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
Lap 4: As we mentioned before the start, Vettel's hopes depended largely on getting by the two McLarens but he hasn't been able to get by either. With DRS now in his armoury, Vettel still can't get by Norris and that could be a story of the race to come.
Lap 5: This time Vettel does get by Norris into the Mistral chicane, and despite Norris fighting back on the second part of the straight he shuts the door into Signes and takes sixth place.
Lap 7: The soft tyres are already falling away, and to make matters worse out in front Hamilton has a small concern over his engine as he's told to change his settings by crew chief Pete Bonnington, who gets a shellacking in the process as he's told "make a decision and stick with it".
Lap 7: Vettel is starting to get on the charge and he repeats his move from two laps ago on Norris, this time on his McLaren teammate Sainz, that puts him up to fifth.
Lap 7: Giovinazzi pits at the end of the lap after going off at Signes and damaging the soft tyres beyond repair.
Lap 8: Whatever Plan A is for Ferrari, that is what Leclerc is on as he gets a message to keep Verstappen two seconds behind to cover off any undercut attempt. Hamilton meanwhile appears to be in good nick as he sets the fastest lap of the race so far.
Lap 9: Stewards have hit Sergio Perez with a five-second time penalty, which is very interesting given he went off on the opening lap at the first chicane and despite going around the run-off bollard as he is supposed to, still managed to make up two positions. No doubt the Mexican will be annoyed by that one.
Lap 13: We're into the pit stop window for the soft-running cars that includes the leaders, and you'd expect either Verstappen or Leclerc to be the first to pit to force the undercut. Vettel meanwhile is just under seven seconds behind Verstappan and catching slowly.
Lap 14: Standings
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas +2.779s
3. Leclerc +7.831s
4. Verstappen +10.935s
5. Vettel +17.538s
6. Sainz +28.878s
7. Norris +30.390s
8. Gasly +34.695s
9. Ricciardo +35.481s
10. Raikkonen +37.801s
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