Chapter 458 - 2021 French Grand Prix | Race III

{Gap to Bottas?} Fatih asked on the radio, sounding very calm although he was pushing with everything the car had.

{4.8s and is reducing the gap with each lap by around three-tenths a lap,} James answered immediately, knowing exactly what he was asking about.

{And Perez?}

{7.8s from you but is losing time to you and Bottas. As for Verstappen, you are 4.3 seconds behind him and losing two-tenths every lap,} James updated him, adding more details on what he was definitely going to be asking next to save him time, since they could only talk on the straights.

{Thank you,} Fatih said with a chuckle as he continued on his drive, with Verstappen opening the gap at the front while Bottas was closing it from behind.

He knew the only thing he needed was to perform consistently, but on the next straight, he was immediately asked a question by James: {Perrone is asking if you are still on plan F?}

{Plus 1,} Fatih answered, wanting to go one lap more than the strategy initially called for. He had planned on pitting at the end of lap 16 since he had considered that he was going to be behind Bottas, planning to undercut his pit stop that would happen on lap 17. But now that he was ahead of him, he could go one more lap and still pit ahead of him while avoiding an undercut as well.

{Understood,} James answered before finally going silent as Fatih started his tenth lap of the race.

Everyone on the pit wall and in the AlphaTauri garage was focused on Fatih and seemed to have even forgotten Gasly, who was still in P7. Fatih was at the moment in a slightly isolated area, running in clean air.

Those ahead of him were slowly but surely pulling away, while those behind him were also slowly but surely closing in, making all those who hoped for a back-to-back podium slightly nervous.

Silently, while some shook their legs trying to calm themselves, they watched as the gap to Verstappen increased lap by lap.

Lap 11: Gap to VER +4.5s; Gap to Bottas +4.2s; Gap to Perez +7.8s

Lap 12: Gap to VER +4.7s; Gap to Bottas +3.9s; Gap to Perez +8.1s

Lap 13: Gap to VER +4.8s; Gap to Bottas +3.7s; Gap to Perez +8.5s

Lap 14: Gap to VER +5.0s; Gap to Bottas +3.4s; Gap to Perez +8.8s

Lap 15: Gap to VER +5.1s; Gap to Bottas +3.1s; Gap to Perez +9.3s

Lap 16: Gap to VER +5.3s; Gap to Bottas +2.7s; Gap to Perez +9.8s

As Fatih started lap 17, he pushed with everything, wanting to make sure he took all of the grip from the tires before he pitted at the end of this lap.

..........

David Croft: "Bottas is slowly but surely closing in on Fatih while Perez is falling behind more and more and will most likely fall below ten seconds at the end of this lap. It seems like they are ready for him, as both the AlphaTauri mechanics and the Mercedes mechanics are rushing out of the garage into their pit stop areas. Who is it going to be? Y?ld?r?m or Gasly for AlphaTauri and Hamilton or Bottas for Mercedes being called in?"

Martin Brundle: "Lewis is more than three seconds ahead of Max, so he has an undercut-proof gap. It is most likely Bottas because Fatih is just slightly under that gap at the moment, at 2.8 seconds, so AlphaTauri might be making a preemptive move to prevent that from happening."

David Croft: "And you would be correct in that, as Hamilton and Verstappen pass the pit entry and continue with their lap while Fatih dives in, followed by Bottas, who is a few seconds behind him. It is a make-or-break pit stop for the two teams because positions can be gained in the pits, and....."

The cable cam followed Fatih’s and Bottas’s cars as they entered the fast lane.

Bottas dived first into his pit stop area, as his was the first one from the pit lane entry. He stopped as the mechanics raised his car and changed the tires along with the front wing before dropping him and letting him go in 2.5 seconds.

Fatih, who had entered before him, arrived in his spot a few seconds later and had a 2.4-second pit stop before he was dropped and left the area to rejoin the fast lane, maintaining a similar gap as before.

{Outlap Critical,} both their racing engineers said the same thing as the two rejoined the track, while the cable cam left the two drivers to focus on the two cars entering the pit lane, as Sainz and Gasly were entering to cover Leclerc’s undercut.

David Croft: "Ricciardo is on the pit straight, and he has a better chance of passing the two cars. He manages to do it as he successfully finishes the undercut, overtaking Charles, Sainz, and Gasly. It is showing that the undercut is powerful here, as Ricciardo has successfully pulled it off.

We are seeing another example of it as both Fatih and Bottas are gaining massively on their out-laps, gaining a full half a second in sector one and a full second in sector two.

He is already up by three-tenths of a second while in the middle of sector three, and Red Bull immediately responds by calling in Verstappen at the end of lap 18, but Mercedes is leaving Hamilton out for one more lap, trusting the gap.

A 2.3-second pit stop for Verstappen as he is let go from his pit box and is moving to the fast lane. Fatih is now in the final parts of sector three, and he enters the start-finish straight. It is going to be a close call....."

As Croft commentated excitedly, the helicam showed both Verstappen in the fast lane and Y?ld?r?m with Bottas on the start-finish straight as they drag-raced one another to turn one to see who would come out on top.

"... The five-second gap to Verstappen has now been reduced to less than one-and-a-half seconds as Verstappen rejoins ahead of the two who are chasing him.

But their tires are now already up to temperature while Verstappen is still on his brand-new but still cold tires, and he is definitely vulnerable to those two who are now looking for an opportunity to pounce on him. None of them are yet within DRS range of one another, but Fatih is now closer to Verstappen than Bottas is to him.

An interesting three-way battle is building up, but at the same time, it is spelling doom for Hamilton, who trusted his three-second gap to be undercut-proof, but Fatih has proven that a three-second gap can be undercut in a single lap by taking out 3.5 seconds from Verstappen in a single lap...."

The excited Croft was forced to stop as the radio conversation between Hamilton and Bono was played: {Drain and give it everything! We are coming in this lap!} Bono sounded very urgent to relay the urgency of the situation.

The live feed switched to Hamilton’s onboard cam as it followed him going across the final sector before diving into the pit lane. The feed changed to the cable cam again as it followed him in the fast lane before coming to a stop in his team’s pit stop area, the closest one to the entry, with the mechanics giving him a 2.2-second pit stop before letting him go, with the timer showing on the lower-left side of the screen.

Martin Brundle: "Looks like he’s entering a multi-story car park, doesn’t it?"

David Croft: "It’s so tight, that pit lane entry. As Hamilton stops, Verstappen and his train are making their way around turn 12, with Fatih taking advantage of his warmer tires and having closed the gap now down to less than a second.

A very neat change there from the Mercedes pit crew. Verstappen and the train are now through turn 13.

That’s Sergio Perez you can see down the main straight going into the lead of this French Grand Prix. We’re on lap 20, and Hamilton is making his way to the end of the pit lane.

Verstappen, Y?ld?r?m, and Bottas are now making their way down the main straight. Hamilton is looking for that white line so he can get his foot down. This is going to be a little tighter than Mercedes would have liked. And Hamilton comes out... is he ahead of the train? No!

As Verstappen and Fatih go through into turn one ahead of him as the two of them pull the undercut on Hamilton. Hamilton was told to give it everything, but for once, ’Hammer time’ didn’t give him enough time. They thought they’d got enough space there, enough gap, but there wasn’t."

Martin Brundle: "Incredible. It was a good pit stop, a tenth quicker than Red Bull and two-tenths quicker than Y?ld?r?m’s, but their out-laps worked perfectly. Lewis will be very unhappy about that."

David Croft:"Sergio Perez leads the French Grand Prix. Max Verstappen and Fatih Y?ld?r?m are ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas is back down in fifth, and Toto Wolff looks on impassively from the back of the Mercedes garage. We can go to Sky Race Control, Paul di Resta?"

Paul di Resta: "Yeah, very surprised to see that Mercedes would take that chance to try and get the jump on Verstappen. But you’ve got to think about the race leader. Red Bull very calmly said to Perez, ’Stick to the plan, and you’re going long.’ So they’re going to be making an impact later on in the race. Just watch this space."

David Croft: "It’s the Hail Mary for Sergio Perez, who is once again going long, and he is definitely going to be a factor in the race now."

Martin Brundle: "The undercut has been underestimated in this race. The power and effectiveness of it are now being proven by Fatih, who is now within Max’s DRS range as they go through the detection zone, and he opens his DRS on the straight."

David Croft: "Is it time for Fatih to show another impressive feat of late braking? He remained behind Verstappen, who is constantly looking at his mirrors, wondering which side Fatih is going to choose, and the end of the straight is approaching rapidly.

Fatih comes out of the DRS, moves to the left, but Verstappen does the same.

Fatih once again dummied another driver as he returned to the right side of the track on the racing line. Does he brake later than Verstappen?

He does, but he can’t make it into the corner as Verstappen, who braked late, dives into the corner, going wide, closing the door for Fatih, who is forced to cut the corner as he now comes out ahead of Verstappen, gaining an advantage.

Martin Brundle: "He has to give that place back as he left the track and gained an advantage."

David Croft: "Can he argue that he was pushed?"

Martin Brundle: "It doesn’t matter, as Verstappen managed to remain fully on the track while Fatih went off and took the race lead."

David Croft: "It doesn’t look like he is going to be giving it back any time soon," he said, as the feed showed Fatih, who had gained a full second ahead of Verstappen from cutting the corner after being pushed wide by Verstappen going into turn 10, without slowing down or even giving back the position.