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| 2019 French Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 8 of 21 in the2019 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Circuit Paul Ricard | |||||
| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | 23 June 2019 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1PirelliGrand Prix de France 2019 | ||||
| Location | Circuit Paul Ricard Le Castellet,Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing circuit | ||||
| Course length | 5.842 km (3.630 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 53 laps, 309.690 km (192.432 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Clear | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:28.319 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:32.740 on lap 53 (lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2019 French Grand Prix (formally known as theFormula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix de France 2019)[1] was aFormula Onemotor race on 23 June 2019 at theCircuit Paul Ricard inLe Castellet, France.[1] The race was the 8th round of the2019 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the 88th running of theFrench Grand Prix,[2] and the 60th time the event had been included as a round of theFormula One World Championship since the inception of the series in1950.[3]
The race was won byMercedes driverLewis Hamilton ahead of teammateValtteri Bottas andFerrari'sCharles Leclerc.
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. However,Nicholas Latifi drove in the first practice session forWilliams.[4]
Before the raceLewis Hamilton had 162 points and held a 29-point lead over teammateValtteri Bottas, withSebastian Vettel third with 100 points, followed byMax Verstappen with 88 points, and then by Vettel's teammateCharles Leclerc in fifth place with 72 points.
In the Constructors' Championship standings,Mercedes ledFerrari with 295 points and had a 123-point lead having won all the previous races in the season so far.Red Bull was third with 124 points andMcLaren was fourth with 30 points, just 2 points ahead ofRenault with 28 points.[3]
Daniil Kvyat was required to start from the back of the grid as he exceeded his quota of power unit components, using a 4th Internal Combustion Unit (ICE), 3rd Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic (MGU-K), 3rd Energy Store (ES), 3rd Control Electronics (CE), 4th Turbocharger (TC) and 4th Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H).George Russell was required to start from the back of the grid as he exceeded his quota of power unit components, using a 3rd Energy Store (ES) and 3rd Control Electronics (CE).[citation needed]
Following the2018 race, teams and drivers expressed concerns about the pit lane entry which saw cars enter the lane aimed directly at theMercedes garage. In response the FIA announced that the pit lane entry would be moved to somewhere between turns 14 and 15 and also announced that the track would be resurfaced.
The FIA also announced that they had moved to clamp down any potential corner cutting ahead of the French Grand Prix weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The nature of the track, which had prominently been used as a test venue in preceding years, meant that there was a lot of runoff for the drivers if they made a mistake. However, there had been bollards and signs placed around the circuit in order to stop the drivers taking advantage of the runoff area, ensuring they would lose time and rejoin the circuit safely. At turn 2, two yellow bollards had appeared along with some red and white signage to indicate where a driver should rejoin the circuit. The event notes state: "Any driver who fails to negotiate Turn 2 by using the track, and who passes completely to the right of the first fluorescent yellow bollard on the apex of the corner, must keep completely to the right of the fluorescent yellow bollard and re-join the track by driving through the two arrays of blocks in the run-off by passing to the right of the first and to the left of the second." A similar system had been enforced further on in the first sector, at turns 3, 4, and 5.
The rules would not strictly apply to free practice sessions, and each case was supposed to be handled and analysed differently depending on the circumstance.[citation needed]
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in FP1 followed byValtteri Bottas. TheFerrari drivers were third and fourth, withCharles Leclerc ahead ofSebastian Vettel.[citation needed]
In FP2 it was anotherMercedes 1–2 with Bottas leading Hamilton, and then Leclerc leading Vettel in 3–4. Early in the session Hamilton went off the track and joined unsafely, forcingMax Verstappen off the track when he rejoined. Hamilton was later summoned by the stewards but he received no penalty.[citation needed]
The race began cleanly, withCarlos Sainz Jr. unsuccessfully attempting to overtakeMax Verstappen and the twoMercedes cars maintaining their lead. On lap 6,George Russell attempted an overtake on teammateRobert Kubica around the outside of turn 10, but was pushed off-track, destroying a polystyrene distance marker. By the following lap,Sebastian Vettel had overtaken bothMcLarens to take fifth place.
Antonio Giovinazzi was the first driver to pit, on lap 8, after struggling with degrading soft-compound tyres. On lap 10,Sergio Pérez was handed a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on lap 1. The decision was controversial, since Pérez had correctly passed around the penalty bollard after cutting turn 4 as specified by the race director, but had still overtakenAlexander Albon andKevin Magnussen to claim 13th place as a result.
Verstappen was the first of the leading pack to pit, on lap 21.Charles Leclerc pitted on the following lap, as didValtteri Bottas on lap 24, andLewis Hamilton from the lead on lap 25. Vettel, who was yet to pit, had been far enough behind Hamilton that the Mercedes driver maintained the lead of the race. Vettel pitted on the following lap, emerging behind Verstappen and restoring the order of the top five.Lance Stroll was the final driver to make their first pit-stop; he did so on lap 40.
Romain Grosjean became the first and only retirement of the Grand Prix on lap 45 with an unspecified problem. Avirtual safety car was briefly implemented on lap 50 after a bollard had rolled onto the track. Vettel pitted for soft-compound tyres on the penultimate lap in an attempt to claim the fastest lap point, which he did on the final lap of the race.
On the final lap,Lando Norris, who had been suffering from hydraulic problems, was passed byDaniel Ricciardo before turn 8. Ricciardo ran deep into the corner, and forced Norris off the track whilst rejoining it in turn 9. This allowedKimi Räikkönen andNico Hülkenberg through, with Räikkönen also getting past Ricciardo. Ricciardo then went off-track on the following straight to overtake theAlfa Romeo for seventh place. Ricciardo was later handed two 5-second penalties after the race, one for rejoining the track unsafely, and one for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. This demoted him to 11th place, outside of the points. The stewards also handed him two penalty points on his Super Licence for "Unsafe rejoining of track" and one point for "Gaining advantage off track".[6]
Lewis Hamilton won the race from pole position ahead of teammateValtteri Bottas andCharles Leclerc.[7]
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| Previous race: 2019 Canadian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2019 season | Next race: 2019 Austrian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2018 French Grand Prix | French Grand Prix | Next race: 2021 French Grand Prix 2020 edition cancelled |
