In the French GP, George Russell was annoyed on the radio about the rulers. Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff intervened. Afterwards, the Viennese explained why he did it.
In the end, George Russell passed Sergio Pérez on the Paul Ricard circuit, securing third and final place on the podium. The Mercedes promoted used the end of the virtual safety car phase to leave the Mexican behind. Before the yellow phase, the duo fought an entertaining duel.
The Red Bull Racing driver, who was still ahead at the time, cut corners 8 and 9 when the Silver Arrow driver attacked. Pérez stayed ahead thanks to the ride out and Russell was annoyed on the radio because the race stewards didn’t instruct the 32-year-old to make room for him after the ride out – after all, his duel opponent was able to hold his position thanks to the ride out.
Pérez defended that there would have been a double failure if he had taken the corner, and the rulers apparently saw it the same way, because they decided not to investigate further and thus also to penalize the driver from Guadalajara.
Russell was annoyed over the radio and cursed like a scamp, until Toto Wolff turned to his protégé with encouraging words. The Mercedes motorsport director explained to the young Brit that he could still pass the Red Bull Racing racer in front of him on the track and afterwards he said to his soothing radio message: “I had the feeling that he was a bit stuck because he was so upset about it.”
“As a driver you’re stuck in this little cockpit and I felt like he had the pace to get past. All he had to do was calm down and focus on beating him on track. And in the end he just drove smart. He used the end of the safety car phase to drive past,” added the Viennese.
French GP, Le Castellet
01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:28:37,567 h
02. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +10,587 sec
03. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +16,495
04. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +17,310
05. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +28,872
06. Fernando Alonso (L), Alpine, +42,879
07. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +52.026
08. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +56,959
09. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, +60,372
10. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +62,549
11. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, +64,494
12. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, +65,448
13. Alexander Albon (T), Williams, +68,565
14. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +76,666
15. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, +80,394
Out
Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, Motordefekt
Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, collision damage
Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, collision damage
Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, Dreher
Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, collision damage
Drivers’ Championship (after 12 of 22 races)
01. Verstappen 233 points
02. Leclerc 170
03. Pérez 163
04. Sainz 144
05. Russell 143
06. Hamilton 127
07. Norris 70
08. Ocon 56
09. Bottas 46
10. Alonso 37
11. Magnussen 22
12. Ricciardo 19
13. Gasly 16
14. Vettel 15
15. Schumacher 12
16. Tsunoda 11
17. Zhou 5
18. Stroll 4
19. Albon 3
20. Latif 0
21. Nico Hülkenberg (D) 0
Booth Constructors Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 396 Punkte
02. Ferrari 314
03. Mercedes 270
04. Alpine 93
05. McLaren 89
06. Alfa Romeo 51
08. Haas 34
08. AlphaTauri 27
09. Aston Martin 19
10. Williams 3