00:00It's lights out and away we go. Even start from the front two. Bottas gets away better than Perez
00:07who's quickly caught by Carlos Sainz. Verstappen leading them then down towards turn one
00:12from Hamilton, from Bottas who just has to back up a bit and Verstappen goes off the track
00:16and that gives the lead to Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Perez.
00:22Sainz now looking to make a move on the red ball. Behind him comes Pierre Gasly
00:26but Max Verstappen, what a poor turn two that was for him.
00:29He actually had to counter-steer into a slide, a back-end slide
00:33and that's what caught him out rather than out-breaking himself.
00:37Daniel Ricciardo is going to go for it, isn't he, on Fernando Alonso.
00:41Down the inside of the chicane. Can he keep that McLaren in front?
00:45That was a very nice move. It's been four or five laps coming.
00:48Fernando Alonso has seen it coming and obviously that McLaren looking after its tyres a little better
00:53but Alonso will keep this battle as long as he possibly can.
00:57Through scene we go now. Lando Norris has gained right up on Fernando Alonso.
01:01Lando Norris is going to go down the inside and Le Boze.
01:04Nice opportunist move from Lando Norris.
01:08I think everyone is just traggling.
01:10Yeah, copy that. Even Graining spotted on the hard runners as well.
01:14Yeah, plan B.
01:15Plan B. Could this be a two-stop race after all?
01:18Daniel, box to overtake Gasly. Box to overtake Gasly.
01:22Box to overtake Gasly. It's the undercut, yes.
01:25Yes. Everyone's kept a set of new hard compound tyres just for the middle phase of this race.
01:34Ricciardo on the pit straight then. Ricciardo's got a great chance of passing both those cars and does so.
01:39Yes, he does. That is the undercut at work.
01:43So Hamilton has to now get his foot down to watch out for the undercut from Max Verstappen.
01:48They can't afford any kind of delay on Hamilton's pit stop.
01:53Hamilton stops. Verstappen making his way around turn 12.
01:56Very neat change there from the Mercedes crew.
01:59This is going to be a little tighter than Mercedes would really have liked.
02:02Hamilton comes out. Is he ahead of Max Verstappen?
02:04No, he is not. Max Verstappen pulls the undercut on Lewis Hamilton.
02:09Hamilton was told to give it everything, but for once, hammer time didn't give him enough time.
02:14This seems to be turning into a two-stop race that was originally going to be a one-stop race.
02:20He forced me off. What's this idiot doing? He even went off himself.
02:24A Red Bull pulled an absolute masterstroke here in keeping Perez out for so long.
02:29Right, Lando Norris is going for it again on Pierre Gasly to try and get into the points at the
02:33end of the first part of the Mistral straight.
02:36Lando Norris does slide the Papaya McLaren through and past the Alfa Tauri.
02:41Here goes Lando Norris on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
02:45We said he was struggling a bit.
02:46He was the first of the point-scoring positions to come in and pit, and he's now starting to lose
02:51places.
02:52That's useful information for the leaders.
02:55There goes Pierre Gasly on Charles Leclerc.
02:57Leclerc even locks up as Gasly goes past him.
03:01Box and pit confirm, please, Max. Box, pit confirm.
03:04Right, now this swings around.
03:06It is a two-stop race as far as Max Verstappen and Red Bull are concerned.
03:11Let's watch the tyres go on as mediums for the end of the race.
03:13No problem with that pit stop, and he's back out.
03:16We're watching Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo swap positions,
03:20and that makes absolute sense down at McLaren because Norris is on much fresher tyres having pitted that much later.
03:27Here comes Max then. Max has got both Mercedes clearly in sight now.
03:31Oh, this is going to boil down to the last five or six laps potentially of epic racing here.
03:40So, on the medium tyres that are fresher as Valtteri Bottas' hard compound tyre,
03:45and with DRS as well, he gains on the Mercedes.
03:48He gains on the Mercedes, can't get past the Mercedes, but he's gone wide.
03:51Bottas goes wide, and this time Max Verstappen might get a decent exit out of the chicane,
03:57and might not need DRS to get past Valtteri Bottas,
04:00who looked to have held Verstappen up just long enough to keep that second place.
04:04As through scene they go, wheel to wheel, side by side,
04:07and they come out of the corner with Verstappen in second place.
04:11Now it's game on, but Hamilton somehow is magicking up some pace out of those tyres.
04:18Why the f*** no one listen to me when I say it's going to be a two-stopper?
04:21F***ing hell.
04:23Hamilton to Verstappen, 2.3 seconds, as here goes Perez now on Bottas to the chicane.
04:28We saw Bottas run wide there when he was passed by Max Verstappen.
04:32This time around he plants that Mercedes exactly where he needed to,
04:35but how much longer can he hold off Sergio Perez here,
04:39who's getting a great slipstream, pulls out now to the left-hand side of that Mercedes,
04:43and by the time they hit the same corner, Sergio Perez is up into the podium places.
04:49He's going to get DRS, he's going to get a good slipstream,
04:51and he's going to put Hamilton uncomfortable as he breaks at the end of the straight.
04:55At the start of this race, Verstappen gifted almost Hamilton the lead.
05:00They've got it back, and they've re-taken that lead.
05:03Yes, they have.
05:04Max Verstappen goes past Lewis Hamilton,
05:06and for the second time in this race,
05:09has managed to get his Red Bull out of a bit of trouble.
05:12This time it was a strategy that asked him to do all the work,
05:16and with one and a bit laps to go,
05:18Verstappen retakes the lead of the French Grand Prix.
05:20Simply lovely. Come on, mate.
05:23Red Bull have never won three races in a row in the turbo hybrid era.
05:28Well, that hat-trick is going to be completed here at Paul Ricard this afternoon,
05:32as Max Verstappen rounds the final corner.
05:35He sees his team cheering on the right-hand side.
05:38He sees the chequered flag, and he wins the French Grand Prix.
05:41Lewis Hamilton, who had the long-time lead and a one-stop strategy for Mercedes,
05:47has to settle for second this afternoon.
05:49Sergio Perez provided great support to his teammate and to his team
05:54to come home and take the final podium place as well.
05:58If we can beat them here, we'll beat them anywhere.
06:00That's what Christian Horner said about Red Bull and racing at Paul Ricard.
06:05And beat them, they have.
06:06Red Bull triumph over Mercedes today,
06:08and we only have a week to wait
06:10until the next instalment of this enthralling season
06:13when we go to Austria for round eight.
06:15We'll see you next time.
06:20We'll see you next time.
06:21We'll see you next time.
06:23We'll see you next time.
06:23We'll see you next time.
06:23We'll see you next time.
06:25We'll see you next time.
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