LE CASTELLET: Max Verstappen of Red Bull pipped Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to clinch the Formula One French Grand Prix race here on Sunday. This was Red Bull's third consecutive win of the Formula One season. Verstappen, who won in 1:27:25.770 seconds and collected 26 points, passed Hamilton (+2.904 secs, 18 points) with two laps to go to register the 13th win of his career. Verstappen now has 131 points to Hamilton's 119 after seven races.
Sergio Perez of Red Bull finished third and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes ended up fourth. Lando Norris of McLaren finished fifth, ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who probably ran his best race of the year to take the sixth position.
Verstappen stopped twice to Hamilton's one-stop, with the Dutchman then using his new tyres to close up to the Mercedes, passing on lap number 52 of 53 for his third win of the year.
The victory more than made up for Verstappen losing out to Hamilton from pole at the start of the race.
One lap distance at Le Castellet was 5.842 km and a total distance 309.69 km. The race was 53 laps long.
It was the 61st French Grand Prix in the World Championship history, and 17th here at Le Castellet.
No race was held last year due to Covid-19 pandemic. IANS
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