French Grand Prix 2019: Lewis Hamilton powers to victory to stretch F1 championship lead over Valtteri Bottas
Re-live all the action from the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard
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Your support makes all the difference.Lewis Hamilton dominated from start to finish to win a second consecutive French Grand Prix and take his fourth victory in a row, leaving all of his rivals in his wake at Paul Ricard.
Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas finished a lengthy 18 second behind the championship leader, and the Finn nearly lost second place as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had a run at him into the final corner as he struggled to reheat his tyres following a late virtual safety car, though the chequered flag came one lap too soon for the Monogasque.
Max Verstappen kept Sebastian Vettel at bay to take fourth, with Carlos Sainz impressing for McLaren in sixth. However, a hydraulic problem saw Lando Norris lose seventh on the final lap as Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg flashed past to relegate him to 10th. Re-live the action below.
What time does it start?
The French Grand Prix takes place on Sunday 23 June at 2:10pm BST (3:10 CET).
How can I watch it?
The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 from 12:30pm BST.
Starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 28.319secs
2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:28.605
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:28.965
4 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:29.409
5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.418
6 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:29.522
7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:29.799
8 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:29.918
9 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Red Bull 1:30.184
10 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:33.420
11 Alexander Albon (Tha) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:30.461
12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.533
13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:30.544
14 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:30.738
15 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:31.440
16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:31.626
17 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:31.726
18 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams 1:33.205
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.564 + 10-place grid penalty
20 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:32.789 + 25-place grid penalty
Renault are looking nervously at a large patch of cement dust that has been put down on his grid box to soak up some oil left from a previous incident in one of the support races. The Renault will have to run over it at the start, which could cost the Australian precious time at the start, although he should be able to remove some of it by pulling away for the formation lap and lighting up the rear tyres.
With just a handful of minutes until we're underway. here's how the grid shapes up:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 28.319secs
2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:28.605
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:28.965
4 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:29.409
5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.418
6 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:29.522
7 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:29.799
8 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:29.918
9 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Red Bull 1:30.184
10 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:33.420
11 Alexander Albon (Tha) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:30.461
12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.533
13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:30.544
14 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:30.738
15 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:31.440
16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:31.626
17 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:31.726
18 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams 1:33.205
19 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.564 + 10-place grid penalty
20 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:32.789 + 25-place grid penalty
It's a slow formation lap as those on the soft tyres try to take as little as possible out of them, given how quickly they're dropping away. There's a fairly big gap that's emerged in the mddle of the field, and as a result Hamilton is heavily backing up the pack as he brings them through the final sector.
The gaps finally close up as the two Mercedes' come round the final corner. Here we go...
Lap 1: It's a beauty of a start for Hamiilton and Bottas slots into second to fend off the attacking Leclerc around the outside of turn one. Verstappen manages to maintain third but despite a fast start for Norris, Sainz positions his McL:aren smartly and gets ahead of the young Briton. Sainz is immediately onto the back of Verstappen and has two runs at him on the Mistral straight, but Verstappen has the place covered.
Lap 2: Vettel has made no progress whatsoever as he remains in seventh, but Ricciardo has lost two positions off the start and maybe that oil patch did play a part in a slow getaway as he's down to 10th. The big loser of the start is Toro Rosso's Albon, who has lost five places on the opening lap and is down to 16th.
Lap 3: As DRS is enabled, Hamilton has gapped Bottas by 1.3s to move out of range. But Bottas has not been able to do as much and Leclerc is just within DRS range at the start of the lap.
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