How many of your pre-race predictions for the 2021 French Grand Prix were correct? Find out below!
1. WILL HAMILTON WIN?
YOUR PREDICTION: YES
CORRECT ANSWER: NO
For the first time since Circuit Paul Ricard’s return to the calendar, a driver other than Lewis Hamilton won the race. Max Verstappen won from pole position after a second pit stop allowed him to overtake both Mercedes drivers in the closing stages.
2. WHERE WILL RAIKKONEN FINISH?
YOUR PREDICTION: 11TH, 12TH OR 13TH
CORRECT ANSWER: 17th or lower
After recording his worst qualifying result of the season to date, Kimi Raikkonen finished the French Grand Prix in the same position as he started. Only 6.5% predicted that Raikkonen would finish in such a low position. Raikkonen’s position was not helped by the fact that no driver retired from the race.
3. HOW MANY CARS WILL SCORE FROM OUTSIDE THE TOP 10?
YOUR PREDICTION: 2 OR 3
CORRECT ANSWER: 2 or 3
Two drivers scored having started outside of the top ten on the grid at the French Grand Prix. Both Aston Martin drivers finished inside the points having started outside the top ten. Sebastian Vettel finished ninth from twelfth on the grid, while Lance Stroll finished tenth having started nineteenth.
4. HOW MANY FRENCH DRIVERS WILL SCORE?
YOUR PREDICTION: BOTH DRIVERS WILL SCORE
CORRECT ANSWER: GASLY WILL, OCON WON’T
Of the two French drivers in the field, only Pierre Gasly scored. The AlphaTauri driver recorded his best home race result so far, with seventh place. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon finished the race a lap down in fourteenth position.
5. HOW MANY POINTS WILL ALPINE SCORE?
YOUR PREDICTION: 1-5 POINTS
CORRECT ANSWER: 1-5 POINTS
Fernando Alonso was Alpine’s only points scorer at the team’s home event. After starting ninth, the Spaniard made up one position in the race and finished eighth, picking up four points.
Let us know how you got on with this race’s predictions! There’ll be more predictions to be made ahead of the next Grand Prix. Follow Lights Out on twitter to take part: @LightsOutF1Blog!
After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. Now in its sixth season, the blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics. Nicky also writes at F1Destinations and Motorsport Guides. In 2017 and 2018, he wrote for Badger GP. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast.