00:00Is it gonna be Verstappen or Leclerc that gets away the best? It's lights out, and away we go, and Leclerc reacts very well, but Verstappen all the way
00:10ready alongside him, Lewis Hamilton ahead of Sergio Perez, here in 2-1 we go, Charles Leclerc ahead of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton ahead of Perez, George Russell making a challenge on Perez, and ahead of Lando Norris, and there is Fernando Alonso swooping around the outside and up into 4th place, great start!
00:27Absolutely great start by Alonso, Russell got out of shape as he got into Turn 1, and that's what's backed up the McLaren's, and there's Ricciardo gonna have a go at Norris, but Fernando Alonso, he'll just be trying to get the benefit of that slipstream, and 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 head to the first part of the Mistral straight, chicane 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, George Russell, and then Lando Norris, and there is a spin!
01:02And it is Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri! Esteban Ocon gets a 5 second time penalty for causing a collision and relegating Yuki Tsunoda to the back of the field.
01:13It's a flat corner into scene, you keep your foot pinned down on that throttle, here comes Max Verstappen on Charles Leclerc, there's barely a few car lengths in it, into Levose we go!
01:25Verstappen's gonna look round the outsides, the crowd cheering both drivers through here, but you can see how much better the Ferrari is through that particular corner, and Verstappen just had to back off!
01:37Max Verstappen slowing down and pressing his pit limiter at 60 kilometres an hour because of that tight pit lane entrance, they go to work on the Red Bull tyres, it was a very nice stop of 2.4 seconds, deserves a round of applause.
01:51Your overall loss is about 28 seconds, that's why it was so critical to get past Norris, so he could push in clean air, and who's that gone off?
01:59Leclerc. And look after these tyres. Charles Leclerc is out of the race, and for the third time this season, Charles Leclerc, when leading a race, won'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, he's obviously been stuck under the tyres, it's not a tech pro barrier here at this old school track, but you can see the rears were already spinning up there, around it went.
02:26So unfortunate, especially when you've got that grippy runoff here.
02:30Are you okay?
02:32I cannot get 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 as well, that's an unsafe release as well.
02:50Carlos Sainz has got a five second time penalty.
02:54Bernd Mylander on duty for the 420th time as a safety car driver for the FIA, and he's going to go back into the pit lane and we can get green flags and go racing again.
03:07And 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 is like last year, all over again out on the track.
03:19Carlos Sainz has passed Fernando Alonso, we could see that coming and I dare say Fernando Alonso could too.
03:25The advantage Sainz has got on those medium tyres, extra grip, they're going to go wheel to wheel into scene here.
03:32George Russell's not giving this one up, but Carlos Sainz has that extra speed to go blasting round the outside and up into fourth place.
03:41Here'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.
03:53This 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 the outside?
04:19Sainz has tried everything.
04:21Carlos, box, speed confirmed.
04:23No bow, no bow, no bow.
04:25Why were they telling him to pit right then?
04:27Were they not watching the action?
04:29Carlos Sainz got ahead of Sergio Perez.
04:32Perez was fighting him back.
04:34Carlos Sainz down the main straight, fighting ahead, staying ahead, and up into the podium places.
04:41Incredible job, George Russell landed a bit.
04:43Oh, George Russell on Sergio Perez, there's contact.
04:45Perez goes off at the chicane.
04:47George Russell and Perez making contact once more.
04:51He just fully turned into me.
04:52He needed to give the pace back.
04:54So they've now made a decision to pit Carlos Sainz.
04:58So Ferrari decided, yeah, we will bring you in eventually.
05:01Lap 53 is coming up in about ten laps time.
05:04You'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?
05:14Maybe George Russell.
05:16We're just trying to get a little jump on Sergio Perez for when the virtual safety car ends fully.
05:23The screen now.
05:24On you go.
05:25And I think he's been caught sleeping, Sergio Perez.
05:26He might be.
05:27And Luke Russell's challenging him.
05:28George Russell's ahead of him.
05:29Only took him about ten meters there.
05:31And George Russell is ahead of Sergio Perez.
05:34Three laps to go.
05:35And 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 following Charles Leclerc's crash earlier.
05:45Perez makes a late lunge onto George Russell.
05:48Will stick behind him.
05:49Max Verstappen started on the front row.
05:52Sees a 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.
06:07And it's going to be a double podium finish for Mercedes.
06:11As George Russell holds off Sergio Perez to come home in third.
06:15And oh!
06:16Was that contact between the two Aston Martins?
06:19It might well have been.
06:21The positions don't change.
06:23But Lance Stroll comes home to take tenth ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
06:27So we had 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.
