Dominant Hamilton wins big in French GP

Lewis Hamilton claimed a dominant victory today at the Formula 1 French Grand Prix held at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. 

Hamilton started from pole and never gave up the lead as he spearheaded teammate Valtteri Bottas to the chequered flag for yet another Mercedes one-two – the sixth in eight races for the reigning World champions.

Hamilton registered a winning time of one hour 24 minutes 31.198 seconds – a massive 18.056 seconds ahead of Bottas.

He claimed his fourth straight win and sixth of the 2019 season. It was also his 79th career triumph in Formula 1 and second in France.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completed the podium finishers to have the same top three from qualifying.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing finished fourth 34.905s from first place, while Sebastian Vettel in Ferrari’s other car was fifth more than a minute behind.

Rounding out the top 10 and the race’s pointers winners were Carlos Sainz Jr of McLaren in sixth, Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo in seventh, Nico Hulkenberg of Renault in eighth, Lando Norris in the other McLaren in ninth and Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull in 10th.

Following his victory, Hamilton commented: “I’ve been racing a long, long time but this just never gets old. It’s always a challenge out there and I just love trying to find the edge, and really being on top of this machine.

“This is actually an awesome track to drive in the race, there’s some really technical areas. It may look easy from the outside but it wasn’t easy at all, everything’s always on the edge. So, when I could, I was saving tyres, saving the engine, saving fuel. I had quite big blisters on my front tyres which I was a little worried about. But we got to the end and I couldn’t do it without this incredible team.

“I’m so proud of everyone and so proud to be part of this group of people. This has been the best start of the year so we have got to enjoy it.”

Hamilton (187 points) extended his lead atop the Drivers’ Championship standings to 36 points from Bottas (151 points), as did Mercedes (338 points) in the Constructors’ Championship over Ferrari (198 points), where they now enjoy a lead of 140 points.

The Formula 1 season continues next week with the Austrian Grand Prix on June 30 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.