On July 24th, the defending Formula One champion, Max Verstappen, won the French Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc crashed out due to Ferrari’s continuing string of mishaps.
Following suit, Ferrari dropped 63 points in the standings behind the Red Bull driver Verstappen. After a later restart with a virtual safety car, George Russell passed Sergio Perez’s Red Bull car, giving Mercedes its first podium sweep.
However, on Lap 18, Leclerc lost control of his car, spinning 360 degrees and slamming into a tyre wall. Initially struggling to communicate and breathing heavily in his helmet, Leclerc eventually informed his team that a throttle problem was at fault for the accident.
This earned Verstappen victory, and Lewis Hamilton made a fourth Straight Podium finish by coming 2nd in his 300th Grand Prix.
Two weeks earlier, another throttle problem in the Austrian Grand Prix almost cost Leclerc the victory. It was Ferrari’s sixth non-finish in 12 races and his third of the year, although he later asserted that he was at fault for the incident.
“We’ll add it all up at the end of the season, but if we’re 25 or 30 points behind, I can only blame myself,” Leclerc continued. “Even though those are small details, I could not undo it. You just can’t drive a car into a wall.”
Sainz, who earned an extra point for the best lap, trailed Perez in fourth place. Sainz had passed Russell and Perez with ten laps left when his crew told him to pit for new tyres.
