Verstappen straight to the title after winning in France

Charles Leclerc, who came to Paul Ricard in a ‘harmful’ state after his victory in Austria and 38 points behind the Red Bull leader, He suffered a painful abandonment who left 63 behind. And if the Monegasque crash is confirmed to be caused by another fault in the Ferrari’s accelerator as the driver yelled after hitting the guards, the problem at Maranello is serious.

After escaping his opponent, Verstappen imposed his law and took the podium, accompanied by two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, four in a row, and George Russell. Carlos Sainz, who finished 19th on the grid after assembling the fourth power unit on Saturday, staged an epic comeback to finish fifthAhead of Fernando Alonso, he would have been on the podium only if it hadn’t been for the high fall.

Impressive start for Alonso

Leclerc got off to a clean start against Verstappen’s attack, putting Monegasque on pole for the seventh time this season, several meters ahead of the Red Bull driver. Very aggressive, Hamilton took third place from Checo Pérez and was followed by Fernando Alonso. Up two places at the start of an amazing ‘house brand’ place the fifth.

Unlike the Asturians, Lando Norris lost two places, fundamental in the fight between McLaren and Alpine for fourth place in the teams. Ocon received a 5-second penalty for causing the Tsunoda incident, and Russell quickly overtaken Alonso for speed behind the wheel of the Mercedes.

Sainz’s comeback

Leclerc failed to close the gap with Verstappen and both were alone at the front of the race in just three laps, Hamilton is already more than 4 seconds behind. The World Championship leader waited for the DRS zone to be activated to launch his first attack on the Ferrari driver, who showed no cracks and resisted.

parallel Carlos Sainz executed the ‘return operation’ perfectly. from Madrid managed to reach points positions in just thirteen rounds, placed tenth after getting rid of two Aston Martins. With a different tire strategy, Sainz chose to start the race with the hardest compound, waiting for the middle tires used by the majority to fail.

blow to the World Cup

Verstappen attempted an ‘undercut’ at Leclerc and predicted his first stop (V.17), but Monegasque continued on, pushing to open the differences. A new issue with the F1-75’s accelerator caused a crash that completely changed the scenario. Leclerc lost his rear axle on Paul Ricard’s fast 11th turn and went against the guards. Cries of anger shook the Ferrari wall as the safety car gave the rest of the favourites a free break.

With Verstappen commanding ahead of Hamilton and Pérez, Sainz passed Alonso into the ‘top five’ and Russell was the next target on his climb. Sainz’s unsafe ‘pit stop’ went unnoticed by the stewards. received a new 5 second penalty.

Charles was released.

Carlos corrected his engineer when he was wrongly informed that he must abide by a ‘stop and go’ rule and made his confidence clear: “I’m faster than all this” He replied by referring to his predecessors. Ambitious, he chased after Russell, whom he passed from the outside in a brilliant maneuver that put him in fourth place. 15 positions won since start. Sainz’s center tires began to fail and Ferrari pitted him as he passed Pérez and held the podium. Carlos is back on the track without much and financial time to attack Russell and Pérez again, so Madrilenian’s heroic performance finished fifth He has not received a greater reward. A better mouthfeel left sixth place to Fernando Alonso, the best in the Alps, who recorded his personal pulse with the McLaren.

Max Verstappen crossed the finish line 10 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell He wrapped up a perfect day for Mercedes, beating Checo Pérez in a thrilling final duel for the podium at Paul Ricard.