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 28: Ricciardo challenges Grosjean going into the Mistral chicane and gets alongside the Haas and forces the home driver to driver off the track and cut the corner. Grosjean complains about the move, though from where I was sitting it looked like a textbook move from the Aussie and he's up to 12th.
Lap 29: Hamilton is on the charge and stretches the lead to 12 seconds to Bottas, who if he's not careful will slip back into the clutches of Leclerc. Second and third are split by under four seconds, but Leclerc reports that even though he can drive faster, it's not worth it as it will destroy the tyres.
Lap 31: That's exactly what you don't want in this near-30 degrees heat as Ricciardo reports that his drinks bottle is not connected, meanine his going to be one dehydrated Honey Badger at the end of the race.
Lap 32: Standings
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas + 12.193s
3. Leclerc +17.347s
4. Verstappen +25.076s
5. Vettel +31.457s
6. Raikkonen +50.659s
7. Hulkenberg +51.792s
8. Stroll +55.238s
9. Sainz +1:04.410s
10. Norris +1:06.913s
Lap 32: Raikkonen pits from sixth in the Alfa Romeo and Hulkenberg gets the shout to push as hard as possible, just as teammate Ricciardo gets past Kvyat to move back into the points. He has five seconds between himself and the McLaren of Norris ahead of him.
Lap 34: Hamilton complains that the hard tyre doesn't feel as good as the mediums, though he's 12 seconds to the good over Bottas and on for his sixth Grand Slam of pole, win and fastest lap that would take him in front of Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher, leaving just Jim Clark ahead of him.
Lap 36: Hulkenberg pits his Renault but he hasn't done enough to overcut Raikkonen and the Alfa Romeo returns to 10th place, with just Stroll in front left to pit.
Lap 40: One small concern for Bottas as a blister has opened up on the front-right tyre, which Hamilton also has minor signs of. With a seven-second lead over Leclerc though, he should be able to manage those to the end. Stroll meanwhile pits as the last man to do so from sixth, and gets back out in 13th.
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