The magic of Provence can be described eloquently: first-class rosé, fragrant lavender, colorful markets.

Max Verstappen experienced his own personal pleasure trip at the French Grand Prix: a brilliant victory in Le Castellet on the Paul Ricard race track, 25 valuable championship points and a hearty sip of champagne on the podium – this is how a world champion enjoys himself.

Sonke Sievers

Deputy Head of Department for Sport Online.

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The win in the south of France marks the championship leader's seventh win of the year – and his 27th overall, leveling the Dutchman with three-time champion Jackie Stewart.

The triumph is particularly valuable because Charles Leclerc, Verstappen's closest rival, lost control of his Ferrari while in the lead, crashed into the barrier and was eliminated unharmed - a zero number that meant a serious setback for the Monegasque and the Scuderia in the fight for the Title.

Vettel 11th, Schumacher 15th

Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was second, his teammate George Russell third.

Sebastian Vettel, whose future in Formula 1 is still open, finished eleventh, just behind his team-mate Lance Stroll, after driving inconspicuously in the Aston Martin.

For Mick Schumacher, who was only 17th on the starting grid after a mishap in qualifying, it was enough for 15th place. Previously having collected world championship points twice, the Haas pilot did not make any mistakes in the race, but was slower in France than stable mate Kevin Magnussen, who retired.

After a good start, Schumacher collided with Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa in the middle of the race through no fault of his own – and found himself hopelessly at the end of the field.

At the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon, the thermometer showed 31 degrees Celsius, and the asphalt had heated up to more than 60.

Under these conditions, it was important for the pilots to be careful with the tires on the already tire-sapping Le Castellet slope, as Red Bull team boss Christian Horner put it: "It's all about the tyres, tyres, tyres".

Leclerc knew about the advantages of the competition in racing trim - and about their expected acceleration.

While Monegasse reached 333 km/h on the long straight in qualifying, world champion Verstappen was measured at a top speed of almost 340 kilometers per hour.

In the race, however, the F1-75 proved to be on par with the RB18.

A resourceful slipstream maneuver gave Leclerc the 16th pole position of his career on Saturday.

Stable mate Carlos Sainz, sent to the end of the field for an engine change, drove ahead on the second part of the Mistral straight and dragged Leclerc through the wind.

That brought 0.2 seconds time savings - and on the grid the place in the sun - in front of Verstappen.

However, Charles Leclerc has had to experience enough times this season that pole position does not promise victory.

He had previously secured first place on the grid six times in eleven races, but was only able to convert this into a win twice.

This malaise was to continue at Le Castellet.

Hamilton starts excellently

At the start, Leclerc got off better than Verstappen, who even had to be careful not to be surprised by the excellently reacting Hamilton, who passed Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull in third place.

In the first ten laps, Max Verstappen was able to persistently put the Ferrari in front under pressure.

The Red Bull appeared in the rear-view mirrors of the F1-75, filling the format, and was allowed to activate the DRS system again and again, i.e. open the rear wing in order to be faster on the long straight.

But it was not enough for a successful attack.