STORY OF THE RACE
“Nose damage” shouted Seb: just moments from the start, a collision with Bottas at Turn 1 produced damage
that was clear to see. The Safety Car came out immediately because of a collision between Ocon and Gasly
and the number 5 Ferrari pitted for a new nose, while Bottas also came in with a puncture. Seb took on Softs,
the hardest tyre, in order to rejig the race strategy. Kimi was now seventh after also having a moment braking
into the first corner.
5 laps later and the race was on again. Seb went round the outside of Alonso, who spun and Kimi got the
better of Leclerc. Vettel gained a further two places before use of DRS was authorised. Raikkonen passed
Magnussen to go fifth. Seb had just passed Vandoorne to close in on the points zone when the stewards
handed him a 5 second penalty for the earlier collision. Further up the order, Kimi showed that the SF71H had
a strong race pace as he next passed Sainz.
On lap 12, Vettel pulled a great passing move on Hulkenberg to go tenth and next on his list was Perez,
followed by Grosjean. On lap 16, Kimi set the fastest lap, as Seb now passed Leclerc and Magnussen for
sixth place.
Lap 20 and Seb got past Sainz, braking from 330 km/h at the chicane and he was clear of traffic. The aim
was to get ahead of Verstappen when the Red Bull would pit, but was there was the added variable of the
lurking threat of rain. Seb asked which sector was costing him the most time. Verstappen pitted at the end of
lap 25 and Seb stuck right with him down the straight but also had to look after his tyres at the halfway point.
At the start of lap 30, Ricciardo pitted and this time Sebastian managed to stay ahead, without counting the
penalty. With 20 laps to go, Hamilton pitted, which meant Kimi was leading, before he too pitted to change
tyres, going from Ultra to Supersoft. On fresher tyres, Ricciardo managed to get ahead of Seb who now found
himself ahead of his team-mate. Then Raikkonen put in a super lap in 1’34”819 and soon after Seb left the
way clear for his team-mate who was racing Bottas. Indeed, it was Valtteri who came in for Supersofts but it
was a slow stop. Ferrari reacted, bringing Vettel in for Ultrasofts, sitting there for longer to take the penalty
too, comfortably maintaining his position.
Last few laps: Raikkonen was very quick and had Ricciardo in his sights, but there were backmarkers to be
dealt with. The first scrap came at the start of lap 47 and then Kimi made the decisive move at the chicane
and was in a podium position. Right at the end the Virtual Safety Car was used after Stroll went off. Scuderia
Ferrari picked up 25 points, which one minute into the race had seemed an impossibility. It was down to the
determination of the drivers and the cool headed approach of the guys on the pit wall.
Lewis Hamilton
When you’re constructive and criticise yourself, approach a challenge with new methods and a new-found
determination, it’s a great feeling to then get the result. But it’s also disappointing for the team as we had the
opportunity to take a 1-2, which is always incredible as you achieve your ultimate goal as a team. I was very
comfortable with the balance this afternoon. Max had decent pace, but I could maintain the gap at around five
seconds. The fresh engine put us back in line with everyone else who took a new PU in Canada and
everybody in the team should be feeling happy today for the good work they have done. But there’s a long
way to go and we’ll keep approaching the rest of the season like we approached today.
Valtteri Bottas
That was a shame because we had a strong car today as Lewis’ result shows. But my race was lost in Turn
One. I was on the outside going into it and I knew that keeping that line would put me on the inside for Turn
Two. Then suddenly I got a hit from behind, had a puncture and damaged my floor. After that it was difficult as
the car was quite damaged and I could feel the lack of rear end. I was sliding around and had to do a second
pit stop which was unfortunately slow so we lost more time there. I guess today was just not my day; in a
way it sums up my season so far. But there are some positives – we were strong as a team, although
unfortunately we could not turn that into a perfect points result. I also set the fastest lap of the race despite
the condition of the car. I’ll keep my head down, work hard and hopefully the luck will turn around at some
point – I think it’s about time.
Toto Wolff
This was a perfect way for Lewis to start the triple header and to bounce back from the disappointment of
Canada. Whenever he has a tough weekend, he has this fantastic ability to bounce straight back, and we saw
that again here in Paul Ricard. He pretty much controlled the whole race and didn’t put a wheel wrong at any
point. For Valtteri, it was a much tougher day: Sebastian clearly misjudged his braking for Turn One and
made a mistake, which cost both him and Valtteri dearly. When the car stopped, we saw that the floor area
around the tyre was pretty badly damaged and flapping about – and Valtteri described the car balance as
“shocking”. Taking that into account, it was a battling performance from him, too. Overall, though, we leave
seeing the positive side of our performance this weekend. The car was quick and with our upgrades, it felt like
we made a step forward; thank you to everybody in the team who worked so hard to bring them to the track
this weekend. But we can’t afford to make any assumptions about what this means for the next races – it’s
still a three-way fight and we will need to be at our very best if we wish to repeat this performance.
James Allison
It is hard to be unhappy on a day when you have won the race in fine style, both reclaiming the lead in the
drivers’ championship and extending our advantage in the constructors’. Lewis drove a splendid race and had
everything under control throughout; it was a faultless performance. But it is hard not to feel very sorry for
Valtteri, who also had a terrific weekend and saw his race compromised at Turn One through no fault of his
own. On the bright side, though, the car performance was good all weekend and we can travel to Austria with
the optimism
Maurizio Arrivabene
”It was a shame about the accident at the start, which meant we couldn’t show what we could really do. But
on a track that is not best suited to the SF71H, it proved to be very competitive in tenms of its race pace.
That was evident from the great fight back up the order, featuring overtaking moves from Kimi and Sebastian.
The team gave its all, making the right strategy calls to give the drivers every chance to get the best result
possible in the circumstances. With such a tight calendar, we are already looking ahead to the Austrian GP,
which gets underway in a few days and we have to focus on making up the lost ground.”
Kimi Raikkonen
“At the start we lost two places; I was on the outside and then the accident at the first corner happened, and
it was a quite messy situation. I tried to stay out of trouble but chose the wrong side of the track. After that I
was able lo recover. I had a good feeling with the car, especially after we had our pit stop and put the
Supersoft tires on. We had a good speed through the whole race. We decided to do a very long stint with the
first set and it lasted very well; only towards the end it got a bit tricky. Then, with the new tires, the car was
very good and I could race and actually pass other drivers; it was a lot more fun than the last two races!”
Sebastian Vettel
”I think my start was good, perhaps even too good, as I found myself very close to Lewis in front and, when I
tried to brake, I had absolutely no grip and there wasn’t much space where I could go: Valtteri on my right
was trying to get his position back and Max was also trying to come round on the outside. It’s a shame for
Valtteri because he did nothing wrong and it’s a shame for us, because we could have obtained a better
result. Fortunately, we could continue racing, we had a good car in the race, but the outcome was not what
we wanted. It was my fault, but now let’s move on and think about the next weekend.”
Nico Hülkenberg
“It was good out there today, I’m happy to gain a few places and finish in the points. Lap one was interesting,
just to survive was important as it was carnage everywhere. We were a little on the back foot yesterday, so
ninth was probably the best we could achieve today. I had fun out there, though, making a couple of overtakes
and enjoying a bit of racing. Carlos was on for a good result and it’s a pity he missed out on sixth as that
would have been really good points for the team. Overall, we’ve gained points in the Constructors’ so that’s
not too bad at all.”
Carlos Sainz
“It hurts a little bit to end the race like that. We were having such a good weekend from start to finish. We had
a strong qualifying, made a clean start running in the top three early on, and then controlling sixth. The
second-half of the race was fast-paced and we were managing it well until the sudden problem, which cost us
two or three seconds a lap. It’s a shame and I feel sorry for the whole team, as I think we deserved to be best
of the rest today. These things happen in racing, and it’s my first reliability issue of the year, so let’s move on
and start preparing Austria."
Cyril Abiteboul
“I will remember this weekend for a long time. Outside of the sporting results it’s been an amazing weekend
and in particular seeing the crowd just before the race was really something special. As the French team of
the Championship we were fully mobilised to turn this first edition into a success, so it was a huge reward for
all involved including all the fans invited by Renault. Moving onto the racing, today we had a decent finish with
a bit of frustration. It was pretty much a perfect weekend from Carlos so I feel sorry for him and losing some
well-deserved places due to the MGU-K failure. Nico did struggle more this weekend and was not able to
deliver his customary strong finish, however we come away with a number of points on a track we knew would
be challenging. We are still consolidating that fourth position and are now five points ahead of our entire 2017
points tally after only eight races. We are getting stronger and we must employ all the support we feel from
French Grand Prix this weekend to keep pushing.”
Marcus Ericsson
"I am quite happy with my race. It was a tough weekend, and having started after only running in FP1 and
qualifying, we did a good job in getting on the pace during the race. I made a good start and I was able to
evade the incident on the first lap and to gain positions. After that, I struggled with the balance of the car and
didn't advance as well as we hoped to. In the second half of the race, the car felt much better and things were
running more smoothly. The tyres were working better, and I closed the gap to the competitors ahead. We
also had a very fast pit stop again. Now, we have to make sure that we understand what happened at the
beginning of the race and come back even stronger in Austria next week."
Charles Leclerc
"Overall, I am satisfied with the outcome of this weekend. I had a great qualifying result yesterday, and felt
confident in the car. Having scored another point for the team during the race today feels great. It was fun to
drive, and I had some good fights with the drivers around me. We are moving in a positive direction, and
improving our performance week by week. I really look forward to seeing what is possible next weekend."
Fre´de´ric Vasseur, Team Principal
"It has been a positive weekend for us. We had good pace in qualifying, and increased our pace step by step.
Today, both of our drivers fought in the midfield during the race, and we are making good progress as a team.
It is important for us to keep pushing and stay in the fight with our direct competition in the races ahead. We
feel confident for the next Grand Prix in Austria."
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