Verstappen Wins French Grand Prix After Leclerc Retires From Lead

Max Verstappen has extended his championship lead with Oracle Red Bull Racing, after taking victory at a challenging French Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The Dutchman lined-up in second-place on the grid, alongside pole-sitter – Charles Leclerc – and would spend a good portion of the first stint hunting down the Scuderia Ferrari driver.

Verstappen eventually backed-off in order to preserve his tyres, before pitting on lap seventeen to attempt the undercut. A lap later, a costly mistake from Leclerc would see the number sixteen spin and hit the wall in the second sector, marking his third retirement of the year. Verstappen would cruise to victory after this, while team-mate – Sergio Pérez – would cross the line in fourth-place after a late race battle with George Russell.

The rest of the podium

For the first time in the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team have scored a double-podium finish. Lewis Hamilton was able to jump Pérez at the race start and fend off the Mexican during the first stint. After making a pit-stop under the Safety Car caused by Leclerc’s retirement, Hamilton continued to hold his ground to the Red Bull driver, and would eventually pull away into the distance as Russell started to close the gap.

Russell was initially passed by a charging Carlos Sainz Jr (before he stopped), but found himself squabbling with Pérez with a handful of laps to go for the final podium place. There was a slight controversy when Russell attempted a move down the inside of Turn Eight, forcing Pérez off the track when the gap eventually closed. A late-race Virtual Safety Car was also called, and Russell was able to catch Pérez napping to take third-place and eventually the double Mercedes podium.

Credit: LAT Images.

Questionable strategy from Ferrari

Following Leclerc’s retirement, all eyes were on Sainz, who had already started the race from the back of the grid due to replacing some limited components on his car ahead of the weekend. A charge through the field was made more difficult when an unsafe release would prompt a five-second penalty for the Spaniard, who was in the mix for a podium spot with ten laps to go.

Sainz passed Leclerc and battled with Pérez, before making an excellent move in the final sector to secure third on his aging Medium tyres. Prior to this, the number fifty- five driver had asked to come into the pits, but was denied by his team. The Italian outfit changed their mind mid-battle and pitted Sainz (after he took third-place) as they feared he wouldn’t make it to the end of the race. After serving his penalty and emerging ninth, Sainz stormed through the field to make an impressive recovery, but will have been hoping for a better result than fifth.

What happened behind?

BWT Alpine F1 Team were able to get the edge over constructors competitors, Mclaren F1 Team, with a sixth and eighth-place result for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon respectively. The double World Champion got an excellent getaway on the grid to pass Lando Norris, while Ocon made a great move around the outside of Daniel Ricciardo to help the French team outscore their rivals at their home event.

Despite being passed on track by the Alpine cars, McLaren were able to score double points, with Norris and Ricciardo finishing seventh and ninth respectively. Norris put a good performance in to start fifth on the grid, but ultimately didn’t have the pace to compete for more points.

A last-lap battle between the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team cars saw Lance Stroll pinch the last point of the race from team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who wouldn’t give up without a fight in the final sector of the race. Even with just one point being added to their tally this weekend, the British team will be happy with the progress they have made since Austria.

Pierre Gasly narrowly missed out on points for Scuderia AlphaTauri, with a twelfth-place finish at his home race, while team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, would fail to finish the race. The Japanese driver was hit by Ocon on the first lap and had significant damage to his sidepod, before retiring on lap eighteen.

Alexander Albon once again pushed his Williams F1 Team car to its limit, finishing thirteenth for the third time this season. The Thai/British driver has been performing very well this year to finish consistently near the top ten. Meanwhile, Nicholas Latifi was forced to retire near the end of the race as a result of damage caused by Kevin Magnussen, who hit the Canadian at Turn Two and caused him to spin.

Valtteri Bottas finished fourteenth in a race that was disappointing for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, while Guanyu Zhou failed to finish the Grand Prix. The Chinese driver received a five-second penalty for a collision with Mick Schumacher late in the race, before retiring with six laps to go due to a mechanical failure.

Haas F1 Team will also be hoping to forget their race, after both cars failed to see the chequered flag. Magnussen, like Latifi, was forced to retire as a result of damage sustained in his Turn One incident, while Schumacher retired as a result of damage after being hit by Zhou. After scoring double points in both Britain and Austria, this is a disappointing result for the American team.

French Grand Prix Full Results:

POS	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:30:02.112
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	+10.587s
3	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	+16.495s
4	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	+17.310s
5	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	+28.872s
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	+42.879s
7	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	+52.026s
8	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	+56.959s
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	+60.372s
10	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	+62.549s
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	+64.494s
12	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+65.448s
13	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams F1 Team	+68.565s
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	+76.666s
15	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	+80.394s
16	24	Guanyu Zhou	CHN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	+6 laps/DNF
17	6	Nicolas Latifi	CAN	Williams F1 Team	DNF
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	DNF
19	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	DNF
20	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	DNF

Data courtesy of Formula 1.