Mika Hakkinen: Charles made a costly mistake

Two-time Formula 1 champion Mika Hakkinen summarized the results of the French Grand Prix in his traditional column and noted that Max Verstappen had taken an important step towards a second title.

Mika Hakkinen: “Everyone makes mistakes, but Charles’ mistake was public and very costly. I had a similar experience when I was in the lead in the 1999 Italian Grand Prix but crashed. This is a very difficult experience, because you know what you have done – you threw away the victory yourself and only you are responsible for this.

Charles is a fantastic racer. He drove perfectly until the 18th lap. Max put a lot of pressure on him, but the Ferrari car is very good in fast corners, so he stayed ahead. It’s unbelievable how close Ferrari and Red Bull were to Paul Ricard, but a mistake by Charles ended the fight. After that Max had a fairly easy race – he checked it, kept an eye on the condition of the tires and took another important step in the battle for the title.

It’s about how Charles reacts to his mistake. After the race he said he lost 32 points due to mistakes at Imola and Paul Ricard and that he can’t afford to stay ahead of Max. In addition, Ferrari has problems with strategy and reliability.

Charles realizes he has the talent and the car to win races. He needs to focus on the positive and take every weekend for what it is. One race at a time. All you can do is focus on a specific race and do everything right.

In Formula 1, you have to constantly learn, work with the team and do what you have to do. The weekend’s very positive results include the fact that Carlos Sainz helped Charles win pole position, causing his partner to break up in qualifying. This kind of teamwork is very important. Carlos is an excellent pilot, so Charles has a strong and capable partner.

It was nice to see Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the podium together for the first time. And while Mercedes looked good in the race, their car is still inferior in speed to Red Bull or Ferrari. At this stage of the season it is clear that Mercedes has solved most of the build-up issues and they looked stable on Paul Ricard’s slippery road surface. However, the backlog of Ferrari and Red Bull continues to exist.

It’s nice to see Alpine and McLaren scoring points with two cars. For Alpine it was a home race and for McLaren every point counts in the battle for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. Both teams have strong driver pairs and are only four points apart after twelve races. It’s hard to imagine a bigger gap – I enjoy my former team’s fight with Alpine every weekend!