Leclerc's high-speed lapse punished to the Max

LE CASTELLET, France－World champion Max Verstappen took full advantage of Charles Leclerc crashing out of the lead to extend his advantage in this year's title race with a crushing victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's sun-baked French Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Dutchman drove with flawless control in the searing heat to guide his Red Bull home 10.587 seconds ahead of Mercedes' Hamilton, in his 300th race, with George Russell, in the second Mercedes, beating Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull, for third.

It was Verstappen's seventh win this season and the 27th of his career and a blow to Leclerc's challenge in the opening race of the second half of the season.

After 12 of the 22 races, Verstappen leads Leclerc by 63 points, 233 points to 170, in the drivers' standings.

"We had good pace, but it was hard to follow here with the tires overheating so we stayed calm," said Verstappen.

"You never know how it is going to go... It was unlucky for Charles and I'm glad he is OK."

Perez finished fourth ahead of a rampant Carlos Sainz, who drove from the back of the grid to finish fifth for Ferrari ahead of Fernando Alonso of Alpine and McLaren's Lando Norris.

Esteban Ocon was eighth in the second Alpine ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.

Hamilton was delighted to be second.

"It was a tough race as my drinks bottle didn't work so it was a great result for us, especially considering we're so far off the pace," Hamilton said. "Great reliability from the team and George did an amazing job."

On an afternoon of searing heat, with a track temperature of 52 Celsius and the air 34 at the start, Leclerc made a clean start to lead into the first corner ahead of Verstappen, with Hamilton leaping clear of Perez into third.

Leclerc led by a second after the opening lap, which saw Yuki Tsunoda spin and recover while Sainz, from the back of the grid, began his charge.

Verstappen's superior straight-line speed powered him close behind Leclerc's Ferrari at the end of the Mistral Straight, but the leader held firm, his car squirming for grip in the heat.

Having resisted Verstappen's early attacks, Leclerc held a lead of nine-tenths by lap 13.

Sainz, praised for his progress by Ferrari, reached 10th on lap 14.

At the front Leclerc increased his pace to draw 1.7 seconds clear by lap 15, when the track temperature was recorded at 55 Celsius.

"We are planning Plan B," Ferrari told Leclerc, refocusing on tire wear and strategy.

Verstappen came in on lap 17 for a stop in 2.4 seconds, rejoining seventh. As he came back, Ferrari warned Leclerc his tires were overheating, but he held a 10-second lead ahead of Hamilton with Perez third, three seconds adrift.

'My mistake'

Leclerc accepted the blame for his crash as he gifted another triumph to series leader Verstappen.

The Monegasque driver, who led for 18 laps, lost control of his car at the high-speed Le Beausset corner where he spun and slowed before hitting the tire barriers.

Leclerc was unhurt but distressed at losing another possible victory while leading for the third time this season and, after screaming in anguish, later said it was "unacceptable".

"A mistake－my mistake," said Leclerc.

"I think I am performing at the highest level of my career, but if I keep doing these mistakes then it is pointless to perform at a very high level. I am losing too many points. I think seven at Imola, 25 here－because honestly we probably were the strongest car on track today－so if we lose the championship by 32 points at the end of the season, I will know where they are coming from.

"It's unacceptable. I just need to get on top of those things."

While still in his car, following the crash, Leclerc suggested he had suffered from a "sticking" throttle, but he did not repeat this later and took the blame himself.

He said he intends to study the data of the accident to see if there was any mechanical fault which led to him losing control of the rear end of the car.

"I go through the same process all the time, try to analyze everything and today the snap was a bit of a weird one," Leclerc said.

"So, I'll look into the data and try to understand if there is anything that I do not know yet, but to me it is a mistake and that's it."

Mercedes extended its record as the only team to score points in every race this year while Hamilton continued as the only driver to finish each race.

China's Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu was forced to retire on lap 6 due to a technical issue.

Drivers now head to this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, the last before the summer break.

AFP