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Formula 1 French GP

French Grand Prix race day

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Alonso says he hopes Vettel "has damage" from their earlier run-in, saying it was "a stupid move".
Lap 24/53: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Sainz.
Another fastest lap for Hamilton - who leads by six seconds now - 1m36.3s.
Red Bull tells Ricciardo there is "a bit of weather in the hills, we are monitoring it".
Bottas hasn't come back through the field nearly as effectively as Vettel and is 13s and five places back in 10th. Did the Mercedes' puncture-stricken limp back damage it?
Ricciardo has started coming back at Verstappen, bringing the gap down to 3.1s between the Red Bulls in second and third.
McLaren is giving 16th-placed Alonso some encouragement, telling him rain is possible in 20 minutes and that sixth-placed Sainz is still in his pit window. Alonso can run to the end on these softs.
Grosjean complains over the radio that Bottas pushed him off the road.
Updated top six: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Sainz.
Hmm, perhaps DRS is a bit too powerful today. Vettel comes from a long long looooong way back to pass the Renault with such ease that he could even pull back onto the racing line for the chicane. Fifth for Vettel, 30 seconds behind race leader Hamilton now.
Bottas is into the points now too, having muscled past Grosjean in a tight move.
Vettel has quickly got onto the case of Sainz, who has fallen 17 seconds back from the other Ferrari of Raikkonen. A clear example of the split in performance between the haves and the have-nots in F1 at the moment. Vettel should make short work of the Renault for fifth.
Lap 20/53: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Sainz, Vettel.
Lots of personal bests on the timing screens at the moment, with race leader Hamilton the best of those bests - setting another fastest lap with 1m36.4s.
Vettel flies past Magnussen and is now sixth. The only non-top-three team runner left ahead of him is Sainz in fifth.
Verstappen has responded to Ricciardo's little charge from earlier, and the Red Bulls in second and third are once again separated by slightly more than four seconds.
Vettel is already with Magnussen for sixth place and it's only lap 17.
Bottas is still catching Grosjean for 10th and is 37.5s from the front.
Red Bull is also watching the gap back to Vettel, and it updates Ricciardo on the Ferrari being 20 seconds behind him.
A straightforward outbraking move on Leclerc takes Vettel into seventh. His gap to the front now 27.5s.
Raikkonen is happy with his smoother downshifts - fastest lap of... no, as we type that, Hamilton beats it with a 1m36.6s.
A gap worth watching is the one between Hamilton in the lead, and Vettel in the leading car that has already pitted. There are 27 seconds between them at the moment.
Lap 17/53: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Sainz, Magnussen.
Hulkenberg takes ninth - neatly done down the outside of Grosjean into the Turn 8 complex on the Mistal straight.
Raikkonen asks "Can we make the downshifts smoother?". He is given a 'multifunction' settings change to make.
Sirotkin is latest to come under investigation, in his case for driving unnecessarily slowly behind the safety car. Was he trying to make room for a Williams double pitstop?
"Let's get after that Haas, it looks like he's in some trouble," Hulkenberg is told. 'That Haas' is Grosjean in ninth, and Hulkenberg is already with the ultrasoft-shed Haas.
Bottas sweeps around the outside of Perez into Turn 1 and secures 11th.
Nothing too close between the leading cars at the moment, it's all in a bit of a holding pattern. Ricciardo is catching Verstappen though, 3-4 tenths quicker per lap the last couple of times by, and he has the gap under four seconds now between the Red Bulls in second and third.
Next on Vettel's list is his possible (probable?) 2019 team-mate Leclerc.
Hulkenberg passes Perez for 10th, with Bottas now close behind them both.
Vettel has caught Grosjean... and he cruises past into eighth place into Turn 8.
"Grosjean next," Ferrari tells Vettel, who is now 2.5s behind leader Hamilton.
Gaps at the front: 1 Hamilton, 2 Verstappen +3.1, 3 Ricciardo +7.7, 4 Raikkonen +11.3, 5 Sainz +16.9, 6 Magnussen +19.5.
Vettel is right on Perez's tail for ninth, and before long at all he's through.

By: Geoff Creighton

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