The French Grand Prix last Sunday was won by Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Honda. The big disappointment of the race, however, was that Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari led the race from pole position but went off into the barriers before half distance.
His Ferrari seemed to have a slight throttle problem, but he blamed himself for the incident. It was a great shame and spoiled the battle that was going on between himself and Verstappen.
Verstappen took over and continued to lead for the remainder of the race.
In second and third place were the two Mercedes cars, driven by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively, which at last gave us a much better display of their prowess.
The battle between Russell and Sergio Perez in his Red Bull was one of the major excitements of the latter stages of the race.
Perez, in fourth place, was not quite at the top of his game for a change and was disappointed not to make it on to the podium.
Driver of the day was nominated for Carlos Sainz, very deservedly, in fifth place, as he had driven very hard for the whole race, cutting his way through most of the field after starting at the back, due to his engine penalty caused by the fire he had in the previous Grand Prix.
Sainz’s fellow Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, was close behind in sixth, after another very good, hard driving race.
I would love to see Alonso back in a top car where he could really show his true ability.
Lando Norris had a good battle with Esteban Ocon (McLaren and Alpine respectively), finishing seventh and eighth.
In the last two point scoring positions were Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll, the latter doing very well to keep multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel at bay.
We move this weekend to the Hungarian hillside and rolling but difficult to pass Hungaroring.
The latest cars should make the challenge in Hungary more interesting as their ability to pass other cars has improved at this tricky track.
Let us hope that Ferrari can help make it an exciting weekend with another good clash between themselves and the Red Bull Hondas.
And perhaps it is time for the Silver Arrows from Mercedes to also join the spectacle.
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