2021 French Grand Prix

Championship standings

Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship with 105 points, four ahead of Hamilton. They are followed by Pérez on 69 and Norris on 66. Red Bull lead the Constructors’ with 174 points, 26 ahead of Mercedes; Ferrari are third with 94 and McLaren fourth with 92.

Previous race

At Baku, Stroll and Verstappen both suffered high-speed tyre failures late in the race, bringing out the safety car and then the red flag. On the restart, Hamilton missed the braking zone and ran wide, handing Pérez the win. Vettel took Aston Martin’s first podium in Formula One in second, Gasly third. It was Pérez’s first win for Red Bull.

Between-race developments

Pirelli’s investigation into the Azerbaijan tyre failures concluded that “the running condition of the tyre” — not debris or the tyres themselves — was responsible. The FIA has introduced new protocols to prevent teams from running tyres below the prescribed minimum pressure, which has been raised by 14 kPa (2 psi). New scrutineering checks for rear wing flexibility have also been introduced. Red Bull entered France with a shortage of spare parts following Verstappen’s Baku crash.

Car upgrades

McLaren and Ferrari both bring aerodynamic changes. Red Bull and AlphaTauri received new Honda engines at this event. The circuit has been recently resurfaced and some corners reprofiled since the 2019 race; the pit lane entrance has also been changed.

Practice

Bottas was fastest in FP1 ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Vettel made contact with a wall during FP1. Schumacher also tagged a wall and Sainz went wide, damaging his tyres on the abrasive run-off. In FP2, Verstappen set the fastest time 0.008 seconds ahead of Bottas; the front wings of both Bottas and Verstappen sustained kerb damage during the session, prompting their teams to lodge complaints about the kerb positioning. Verstappen was again quickest in FP3, over seven-tenths of a second clear of Bottas, with Sainz third.