Parth Sherla
The Round 7 of the 2021 Formula 1 Season is officially complete with the wrap of the French GP 2021. And what a race that has been! For the amateur audience, this race was as boring as the year’s Monaco GP or witnessing Hamilton take title after title each year (yeah, after some time, it gets boring). But, for the hardcore F1 enthusiast, this race had us on the edge. Albeit, we are not here for that, we all saw who won the race. Kind of pointless to elaborate on that, isn’t it?
So, we are here today to take a look into the other winners and losers of this year’s French GP 2021. The drivers who had the chance to make it big in the race but failed to capitalize on the opportunity, and the ones who did. Let’s start, shall we?
To start with the negatives first (as it’s better to leave things on a high note, we will discuss the winners in the latter part of the article);
THE OTHER LOSERS OF THE FRENCH GP
MERCEDES
Unsurprisingly, we have not one but both the drivers of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team fighting for the top spot. After gaining an advantage in the opening lap itself, Lewis Hamilton had put his Mercedes in the lead position, thanks to Max Verstappen’s little run-off into the ‘sunshine’ at Turn 1. However, in a plot twist, Mercedes failed to work out a fitting strategy after Red Bull pit Max in early not once but twice. Giving him a much-needed undercut on Hamilton after Turn 1 and blocking Mercedes to put any clever strategies in action. The entire Mercedes pit wall along with their two drivers was forced to watch the Red Bulls saunter past them. Humorously, Valtteri loses to Lewis even here, as he has to settle for a podium at the Loser spot. Sigh
FERRARI
I think we Ferrari fanboys might as well get used to the constant disappointment. What seemed like a quite decent weekend for the Italian team quickly ended as a low blow after the French GP with Carlos Sainz finishing in P11 and their star driver, Charles Leclerc, way down in P16. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ferrari, always been a fan, but every weekend going into the race, I lower my expectations a bit more. But this result was like Ferrari chucking my hopes out the window. The prime reason for such a result might have been the fact that the two drivers were on a good pace before their tyres started to give in. Ferrari has been struggling with their tyre management throughout the season. But it was a greater blow for Leclerc as his late second stop gamble didn’t deliver due to the traffic.
YUKI TSUNODA
Although finishing 13th after a pit lane start might seem like a good recovery, it isn’t that great a result considering the Alpha Tauri’s performance and Tsunoda’s talents which deserve better. Minus brownie points for Tsunoda who had to start his race from the pit lane due to changes done to his work owing to his crash in Q1 on Saturday. Completely non-judgmental, the walls were too far away for him to pull such an error.
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THE OTHER WINNERS OF THE FRENCH GP
RED BULL
Red Bull was brilliant at the French GP after pulling a UNO reverse on Mercedes for their 2021 Spanish pitstop strategy. Their pitstops were precise and quick. Strategies laid out perfectly and no driver errors gained them a much-needed race win and second podium which furthers their lead in the championship. The tyre management by Sergio Perez was just supreme and that awarded him 3rd place on the podium. Max, although had a minor hiccup at the start, recovered well and was able to outpace his Mercedes rivals thanks to the 2-stop strategy adopted by his team.
DANIEL RICCIARDO
Our Australian honey-badger had been struggling at his new team since the start of the season with even being outperformed by his relatively rookie teammate at times. But, Daniel seemed to have found his ikigai at Le Castellet after finishing his race at a high of P6 from P10. Compared to his teammate, the result might not have been that great as Lando Norris finished P5 after starting P8. But, it’s honest work. A much-needed result for Daniel.
LANCE STROLL
It was a tough weekend all around for Lance Stroll and then it got worse after he was unable to punch in a lap for Q3 due to the late red flag that ended the session. The only lap he clocked had to be deleted due to track limits. That put him in a very tight spot for Sunday’s race. But, he was the man to watch out for on Sunday as he pushed his AMF1 to its limit extracting every bit of power from that Mercedes engine and finished at a high of P10 after starting from P19. Since the start Stroll had been building pace and overtaking car after car. An absolute masterclass if you ask me. And he was rightly awarded the last points position for his superb drive.
To sum up, the French GP 2021 was a strategic masterclass.
