2019 French Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hamilton leads Bottas by 29 points. In the Constructors’, Mercedes leads Ferrari by 123 points. Vettel is third with 100 points, Verstappen fourth with 88, and Leclerc fifth with 72.

Previous race

At Canada, Vettel crossed the line first but was handed a five-second penalty for rejoining the track unsafely on lap 48 — squeezing Hamilton toward the outside wall as he returned from the grass at turn 3. Hamilton was less than five seconds behind at the flag, so inherited the win. Vettel stopped his car short of parc fermé in protest and moved Hamilton’s number-one board to his own parking space before attending the podium. Ferrari announced an appeal, stating they would review the evidence further.

Between-race developments

During free practice at Paul Ricard, stewards announced they would not review Ferrari’s new evidence regarding the Canadian GP penalty. The original result — Hamilton winner, Vettel second — stands.

Entrants

Nicholas Latifi drives in the first practice session for Williams.

Penalties

Kvyat and Russell are both required to start from the back of the grid for exceeding their power unit component quotas.

Track changes

Following driver concerns after the 2018 race, the pit lane entry has been moved to a point between turns 14 and 15 and the track has been resurfaced. The FIA has also introduced yellow bollards at turn 2 to define track limits in the runoff area, with similar boundary markers enforced through turns 3, 4, and 5.

Practice

Hamilton was fastest in FP1 ahead of Bottas, with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel third and fourth. FP2 was another Mercedes 1–2: Bottas led Hamilton, with Leclerc and Vettel again in third and fourth. Early in FP2, Hamilton rejoined the track unsafely after running wide, forcing Verstappen off; Hamilton was summoned by the stewards but received no penalty.