if Hamilton could perform another miracle. He did his best but Verstappen is a truly impressive driver and his pursuit and pass was inch perfect and delivered with flawless finality at the Mistral chicane where Hamilton was powerless to resist.

Hamilton knew he could have done no more and while he accepted the team would have a long debrief, blame will be hard to apportion. Even Verstappen admitted that is team had no expectation the undercut would prove so advantageous as to enable him to leapfrog Hamilton, who acknowledged the first stops had been crucial. “In hindsight if we had stopped earlier, before them, come out ahead and gone on to a two-stop, probably could have won the race,” he said. “But it would still have been very difficult, their pace was very, very strong.”

It had been quite the afternoon at Paul Ricard, which had enjoyed a celebratory air with 15,000 spectators bringing sound and colour to what for a season and half have been largely barren F1 grandstands. They were rewarded with the best race France has presented in the modern era. Every participant played their part in this struggle, all looking for the tiniest margins, the edge that it seems will decide the title. Just quite where an already intense season goes after this is entirely up for grabs after an appropriately gripping drama.

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were in fifth and sixth for McLaren, Pierre Gasly in seventh for AlphaTauri, Fernando Alonso in eighth for Alpine, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll in ninth and 10th.