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The French Grand Prix 2019 was the 8th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, on June 23rd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Charles Leclerc completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 23 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 16-21: 8 stops
- Laps 23-25: 6 stops
- Laps 31-34: 6 stops
The fastest pit stop was Robert Kubica's, stopping the clock at 29.792 seconds during his pit stop on lap 24, while the slowest one was was George Russell's, who stopped the clock at 37.494 seconds, 7.702 seconds slower than Kubica, during his pit stop on lap 33.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Antonio Giovinazzi, Sebastian Vettel and George Russell decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
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2Kevin Magnussen
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1Pierre Gasly
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2Sergio Pérez
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4Lando Norris
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-Carlos Sainz
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-Max Verstappen
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
-Valtteri Bottas
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
-Robert Kubica
-
4Alexander Albon
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5Kimi Räikkönen
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4Romain Grosjean
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5Daniil Kvyat
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5Nico Hülkenberg
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4Lance Stroll
2 stops
-
6Antonio Giovinazzi
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2Sebastian Vettel
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1George Russell
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.44 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit Paul Ricard, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Retired
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Romain GrosjeanLap 44
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.286 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:28.319. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.