The French Grand Prix had plenty of on-track overtaking but a lot of the key positions were decided in pit stop strategy and tyre management.
Before the race, Pirelli’s prediction was that for drivers starting on the medium tyre, it would be between 18 and 25 laps before they pitted. Most cars didn’t make it that far, as unexpectedly high degradation took a serious toll from the start.Most drivers struggled with tyres during the French Grand Prix but Ferrari had an exceptionally difficult day. They had qualified well, Carlos Sainz Jnr in fifth and Charles Leclerc starting seventh, however they slipped back quickly, both drivers finishing outside of the top 10.
After the race, Sainz said that they were wrestling with “two times” the degradation of other cars. he said front tyre degradation had been a major concern for them since Bahrain.
Ferrari’s graining was so severe that by late in the race McLaren’s drivers were running laps two seconds quicker than they were able to, leaving the team no margins for strategy calls to recover.
The two cars did run different strategies, Sainz on a one-stop race, Leclerc called in for a relatively late two-stop, which he said was an act of desperation since he was running outside the points in any case. It didn’t deliver, due to traffic.
What clearly did work was running long on a first stint. The drivers that were able to – Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, both Aston Martin drivers – made good on it and moved forwards on single-stop strategies.
As did Daniel Ricciardo, despite stopping on lap 14 and having to run to the end. Both he and Fernando Alonso made a single-stop strategy with a relatively short first stint work out while other drivers and teams struggled to preserve their tyres.
Race winner Max Verstappen took a different route entirely. Having accidentally surrendered the lead to Lewis Hamilton at the start, he regained it by being the first of the two to pit.
Mercedes’ pit stops have been problematic on occasions this year. This time their stop was competitive, but bringing Hamilton in two laps after Hamilton proved costly, and Verstappen jumped ahead. He then gave up the lead by pitting for a second time, as Red Bull realised it would be the quickest route to the end of the race, and they didn’t want to risk a repeat of their defeat in Spain.
Their calculation proved correct, as Verstappen passed Hamilton for the lead on the penultimate lap of the race.
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2021 French Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2021 French Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2021 French Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2021 French Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’36.404 | 35 | |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’36.693 | 0.289 | 53 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.960 | 0.556 | 19 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’37.138 | 0.734 | 52 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.410 | 1.006 | 44 |
6 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’37.425 | 1.021 | 52 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’37.646 | 1.242 | 44 |
8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’37.681 | 1.277 | 43 |
9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’37.828 | 1.424 | 44 |
10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’37.992 | 1.588 | 46 |
11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’38.103 | 1.699 | 44 |
12 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.313 | 1.909 | 50 |
13 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.314 | 1.910 | 52 |
14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’38.324 | 1.920 | 45 |
15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’38.645 | 2.241 | 33 |
16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’38.702 | 2.298 | 36 |
17 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.847 | 2.443 | 51 |
18 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’38.931 | 2.527 | 19 |
19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’38.980 | 2.576 | 18 |
20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.317 | 2.913 | 34 |
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2021 French Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
---|---|---|---|
Max Verstappen | C3 (18) | C2 (14) | C3 (21) |
Lewis Hamilton | C3 (19) | C2 (34) | |
Sergio Perez | C3 (24) | C2 (29) | |
Valtteri Bottas | C3 (17) | C2 (36) | |
Lando Norris | C3 (24) | C2 (29) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | C3 (16) | C2 (37) | |
Pierre Gasly | C3 (17) | C2 (36) | |
Fernando Alonso | C3 (18) | C2 (35) | |
Sebastian Vettel | C2 (37) | C3 (16) | |
Lance Stroll | C2 (34) | C3 (19) | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | C3 (17) | C2 (36) | |
George Russell | C3 (17) | C2 (35) | |
Yuki Tsunoda | C3 (15) | C2 (37) | |
Esteban Ocon | C2 (28) | C3 (24) | |
Antonio Giovinazzi | C2 (28) | C3 (24) | |
Charles Leclerc | C3 (14) | C2 (24) | C3 (14) |
Kimi Raikkonen | C2 (33) | C3 (19) | |
Nicholas Latifi | C3 (18) | C2 (34) | |
Mick Schumacher | C3 (15) | C2 (37) | |
Nikita Mazepin | C2 (31) | C3 (21) |
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2021 French Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 29.682 | 24 | |
2 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 29.775 | 0.093 | 18 |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 29.803 | 0.121 | 18 |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 29.951 | 0.269 | 16 |
5 | George Russell | Williams | 30.092 | 0.410 | 17 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 30.123 | 0.441 | 32 |
7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 30.207 | 0.525 | 28 |
8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 30.226 | 0.544 | 15 |
9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 30.263 | 0.581 | 19 |
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 30.531 | 0.849 | 24 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 30.534 | 0.852 | 17 |
12 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 30.572 | 0.890 | 17 |
13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 30.586 | 0.904 | 28 |
14 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 30.781 | 1.099 | 17 |
15 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 30.798 | 1.116 | 14 |
16 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 30.983 | 1.301 | 31 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 30.996 | 1.314 | 34 |
18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 31.069 | 1.387 | 37 |
19 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 31.288 | 1.606 | 18 |
20 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 31.327 | 1.645 | 33 |
21 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 31.368 | 1.686 | 38 |
22 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 31.457 | 1.775 | 15 |
2021 French Grand Prix
- The potentially crucial differences in how Bottas and Perez help their team mates
- How much-maligned Paul Ricard produced “one of the most exciting races for five years”
- Todt would “prefer less controversy” in Formula 1
- Wolff encouraged by ‘real progress’ from Bottas in French GP
- Red Bull’s French GP win disproves accusations over tyres and wings – Horner
melanos
20th June 2021, 19:03
Without a SC or red flag to equalize the race, the gap between the Mercs/RBR and the rest of the teams seems staggering. It’s back to F1.5.
melanos
20th June 2021, 20:29
Well I did it and it goes like this:
WDC Points:
143 Norris
95 Leclerc
85 Sainz
79 Ricciardo
71 Gasly
56 Vettel
42 Ocon
41 Stroll
40 Alonso
22 Tsunoda
17 Raikonnen
15 Giovinazzi
6 Russell
0 Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin
WCC Points
222 McLaren
180 Ferrari
97 AstonMartin
93 AlphaTauri
82 Alpine
32 AlfaRomeo
6 Williams
0 Haas
Norris & McL way ahead!!
melanos
20th June 2021, 21:18
And the Medal classification Bernie style, also Norris well ahead:
Norris: 4 wins
Leclerc: 1 win 3 seconds
Sainz: 1 win 2 thirds
Vettel: 1 win 1 third
Ricciardo: 2 seconds
Gasly: 1 second
Ocon: 1 third
Alonso: 2 fourths
Stroll: 1 fifth 3 sixths
Tsunoda: 1 fifth 1 sixth
Raikonnen: 1 seventh, 2 eighth, 1 ninth
Giovinazzi: 1 seventh, 2 eighth, 1 tenth
Russell: 1 eight
Schumacher: 1 eleventh
Latifi: 2 twelfth
Mazepin: 1 twelfth
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st June 2021, 2:06
Yes, was a huge gap, I think 50 sec between bottas (the weakest of f1) and norris (the strongest of f1,5), so on average 1 sec per lap, and I think when they were pushing ahead it was even more.
melanos
20th June 2021, 19:06
And the 6,5 seconds gap between the pole time and the race FLAP says it all about the tyres
Jere (@jerejj)
20th June 2021, 19:08
@melanos No, fuel load difference causes the difference for the most part. Tyres, of course, have an impact too (as do other things), but mostly still down to the in-race refuelling ban since 2010.
melanos
20th June 2021, 19:10
I don’t buy that. By the end of the race, when the FLAP is usually scored, the cars are pretty much empty of fuel, just like in quali.
black (@black)
20th June 2021, 20:12
Verstappen did his fastest lap on lap 35 (18 before the end), so he had fresh tyres like in quali but 18 laps more worth of fuel.
When we was at the end with fuel equal to the amount he had in quali, he had 18 laps old tyres, not fresh ones.
melanos
20th June 2021, 20:25
That’s why I said
this time it was unusually early. Anyway, if you look at Checo’s last lap, it`s in the same ballpark, well over 6 seconds more than poletime, and without fuel.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
20th June 2021, 19:09
Where did that lap time come from Perez at the end? Old hard tyres and he almost beat Max’s time on new softs, sure Max set that time with quite a bit of fuel but still.
melanos
20th June 2021, 19:12
Well, last lap, so he didn’t have to nurse the tyres any longer. That’s what F1 is thanks to Pirelli (ok, following FIA requests) not a race but a nursing competition.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
20th June 2021, 20:36
They were pushing like crazy to get a 5 second gap just in case he got a penalty for going wide after the overtake on Valterri. Checo was keen to try and catch Lewis, which might have been possible if he had fought to hold off Max..
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st June 2021, 2:05
Bad idea really, they’re throwing away every chance to win if they have their drivers fight, and in that case perez would also lose time, so also unlikely to catch hamilton. But makes sense about pushing for the penalty, explains why bottas was almost exactly 5 sec behind when I checked gaps towards the end.
frood19 (@frood19)
21st June 2021, 8:02
Bottas killed his tyres at the beginning of his second stint – I could understand his frustration about the strategy but you can’t help but think he could have done better. I doubt he could have kept second but a better driver could have held max a bit longer and that would have allowed Lewis the breathing space needed to win. It’s fine margins at the top level and he just doesn’t quite seem to have that final razor sharp edge
I have an opinion
21st June 2021, 14:32
Perez, Norris & Aston Martin were on the ideal one-stop strategies. Max’s two-stop was not quite optimal (too long on first stint), but good enough to beat Mercedes’ compromised one-stop. Teams could not have predicted, based on previous races, that overtaking would be relatively easy and that the two-stop was actually the better strategy. Red Bull, unlike Mercedes and Ferrari, was able to adapt.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st June 2021, 16:31
You know a tyre is bad (soft) when NO ONE uses it during the race!