French GP | Verstappen trumps Hamilton
Red Bull’s Formula One leader Max Verstappen overtook Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap to win the French Grand Prix and canter 12 points clear on Sunday.
The victory from pole position at Le Castellet was a third in a row for Red Bull after street circuit wins in Monaco and Azerbaijan.
Verstappen’s Mexican teammate Sergio Perez, winner in Baku after the Dutch driver suffered a high-speed blowout while leading, finished third after passing Valtteri Bottas in the closing laps.
Tyre strategy
Verstappen made two stops to Hamilton’s one and then used his fresher tyres to hunt down his British rival.
“We made the call to do the two stopper, luckily in the end it paid off. We had to work hard for it, but very rewarding,” said Verstappen.
“It’s a little bit of payback for earlier in the year,” said Red Bull team boss team boss Christian Horner, referring to last month’s Spanish Grand Prix when seven times world champion Hamilton won on smarter strategy.
