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2021 France Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: Could it be? That Red Bull really does now have the best car on the majority of tracks? Or, did the tire pressuse mandatory changes play into Red Bull's favor? And what about the whole bendy wing saga? Everything was still legal after the new tests.

EVENT: Fans. In Europe. Fans. Fantastic.

TRACK: The track everybody loves to hate.

QUALIFYING: Verstappen carries his FP3 momentum to pole, Bottas redeems himself, Perez remains close enough for Sunday, Sainz continues to show he was a correct choice for Ferrari, Ocon losses speed, and Mick and Yuki crash ... again.

RACE: As expected, Paul Ricard did not offer the type of on track action from previous races. However, watching the intriguing strategy play out between the leaders kept your attention.

START: It was looking good for the front row until Verstappen pulled a Hamilton, everyone else remains steady, Alonso gets fiesty, Norris drops, and Stroll marches forward.

RED BULL: Their strategists learned a lot from Mercedes at Spain. This time, they turned the tables and outsmarted the Silver Arrows.

VERSTAPPEN: Though Max had to be calmed down at times, he executed the strategy perfectly.

PEREZ: Sergio's tire management allowed his team to split their strategy to a double podium finish.

MERCEDES: Asleep at the switch. Twice.

HAMILTON: Pretty calm for a guy who lost a race he probably expected to win when he arrived in France.

BOTTAS: Valtteri called the proper strategy. His team didn't listen.

MCLAREN: In the constructor's fight for third place, McLaren turned a disappointing Saturday into a fantastic Sunday.

FERRARI: While after a decent qualifying, Ferrari disappeared on Sunday.

GASLY: Yet again, a fine performance for Pierre, despite a bit of a sloppy race for the Frenchman.

ALONSO: Definitely getting back into the groove.

VETTEL: Yet again, Sebastian came alive in the race.

STROLL: Another solid comeback.

RUSSELL: Like George said, a great race unrewarded because of no attrition.

TSUNODA: Nice comeback after starting from the pit lane.

OCON: The Renault contract extension was the only good thing for Esteban this weekend.

FIA: Once again, a driver "makes out" by causing a red flag in qualifying to his benefit. This time it was Mick Schumacher who made it past Q1 for the first time thanks to crashing, causing two other drivers to abort obviously faster laps. For the love of the sport FIA, penalize these drivers by taking away their fastest lap.

F3: Australian Jack Doohan took the feature race in difficult wet to drying conditions while championship leader, Norwegian Dennis Hauger, came in second, extending his points lead to six. Meanwhile, the younger Leclerc, Arthur, won the second sprint race.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Undercut.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 3 -- Consecutive number of Red Bull wins, first time in the turbo-hybrid era.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: As Sergio Perez took another podium with Red Bull, it also marked the anniversary of the last podium for fellow countryman Pedro Rodriguez on June 20, 1971. Rodriguez started and finished second in a BRM as only he and winner Jacky Ickx completed all 70 laps at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. The following race would be his last in F1 which happened to be at Paul Ricard as he crashed out of the French GP. After that, Rodriguez was killed in a sports car race at the Norisring.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: We don't know why Haas tweeted this, other than perhaps nobody likes Toto Wolff. After it was apparent Mercedes was going to lose the race, Haas tweeted, "*cuts to Toto in garage*" as the cameras showed a despondent Wolff.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: The Finn went full blown English cussing as Valtteri Bottas screamed over the radio after the race, "Why didn't you listen when I said we needed to be on a two-stopper? Bloody hell!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: When a reporter stated during a post race interview it feels like we got the old DR back, Daniel Ricciardo said, "I never left. I just moved aside for a little while."

SCHEDULE: Two in a row at Red Bullring.

Copyright © 2021 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Verstappen 53
2. Hamilton 53
3. Perez 53
4. Bottas 53
5. Norris 53
6. Ricciardo 53
7. Gasly 53
8. Alonso 53
9. Vettel 53
10. Stroll 53
11. Sainz 53
12. Russell 52
13. Tsunoda(R) 52
14. Ocon 52
15. Giovinazzi 52
16. Leclerc 52
17. Raikkonen 52
18. Latifi 52
19. Schumacher(R) 52
20. Mazepin(R) 52

Time of Race
1:27:25.770

Margin of Victory
2.904 secs.

Safety Car
None

Lead Changes
5 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez

Fastest Race Lap
Max Verstappen

Pole Position
Max Verstappen

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Verstappen 131
2. Hamilton 119
3. Perez 84
4. Norris 76
5. Bottas 59
6. Leclerc 52
7. Sainz 42
8. Gasly 37
9. Ricciardo 34
10. Vettel 30
11. Alonso 17
12. Ocon 12
13. Stroll 10
14. Tsunoda(R) 8
15. Raikkonen 1
  Giovinazzi 1

  Team Pts.
1. Red Bull 215
2. Mercedes 178
3. McLaren 110
4. Ferrari 94
5. AlphaTauri 45
6. Aston Martin 40
7. Alpine 29
8. Alfa Romeo 2
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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