Mercedes is also in a league of its own at Le Castellet

The Englishman in the Mercedes came out ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas (Finland) and Charles Leclerc (Monaco) in the Ferrari at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.

Leclerc's Ferrari on the podium His teammate Sebastian Vettel (Germany) only took fifth place after starting from seventh position, while Red Bull driver Max Verstappen (Netherlands) finished fourth ahead of the Ferrari driver.

In the Drivers' World Championship, five-time world champion Hamilton leads with 187 points ahead of Bottas (151), while Vettel, in third place with 111 points, has to look backwards rather than forwards. For Hamilton it was the 79th victory of his career and the 6th this year. Mercedes won all 8 races of the season, 6 of them with a double victory. Sebastian Vettel only made it to 5th place. © AP / Claude Paris

In Le Castellet, the Scuderia's hopes of another attack against the overpowering Mercedes were dashed early on. The confident pole-sitter Hamilton got off to the best start and was more than a second ahead of Bottas in the first two laps. After problems in qualifying on Saturday, Vettel only started the Grand Prix from seventh place. The German had a hard time behind the two surprisingly strong McLarens. In the fifth lap he left Lando Norris behind and two laps later also his stable rival Carlos Sainz.

After all, the start wasn't quite as negative as last year, when Vettel crashed into the rear of Bottas shortly after the start and received a five-second penalty for it. Instead of dueling at the front with Hamilton, who won on the circuit near the Mediterranean coast in 2018, he had to laboriously fight his way to the Red Bull of the Dutch Max Verstappen in fifth. Meanwhile, Hamilton alone set the fastest lap times at the front. Defective seat cannot stop Hamilton The five-time champion complained via pit radio about a defect in his seat, but that didn't stop Hamilton from continuing to outpace Bottas. Once again, the 34-year-old was completely unfazed and in his own league. Behind them, Leclerc in the second Ferrari didn't get any closer to the dominant Mercedes, but at least kept Verstappen at bay.

And Vettel? Even after the very late pit stop from medium tires to the harder compound on the 26th of 53 laps, he couldn't get past Verstappen - and even continued to lose time on the 21-year-old. Hamilton didn't care much about the battles for position behind him, and even with new tires he gave his pursuers no chance. After a little more than half of the race, Vettel's long-term rival was able to pull away second by second. Then all he had to do was manage. Vettel never comes close to the podium In a low-stress race in summer temperatures of 27 degrees, the podium was out of reach for Vettel. Ten laps before the end, his team radioed him into the cockpit that he should at least implement “Plan F”. He should still secure the fastest lap of the race. However, he came into the pits one lap before the end for an additional tire change and was rewarded for his courage.

Vettel's Scuderia will have their next chance to get back in what has so far been a very one-sided title fight with the Silver Arrows next week. Next Sunday in Austria it's all about a Grand Prix victory again.

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Mercedes is also in a league of its own at Le Castellet

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has won the French Grand Prix and extended his lead in the overall standings.

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