Formula 1 2022 French Grand Prix results

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell helped Mercedes to its best result of the season so far as they finished second and third behind championship leader Max Verstappen in the French Grand Prix.
But although Hamilton came home just 10 seconds adrift of the winning Red Bull after the 53-lap race, Mercedes said it remained realistic about just how big the deficit was to the front.
With Verstappen ...

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Paul Ricard might have been sweltering as the mercury climbed to 35 degrees Celsius, but from lap 19 of 53 in the French Grand Prix last Sunday, Max Verstappen barely had to break a sweat to chalk his seventh victory of the 2022 Formula 1 campaign.
While nearest title rival Charles Leclerc held track position early on after landing pole, the Austrian GP winner bottled the chance to convert it ...

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With Charles Leclerc out of the race early on following his crash, it hopes rested on getting Carlos Sainz as far forwards as possible following his back row start due to an engine penalty.
Having started on the alternative hard tyre compared to the front runners, the Spanish driver was switched to the medium during Leclerc?s safety car period ? leaving him with a tough ask to make it to ...

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The Monegasque driver was leading early on at Paul Ricard and, with better tyre degradation than main rival Max Verstappen, looked to be fully in control of things.
However, a mistake on lap 18 pitched him off in to the crash barrier ? forcing him out on the spot and opening the door for Verstappen to take a win that further extended his championship lead.
Leclerc?s mistake in France ...

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Norris had qualifed fifth with the upgraded car, but after a bad start he lost out to both George Russell and Fernando Alonso.
He gained a place when Charles Leclerc crashed, but later lost out to Carlos Sainz and finished down in sevent.
TV pictures showed Norris noticing the stray aero part after alighting from his car, before examining it and placing it in the cockpit.
His McLaren team ...

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Stroll meanwhile said he ?didn?t do anything reckless? as the pair battled for 10th place and the final point.
Vettel had been pushing hard to catch and pass Stroll in the closing stages, and was right with the Canadian on the final lap.
In the middle of the last corner Stroll appeared to slow suddenly, forcing Vettel to brake dramatically in order to avoid hitting the sister ...

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A shortage of the new parts has meant that the team has opted to give them only to Magnussen as the highest-placed driver in the world championship, leaving Mick Schumacher with the standard car.
Williams adopted a similar strategy with its recent new package, which was used only by Alex Albon in the British and Austrian races.
Haas has remained competitive in the midfield pack despite ...

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But it could have been an even better day for Red Bull had Sergio Perez not missed out on a podium after he was overtaken by Mercedes? George Russell in the closing stages.
Perez was left frustrated after the race, claiming he had received "totally wrong" information regarding the Virtual Safety Car restart, which Red Bull said was due to a "glitch" from the FIA.
The FIA explained it ...

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen extended his lead at the top of the championship by scoring his seventh win of the season on Sunday, capitalising on Charles Leclerc?s crash while leading.
But the race also saw Mercedes get both of its cars onto the podium for the first time this season as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished second and third respectively.
Hamilton sat second behind ...

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Mercedes arrived at Paul Ricard hoping to take a step forward to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari at the front of the pack, only to finish eight tenths of a second off pole position on Saturday.
But Hamilton made a good start to rise from fourth to third before then taking second place when Ferrari?s Charles Leclerc crashed out while leading, sparking a safety car period.
It left Hamilton ...

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The Monegasque driver had been in control of the race at Paul Ricard after holding off a challenge from title rival Max Verstappen in the opening stages.
But shortly after Verstappen elected to go for an early switch of tyres, it all went wrong for Leclerc on lap 18 as he spun off at Turn 11 ? putting him out of the race.
Stuck in the barriers, he spoke to his team over the radio and was ...

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Who is leading the F1 Drivers' points?
Red Bull?s reigning champion Verstappen pulled out a further 25 points over Ferrari drivers? title rival Charles Leclerc, who crashed out at Paul Ricard after leading the race for the first 17 laps.
Verstappen?s lead is now 63 points over Leclerc as he bids for a second successive drivers? title. His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez?s fourth ...

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Verstappen scored his seventh win of the 2022 season in Sunday's French Grand Prix after Leclerc crashed out while leading towards the end of the first stint.
Leclerc qualified on pole for Ferrari and had led by just over one second from Verstappen before Red Bull brought the Dutchman into the pits at the end of lap 16.
Ferrari kept Leclerc out before he crashed on lap 18 following a ...

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Russell engaged in a duel for the final podium place with Red Bull's Sergio Perez in the latter stages of Sunday's race at Paul Ricard.
The pair made contact at the Turn 8 chicane when Russell made a late lunge, forcing Perez to take avoiding action and run through the corner.
Russell was incensed that Perez kept the position ? which went unpunished by race stewards after an investigation ...

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Following Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu stopping at the side of the track with an engine problem in the closing stages, the FIA called out a virtual safety car to allow marshals to retrieve his stricken car.
Once the track was clear, race control messaged teams to let them know that the virtual safety car period was ending.
According to F1's Sporting Regulations, the race is then supposed to go ...

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Sainz charged through the order from 19th on the grid having taken an engine change penalty for the Circuit Paul Ricard race, and following teammate Charles Leclerc's crash while leading, the Spaniard had battled Red Bull's Sergio Perez for third place.
But just as he launched an overtake on Perez through the final sequence of corners, Sainz was told to pit, having gone for an alternative ...

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In the latter stages of Sunday's Paul Ricard race, Perez was embroiled in a battle with Mercedes' George Russell over the final podium place.
A late virtual safety car was called when Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu broke down at Turn 6 with four laps remaining.
On lap 51 of 53, the VSC was ended, but Perez was caught out by an incorrect message from the FIA, telling him racing would resume earlier ...

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Verstappen cruised to victory after Leclerc crashed out at the double-apexed Le Beausset corner, and he finished over 10-seconds clear of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton ? starting his 300th grand prix ? and George Russell.
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French GP: Verstappen eases to win after Leclerc crashes out
The French GP as it happened


2022 French Grand Prix race ...

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After Ferrari's Charles Leclerc retired from the lead at Paul Ricard, Hamilton moved up to second place, which he kept until the finish, crossing the line 10 seconds behind Red Bull's winner Max Verstappen.
Afterwards Hamilton, who had to take a breather in the cool-down room, revealed his drinks bottle didn't work during the race, which made his drive in the sweltering hot conditions to his ...

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After an initial early tussle with eventual race winner Max Verstappen, Leclerc held onto the lead as the Red Bull driver came in for his pitstop.
Ferrari elected to keep Leclerc out on his fading mediums instead of immediately covering off Red Bull's undercut attempt, with the former crashing out at Turn 11 when he lost the rear of his car on lap 18.
Unable to reverse his car out of the ...

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At the start, Leclerc easily lead away from pole ahead of Verstappen, who initially looked like he would have to defend against Hamilton into Turn 1 as the Mercedes driver had launched straight past Sergio Perez up ahead and starting third.
Verstappen hit the brakes latest of the top three and ran to Leclerc's outside, but the Ferrari was under no real pressure on the racing line.
The top 10 ...

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For much of this season, the trend has been a big gap in qualifying between Mercedes and its rivals, and then a much closer comparison in the race.
That continued in France, where the quickest W13 of Lewis Hamilton was 0.9s off pole man Charles Leclerc in fourth place, while race pace has looked much more encouraging.
Russell himself qualified sixth at Paul Ricard, behind the McLaren of ...

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After seeing Williams debut its updated bodywork package on teammate Alex Albon's car at the British Grand Prix, Latifi finally got the new parts for the Paul Ricard race weekend.
The Canadian slumped to last place in qualifying on Saturday, lapping three tenths of a second slower than Albon, and he felt he should have "safely" made it through Q1 before "something just felt off" with his ...

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Mercedes turned heads in pre-season testing when it arrived in Bahrain with a super-slim sidepod design, dubbed the 'zeropod', as one of the biggest design diversions under the new regulations. 
But Mercedes has struggled to match the performance of front-runners Red Bull Racing and Ferrari through the early part of the season, finishing a race no higher than third.
Most teams have ...

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In recent races, Ferrari has come under fire for strategy calls that have cost it big results, such as the decision not to change Leclerc's used tyres at the last safety car during the British Grand Prix, and the pit blunder that cost him victory in Monaco.
But at Paul Ricard on Saturday, Ferrari enacted a pre-weekend plan for Sainz to tow Leclerc in his slipstream in Q3 to negate Red Bull's ...

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Gasly entered his home grand prix weekend hoping to take a step forward after AlphaTauri debuted its long-awaited upgrade package in practice on Friday.
Gasly was comfortably inside the top 10 in both FP1 and FP2, and noted that he felt more confident in the car with the updates, only to then qualify a lowly 16th at Paul Ricard on Saturday.
Speaking after qualifying, Gasly explained that he ...

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McLaren and Alpine head into today's race at Paul Ricard tied on points for fourth place in the constructors' championship, with McLaren sitting ahead by virtue of its podium finish at Imola.
Alpine was hopeful of continuing its good form in France after its recent gains in the standings, only to struggle through practice on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
While Alonso made it through to Q3 ...

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A core group of teams led by Ferrari and Red Bull are unhappy about the scale of revisions that the FIA is intending to make to the technical regulations for next year.
In particular, they are unhappy that a proposed 25mm raising of the floor edges and a lifting of the diffuser throat will force them to change development direction on the 2023 cars, something which could prove expensive and ...

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Charles Leclerc will start the race from pole position after receiving a tow from Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in qualifying. However, Leclerc will not be able to receive help from Sainz in the race itself with the Spaniard due to start at the back of the grid due to a power unit change penalty.
This means Leclerc will have to contend with the two Red Bulls alone, as Max Verstappen and Sergio ...

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As part of a revised package of parts introduced for the French Grand Prix, McLaren has moved much closer to the direction seen on the lead pairing of Red Bull and Ferrari.
Prior to the French Grand Prix, McLaren had been somewhere in the middle ground of teams in this area.
Aston Martin was originally at one extreme opting for the high waisted sidepod solution, whilst Williams and Mercedes ...

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Mercedes arrived at Paul Ricard hopeful of taking a step toward front-running rivals Red Bull and Ferrari thanks to the smooth surface and track layout that was tipped to play to the strengths of the W13.
But Mercedes failed to get in the thick of the fight at the front through practice before Hamilton and teammate George Russell could only manage fourth and sixth places respectively in ...

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The Monegasque driver had looked set to be forced to play second fiddle to main rival Red Bull after Max Verstappen had looked super strong in final free practice.
But Leclerc's Ferrari came alive in the later qualifying session as, thanks to a bit of assistance in getting a tow off teammate Carlos Sainz, he took his seventh pole position of the season.
"After Q1, I think I was very ...

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The McLaren driver was only ninth in FP3, behind even the Williams of Alex Albon, and thus did not enter qualifying expecting to be fighting near the sharp end.
However, in a display of impressive consistency, he was fifth in all three segments of qualifying, ending up between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the final grid.
"Very surprised, actually,? said Norris of the outcome. ?I ...

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The Frenchman was also mystified as to why he was only 17th in FP3 before securing 12th in qualifying.
He will actually start 10th, as Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen both have grid penalties.
Ocon's teammate Fernando Alonso demonstrated the potential of the car by securing seventh on the grid.
"It's clearly a disappointing qualifying," Ocon said when asked by Motorsport.com about his ...

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Verstappen topped FP3 but wound up qualifying behind his title rival, who was boosted by Ferrari deploying tow tactics considering Carlos Sainz's upcoming engine-change penalty.
Red Bull has been running a lower-drag wing arrangement at Paul Ricard, which resulted in Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez heading every top speed measuring point in qualifying as it is allied to the team's rebadged ...

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Having headed into the Paul Ricard weekend targeting a fight for victory, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were left further away from the front than they have been at recent races.
Hamilton, who ended up fourth on the grid, was nearly nine tenths adrift of pole position man Charles Leclerc, with Russell in sixth was more that 1.2 seconds off.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team was left ...

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Leclerc will start ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.
Leclerc benefited from his teammate Carlos Sainz giving him slipstreams in Q3, as Sainz will start from the back of the grid due to power unit change ...

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The Silverstone race winner came into the weekend already facing a 10-place grid drop for a change in control electronics, before Ferrari elected to change more power unit elements ? triggering a back-of-the-grid start for Sunday?s race.
This follows on from his fiery exit from the Austrian GP two weeks ago.
As a result, Sainz was sent into qualifying at Paul Ricard with the goal of ...

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Although Sainz will start Sunday?s Paul Ricard race from the back of the grid due to his post-Austrian GP retirement engine change, Ferrari got the Spaniard to progress through to Q3 so he could help Leclerc in his battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen for pole.
In the final qualifying segment, Sainz led Leclerc out of the pits each time. After Leclerc had dropped back at the end of their ...

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