French GP conclusions: Ruthless Hamilton looks untouchable

In what was far from a classic French Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton once again underlined his current superiority in Formula 1. 

Hamilton completely controlled Sunday’s rather uneventful race to tighten his stranglehold on the championship amid his pursuit for a sixth world title, as Mercedes continued its dominant start to the 2019 season to maintain its 100 percent win record. 

We’ve rounded up some of the main talking points from the French Grand Prix…

Hamilton in a class of his own 

After claiming the 86th pole position of his career on Saturday, Hamilton insisted he does not feel “untouchable” at the moment, but the manner of his ruthless display at the French GP tells a different story. 

Having skipped Thursday’s media duties in order to attend a memorial for fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld in Paris, Hamilton rocked up at the Paul Ricard circuit cutting a relaxed and confident figure. 

He went on to set not one but two laps which would have been good enough for pole during qualifying, beating teammate Valtteri Bottas by nearly three-tenths of a second. 

The Briton then dominated the race, leading all 53 laps en route to scoring his sixth victory of the season with a crushing 18-second margin over Bottas in the exact same machinery. As a result, Hamilton has now established a commanding 36-point buffer in the championship. 

He is in the form of his life and arguably driving better than ever before. May’s Spanish Grand Prix started a run of four wins on the bounce for Hamilton, who has claimed eight of the last 10 victories on offer. 

Hamilton puts his incredible form down to hitting a “sweet spot” during 2018 - in winning eight of the final 11 races - that he has managed to carry through into this season, despite feeling that his performances this year have at times been “average”. 

It is an ominous warning for his rivals, and specifically Bottas, that Hamilton has been able to extract the results he has without feeling truly at one with Mercedes’ incredibly fast but difficult-to-drive W10. 

Hamilton's triumph in France was the 79th victory of his career, moving him well within striking distance of Michael Schumacher's all-time wins record (91). He needs just 12 more victories to match the German's long-standing tally, with 13 grands prix remaining in a season that Mercedes has so far conquered. 

Hamilton concluded post-race: "There is never a moment you shouldn't be pushing and the moment you sit back is the moment you lose. And I don't plan on doing that."