00:00Is it going to be Verstappen or Leclerc that gets away the best?
00:03It's lights out and away we go!
00:06And Leclerc reacts very well but Verstappen all the way ready alongside him.
00:11Lewis Hamilton ahead of Sergio Perez, here in turn one we go.
00:15Charles Leclerc ahead of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton ahead of Perez, George Russell making a challenge on Perez
00:20and ahead of Lando Norris and there is Fernando Alonso swooping around the outside and up into fourth place.
00:26Great start!
00:27Absolutely great start by Alonso, Russell got out of shape as he got into turn one and that's what's backed
00:32up the McLaren's
00:33and there's Ricardo going to have a go at Norris but Fernando Alonso he'll just be trying to get the
00:37benefit of that slipstream
00:38and very much Hamilton getting an epic start.
00:42Charles Leclerc did what he had to do, reacted very well indeed and leads this French Grand Prix as they
00:47head to the first part of the Mistral straight.
00:49Chicane coming up, Max Verstappen in hot hot hot pursuit today.
00:53It's Ferrari from Red Bull into that chicane, Lewis Hamilton comes third, then Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso,
00:59George Russell and then Lando Norris and there is a spin and it is Yuki Tsunoda in the Alfa Tauri.
01:06Esteban Ocon gets a five second time penalty for causing a collision and relegating Yuki Tsunoda to the back of
01:13the field.
01:15It's a flat corner into scene, you keep your foot pinned down on that throttle, here comes Max Verstappen on
01:21Charles Leclerc,
01:22there's barely a few car lengths in it, into Le Bosse we go, Verstappen's going to look round the outsides,
01:28the crowd cheering both drivers through here but you can see how much better the Ferrari is through that particular
01:35corner and Verstappen just had to back off.
01:38Max Verstappen slowing down and pressing his pit limiter 60 kilometres an hour because of that tight pit lane entrance,
01:45they go to work on the Red Bull tyres, it was a very nice stop of 2.4 seconds, deserves
01:50a round of applause.
01:52Your overall loss is about 28 seconds, that's why it was so critical to get past Norris so he could
01:58push in clean air and who's that gone off?
02:00Leclerc. And look after these tyres.
02:01Charles Leclerc is out of the race and for the third time this season, Charles Leclerc, when leading a race,
02:08won't go on to finish it.
02:11He's been suffering with rear degradation, he's gone in hard, I'm surprised he wasn't able to reverse out actually,
02:17he's obviously been stuck under the tyres, it's not a tech pro barrier here at this old school track,
02:22but you can see the rears were already spinning up there, a round that went so unfortunate,
02:27especially when you've got that grippy runoff here.
02:30Are you okay?
02:32I cannot put throttle!
02:35No!
02:38And this race has now just turned very much on its head.
02:43Charles, he's just lost the rear in the middle of the corner, he's just been given a target lap time
02:48as well, that's an unsafe release as well.
02:50Carlos Sainz has got a five second time penalty.
02:56Bert Myland are on duty for the 420th time as a safety car driver for the FIA,
03:02and he's going to go back into the pit lane and we can get green flags and go racing again.
03:08And it's Max Verstappen that leads this time around, from Lewis Hamilton and then Sergio Perez and George Russell.
03:14Red Bull, Mercedes, Red Bull, Mercedes, it's like last year, all over again out on the track.
03:20Carlos Sainz has passed Fernando Alonso, we could see that coming,
03:23and I dare say Fernando Alonso could too.
03:26The advantage Sainz has got on those medium tyres, extra grip.
03:30They're going to go wheel to wheel into scene here.
03:32George Russell's not giving this one up,
03:34but Carlos Sainz has that extra speed to go blasting round the outside and up into fourth place.
03:42Here's his chance, look, because he's right where he was when he overtook George Russell.
03:47He's put the pace back on again and he's pulled out from behind the slipstream of Sergio Perez.
03:51He's now going wheel to wheel through scene. This is his chance and he's run out of room.
03:56Sergio Perez gives him just enough and then just forces the Ferrari to back out a bit.
04:01The Ferrari might come back at him again with some excellent cornering speed through Lobosay.
04:07Very, very tough to stay behind the car in front or to make an overtake through these last few corners.
04:13But can he get down the inside, going into the final turn, I wonder, or around the penultimate corner on
04:19the outside?
04:20Sainz has tried everything.
04:21Box, Carlos, Box, speed confirmed.
04:23Not now, not now, not now.
04:24Why were they telling him to pit right then? Were they not watching the action?
04:29Carlos Sainz got ahead of Sergio Perez. Perez was fighting him back.
04:33Carlos Sainz down the main straight, fighting ahead, staying ahead, and up into the podium places.
04:41Incredible, George Russell landed at the inside.
04:43Oh, George Russell on Sergio Perez's contact.
04:45Perez goes off at the chicane.
04:47George Russell and Perez making contact once more.
04:50He just fully turned into me. He needs to give the pace back.
04:54So they've now made a decision to pit Carlos Sainz.
04:57So Ferrari decided, yeah, we will bring you in eventually.
05:01Lap 53 is coming up in about ten laps time. You're in ninth now.
05:05Have they not just thrown away a third place?
05:08Joe Guanyu has stopped by the side of the track.
05:11Are we going to get a virtual safety car here?
05:15Maybe George Russell were just trying to get a little jump on Sergio Perez
05:19for when the virtual safety car ends fully.
05:23The screen now on you go. And I think he's been caught sleeping, Sergio Perez.
05:26He might be. And Luke Russell's challenging him.
05:27George Russell's ahead of him. Only took him about ten metres there.
05:31And George Russell is ahead of Sergio Perez. Three laps to go.
05:34And Russell's put himself up into the podium places.
05:38And no one has managed to get ahead of Max Verstappen after he took the lead
05:42following Charles Leclerc's crash earlier.
05:45Perez makes a late lunge onto George Russell.
05:48Will stick behind him. Max Verstappen started on the front row.
05:52Sees the chequered flag for the second year in a row.
05:55Wins the French Grand Prix.
05:57And comes home to take victory number 27 in his career.
06:03Lewis Hamilton will finish second for the first time this season.
06:06And it's going to be a double podium finish for Mercedes
06:10as George Russell holds off Sergio Perez to come home in third.
06:15And oh! Was that contact between the two Aston Martins?
06:19It might well have been!
06:20The positions don't change.
06:23But Lance Stroll comes home to take tenth ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
06:27So we have back-to-back wins for Ferrari.
06:30They were mounting a challenge to Red Bull.
06:32But that challenge faded somewhat in the sunshine and the heat here at Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix.
06:38It's back-to-back wins for Max Verstappen.
06:41The smiles are his and Red Bull's this Sunday afternoon.
06:44It's too late, Claire there.
06:46Let's get started.
06:47Transcription by CastingWords
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