French GP : Post-Race Reaction from Max and Perez

Max Verstappen took a thrilling French Grand Prix victory ahead of championship rival Lewis Hamilton and teammate Checo Perez, after switching to a potentially risky two-stop strategy that saw him give up the lead midway through the race.

After erasing a 16-second gap to Hamilton in the latter stages of the race and with less than two laps remaining, the Dutchman powered past the Mercedes driver to secure a superb 13th career win and to extend his Driver’s Championship lead over Hamilton to 12 points.

Perez, meanwhile, superbly worked a one-stop strategy, going deep into the race on his first stint before taking on hard tyres. The late visit to the pits allowed him to close down Valtteri Bottas in the final stages and he muscled his way past the Mercedes on lap 49 to seal his second podium finish of the season and the Team’s first double podium of the campaign.

Sergio Perez finished on the podium on the 50th anniversary of famous compatriot Pedro Rodriguez’ last podium – and at the track on which Rodriguez made his last F1 start.

Max’s win and fastest lap put him on 131 points, 12 ahead of Hamilton, while Checo extends his third-place lead over Norris to eight points, 84 to 76. In the Constructors’ Championship the Team now has 215 points, 37 ahead of Mercedes.

Verstappen secured a grand slam – pole position, the race win and fastest lap – for the first time in his F1 career. Also it will be Red Bull’s first victory at French Grand Prix.

Both Red Bulls were on the podium for the first time in 2021. Also for the first time since 1991, Honda powered cars have taken three consecutive wins.

Max Verstappen (P1)

“Winning this race was an amazing Team effort and to have a double podium at a track like this really shows the hard work everyone is putting in here and in Milton Keynes at our factory and Honda’s. Of course I would have liked to pull off into the distance and cruise ahead on my own but it doesn’t often work like that in Formula One and we really had to work for it today.

You can see how close the two teams are and to win like this on strategy with two laps to go is very rewarding. It was certainly not an easy race and I got caught out at Turn 1 and lost the rear which meant I had to go off the track and lost a position to Lewis. I was of course upset at the time but I knew there was a long race ahead and I had to focus.

In the first stint I didn’t really have the pace to fight with Lewis so we took the risk to pit first and to be honest I didn’t expect the undercut to work so well that I would come out ahead. They were pushing hard to try and pass me but luckily I could just about stay ahead and I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes.

We decided to go for the two stop strategy which worked out well as our car suited the conditions towards the end of the race as the wind became a little less and the track rubbered in.

In the end we made the right calls for both cars and it is great to be on the podium with Checo. We should all enjoy this for a few days until we get to Austria and start again.”

Sergio Perez (P3)

“The Team did a fantastic job today with great strategy and making the right calls at the right time so well done to everyone here and back at the factory. It’s a great result for them which is what really counts and so I’m happy with that. On my side, this weekend wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, as drivers we only want to win so I just have to keep working hard, continue improving and getting better results with the great car that I’ve been given.

Back to back podiums is still solid points but I just needed probably three more laps to get past Lewis for the 1-2 finish, so we’ll keep pushing to get it at our home race in Austria. I think it will be very good for me to have two races back to back in Spielberg as the first race will give me much more of an understanding of how the car performs around there and as a result a better baseline for race two. Hopefully we can be in contention for the win and continue this momentum.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal

“It was a fantastic team performance, you can see how close it is between the two teams, there is very little between the cars so we’ve just got to keep pushing. I’m so proud of the whole Team to bring home back to back race wins and a double podium which extends our lead in both championships.”