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F1 Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins French GP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard on Sunday, after his title rival Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari from the lead of the race.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, leaves his pit box after a stop

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, leaves his pit box after a stop

Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

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.

2022 French Grand Prix race results

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Interval Points
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 53 1:30'02.112   25
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:30'12.699 10.587 18
3 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 53 1:30'18.607 5.908 15
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 53 1:30'19.422 0.815 12
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 53 1:30'30.984 11.562 11
6 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 53 1:30'44.991 14.007 8
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 53 1:30'54.138 9.147 6
8 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 53 1:30'59.071 4.933 4
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 53 1:31'02.484 3.413 2
10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 53 1:31'04.661 2.177 1
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 53 1:31'06.606 1.945  
12 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 53 1:31'07.560 0.954  
13 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 53 1:31'10.677 3.117  
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 53 1:31'18.778 8.101  
15 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 53 1:31'22.506 3.728  
  China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 47      
  Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 40      
  Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 37      
  Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17      
  Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 17      

How the French Grand Prix unfolded

Leclerc held his pole advantage on the run to Turn 1, leading Verstappen, Hamilton, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and a fast-starting Fernando Alonso (Alpine). The latter’s teammate Esteban Ocon bumped Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri into a spin at the North Chicane on the opening lap, for which he got a 5s time penalty.

Verstappen got into Leclerc’s DRS range by the start of Lap 4 and hounded him for the lead from Lap 6. After getting close but being unable to get past at Le Beausset, Verstappen stopped attacking and reverted to stalking his title rival.

Verstappen blinked first and pitted at the end of Lap 16 but Leclerc didn’t respond and stayed out. That became immaterial when he lost control of the rear of his car, spun and crashed into the tyrewall two laps later at Le Beausset, causing a safety car.

Verstappen picked up the lead, ahead of Hamilton, Perez, Russell and Alonso – who all pitted under the safety car. From his back-of-the-grid start, Sainz was quickly up to sixth after the restart, this despite a woefully-slow pitstop and being released into the path of a Williams – for which he received a 5s time penalty.

Sainz passed Russell for fourth around the outside of Signes on Lap 31, while Hamilton ran wide at Turn 2 and was now over 6s behind Verstappen, who was cruising out front.

Sainz passed Perez for third with a great lunge at the final corner, just as Ferrari told him to pit. Perez then came under attack from Russell, the pair clashing at the North Chicane causing Perez to go straight on. Stewards decided it was a racing incident, despite Russell’s complaints to the contrary.

Sainz pitted from third with 10 laps to go, dropping him to ninth. On fresh mediums, he quickly stormed up to fifth setting a string of fastest laps.

A late-race virtual safety car for Zhou Guanyu’s stranded Alfa Romeo allowed Russell to get the jump on Perez and he grabbed third place with three laps to go.

Behind Sainz, Alonso finished sixth from McLaren’s Lando Norris. Ocon passed Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) around the outside of Signes in the closing stages to finish eighth. Lance Stroll scored the final point for Aston Martin, just ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Zhou clipped Mick Schumacher (Haas) into a spin, for which he received a 5s time penalty. More drama starred Haas’s Kevin Magnussen clashing with Nicholas Latifi’s Williams, causing the latter to spin – and Magnussen to retire a lap later.

2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 51 1'35.781     219.575
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 30 1'37.491 1.710 1.710 215.724
3 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 51 1'37.548 1.767 0.057 215.598
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 30 1'37.668 1.887 0.120 215.333
5 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 45 1'37.780 1.999 0.112 215.086
6 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 52 1'37.963 2.182 0.183 214.685
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 4 1'38.088 2.307 0.125 214.411
8 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 53 1'38.160 2.379 0.072 214.254
9 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 53 1'38.684 2.903 0.524 213.116
10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 53 1'38.786 3.005 0.102 212.896
11 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 43 1'39.037 3.256 0.251 212.356
12 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 43 1'39.044 3.263 0.007 212.341
13 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 48 1'39.068 3.287 0.024 212.290
14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 27 1'39.133 3.352 0.065 212.151
15 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 52 1'39.185 3.404 0.052 212.040
16 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 53 1'39.199 3.418 0.014 212.010
17 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 11 1'39.265 3.484 0.066 211.869
18 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 25 1'39.368 3.587 0.103 211.649
19 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 40 1'39.650 3.869 0.282 211.050
20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 4 1'40.216 4.435 0.566 209.858

2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix pitstops

Cla Driver Chassis 1 2 3
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull M 16 H 37    
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes M 18 H 35    
3 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes M 18 H 36    
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull M 18 H 35    
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari H 18 M 24 M 11
6 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine M 18 H 35    
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren M 18 H 35    
8 France Esteban Ocon Alpine M 18 H 35    
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren M 18 H 35    
10 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin M 20 H 36    
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin M 21 H 35    
12 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri H 18 M 35    
13 Thailand Alex Albon Williams M 18 H 35    
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo H 18 H 18 M 17
15 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas M 9 H 9 H 35
  China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo M 9 H 13 H 25
  Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams M 19 H 19 M 2
  Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas M 8 H 10 H 19
  Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari M 17        
  Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri M 11 H 6    

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