Sundaram Ramaswami
Sunday was a fun day for Formula 1 with fans being treated to a cracker of a race at Le Castellet. A strategical masterpiece of a race that saw no retirements, yellow flags or safety car periods, but still went down to the last two laps.
Here are all the numbers from the 2021 French GP –
GENERAL –
- The race featured 52 on-track passes, the most Circuit Paul Ricard has seen in the last ten races dating back to 1983. By no means was this race a stinker.
- Ever since this track returned to the F1 calendar in 2018, all the races here have been won by the pole-sitter.
- The race didn’t have a single retiree, the tenth time that’s happened in F1 history and sixth in the turbo-hybrid era. That last happened at the 2019 Austrian GP – another race Max Verstappen won after taking the lead in the dying laps.
RED BULL-
- A day of hat-tricks at the Red Bull camp. Verstappen took the first hat-trick (pole, win, fastest lap) of his F1 career while Red Bull registered a hat-trick of wins for the first time since late 2013. Their engine supplier, Honda, took their first victory hat-trick since 1991.
- Last time’s race winner, Sergio Perez collected his maiden points in France. This was also the first time he’s taken back-to-back podiums in his career.
- Verstappen has been either P1 or P2 in every race he’s finished since the 2020 Bahrain GP.
- This was the first time Red Bull have won on French soil.
- Honda went home with 41 points from the French Grand Prix, the most they’ve ever collected with a team in one race weekend.
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MERCEDES –
- Mercedes had a 100% record for pole positions and victories at Circuit Paul Ricard (1954, 2018, 2019). That streak came to a halt with Verstappen taking pole and victory last weekend.
McLAREN –
- Lando Norris scored points once again and has finished in the top-5 in six of the seven races this year.
- Daniel Ricciardo’s came in P6 for the third time in 2021 (Imola, Barcelona, Le Castellet).
FERRARI –
- Charles Leclerc ended up P16, the lowest he’s finished in a race with Ferrari.
- It was also Ferrari’s second-worst race-finish in F1 history where they didn’t suffer a mechanical issue/incident. The worst? Carlos Reutemann being the last driver to see the chequered flag in P18 at the 1978 French GP. Coincidentally, both races were held at Circuit Paul Ricard and both drivers heavily struggled to find pace with their tyres through the race.
- The French GP’s most successful constructor, Ferrari, had an off day. They failed to score points at the French Grand Prix for the first time since 1996.
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ALPHATAURI –
- Pierre Gasly scored for the sixth race in succession, equalling the best points-scoring streak of his career.
ASTON MARTIN –
- Sebastian Vettel has scored points in three consecutive races, a first since Germany-Hungary-Belgium 2019.
WILLIAMS –
- Although he didn’t collect any points, George Russell’s P12 – ahead of an Alpine and Ferrari car – catapulted Williams ahead of Haas in the Constructors’ championship.
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