Formula 1’s French Grand Prix was set to be a close fight between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, but a critical mistake by the Ferrari driver handed the reigning champion an enormous points lead.
Autoweek rounds up the main talking points.
‘NOOOOOO!’
Formula 1’s final visit to Circuit Paul Ricard in France was shaping up nicely during the opening stint of the race.
Ferrari’s Leclerc led away from pole position but had Max Verstappen nipping at his tires during the opening laps. As the stint extended, Leclerc gradually pulled clear of Verstappen and it was Red Bull team that reacted first by bringing their man in for fresh tires. But within two laps, Leclerc was in the wall.
Charles Leclerc had a forgettable day at the office on his home turf Sunday.
Dan MullanGetty Images
As Leclerc rounded the almost right-hander of Le Beausset the rear of the F1-75 worked loose and he spun into the wall. Amid heavy breathing on the radio came an animalistic guttural scream of ‘NOOOOOOOOOOO’ that will perhaps be remembered as the defining moment of the season.
In one error, Leclerc had thrown away 25 points. It marked the third time this season that Leclerc has retired from the lead of a Grand Prix. Engine issues earlier this season forced him out early in Spain and Azerbaijan. Add that to strategic blunders in Monaco and Britain, and Leclerc’s own less-important mistake in Italy, and Ferrari has lost a hatful of points in 2022.
“A mistake, a mistake,” said a rejected Leclerc. “I’ve been saying I think I’m performing at my highest level in my career, but if I keep doing those mistakes then it’s pointless to perform at a very high level. I’m losing too many points. Seven in Imola, 25 here because we were probably the strongest car on track today.
“So, if we lose the championship by 32 points at the end of the season, I will know from where they are coming from. It’s my fault and if I keep doing mistakes like this then I deserve to not win the championship.”
Leclerc’s exit permitted Verstappen to control the remainder of the race, managing the situation in sweltering conditions, to pick up win number seven of the season. He is now 63 points clear with 10 Grand Prix remaining in 2022.
“Once Charles was off, then I knew it was all about managing the tires to the end because a two-stop was slower,” said Verstappen. “I just gradually increased the gap, knew the car was good today, so it was all about managing the tires to the end.”
Verstappen was typically cautious about his large title advantage.
“It’s a great lead but a lot of things can happen,” he said. “It’s all about scoring points every single race, even when it’s not your day.”
Lewis Hamilton’s 300th career start resulted in his fourth consecutive podium finish.
Mark ThompsonGetty Images
Double podium for Mercedes
Mercedes picked up its first double podium of the 2022 season—a situation that appeared unlikely following an uninspired showing in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton was almost a second off pole in fourth, with George Russell further adrift in sixth, with neither able to explain the larger-than-expected deficit. Yet come the checkered flag on Sunday, the Mercedes drivers were together on the podium. Hamilton finished second and Russell third.
Hamilton benefited from a strong getaway to jump Sergio Perez at the start and gradually pulled away, turning third into second when Leclerc exited the stage left. It marked Hamilton’s best season result on the occasion of his 300th Grand Prix.
Russell had a more difficult path to the podium, eventually securing third on a late past Perez coming out of a safety car period. The overall race performance of the W13s was encouraging, significantly closer to the F1-75s and RB18s compared to one-lap speed, meaning Mercedes is gradually chipping away at it.
“While we didn’t have the pace of the lead cars, this is an incredible result for us to be here,” said Hamilton. “This is progress, even though we’re not necessarily closing the gap in qualitative performance, this is great points for us. I definitely don’t think George and I expected to be second and third, this is the highest all year, so this is a huge day overall.”
Added Russell: “I think the gap to Max and Charles, they’re doing an extremely good job, we’ve still got a couple of tenths in race trim. We still need to understand what’s going on with our qualifying performance, but we feel we have a direction we can develop the car now and it probably took us eight to nine races to understand what makes this iteration of car go fast. We’re excited for the second half of the season.”
Esteban Ocon finished in the points on Sunday.
Clive RoseGetty Images
Mixed Results for French Drivers
If this was to be France’s final fling (and that is highly probable) then its French drivers racing in the F1 French Grand Prix had an underwhelming overall display.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon clumsily ran into AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda on the opening lap, sustaining a penalty, and eventually classified eighth—two places behind teamate Fernando Alonso. Nevertheless, it was still enough for Alpine to jump McLaren and grab fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Yeah it has been a good race, a bit unfortunate with Yuki, else we could have fought with Lando (Norris) at the end of the race,” said Ocon. “It’s good to score with both cars.”
Pierre Gasly tried to make gains from a subdued qualifying position but overshot while trying to pass Alexander Albon and was left down in 12th, outside of the points.
“We tried to fight to get back into the points and what we managed is P12, which clearly isn’t the performance we would have liked,” said Gasly. “The fans and spectators made it a special weekend to put a big smile on my face, but I was extremely disappointed in the performance we showed. If I knew what the problem was, we could have changed it, but there was just a lot of sliding around and a lack of grip, especially in the high-speed corners. I tried everything I could in the car to push, changing lines, but there was nothing that clicked.”
Mick Schumacher was never seriously in contention for points this weekend in France.
Clive RoseGetty Images
Haas Double Points Run Ends
Haas arrived in France with a spring in its step following successive double-points finishes in Britain and Austria.
But promising pace went unfulfilled as it left Circuit Paul Ricard empty-handed. It began to unravel on Saturday when Kevin Magnussen took a fresh power unit, breaching his 2022 allocation, consequently consigning him to the back of the grid.
Magnussen went on to qualify in Q3, underlining the inherent pace of the VF-22, before taking the penalty. Mick Schumacher could have been up there as well but on his final Q1 push lap he took too much of the inside curb at Turn 3 and cut the track, meaning his time was deleted, leaving him mired in 17th. Both drivers made gains at the start but an aggressive tire strategy backfired due to the timing of the safety car period for Leclerc’s crash, leaving them towards the back of the midfield train as rivals got a free stop.
Shortly after the restart, Schumacher was tagged by Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, sending him spinning, while Magnussen made contact with Nicholas Latifi. Schumacher stumbled home in the 15th, while Magnussen boxed that lap to retire. The saving grace for Haas was that neither Alfa Romeo nor AlphaTauri scored a point, meaning the gap ahead to sixth in the standings, and behind to eighth, remains unchanged.
“It was all going to plan until the Safety Car came out and it all went downhill from there,” said Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner. “The strategy team did a fantastic job to predict what the tires would do because they did exactly what was predicted. The safety car came out and we had to go, change the tire too early because we were on a two-stop and all the other cars on a one-stop got a free stop, so what can you do. The car once again showed that it’s fast, we just need to regroup and hope that we don’t get unlucky—I don’t even ask for luck!”
The promising element for Haas is it maintains the seventh in the standings and now has the prospect of introducing its sizeable upgrade package at next weekend’s round in Hungary.
Max Verstappen’s win was the 27th of his Formula 1 career.
picture allianceGetty Images
F1 French Grand Prix
results
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 53 laps
- Lewis Hamilton, Meredes, +10.587 seconds
- George Russell, Mercedes, +16.496
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +17,310
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +28.872
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine, +42.879
- Lando Norris, McLaren, +52.026
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +56.959
- Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, +1:00.372
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:02.549
- Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, +1:04.494
- Pierre Gasly, AphaTauri, 1:05.448
- Alex Albon, Williams, 1:08.565
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1:16.666
- Mick Schumachder, Haas, +1:20.394
- Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +6 laps
- Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +13 laps
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +16 laps
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +36 laps
- Yuki Tsunoda, AphaTauri, +36 laps
Updated Driver Standings
- Max Verstappen 233
- Charles Leclerc 170
- Sergio Perez 163
- Carlos Sainz 144
- George Russell 143
- Lewis-Hamilton 127
- Lando Norris 70
- Esteban Ocon 56
- Valtteri Botta’s 46
- Fernando Alonso 37
- Kevin Magussen 22
- Daniel Ricciardo 19
- Pierre Gasly 16
- ‘Sebastian Vettel 15
- Mike Schumacher 12
- Yuki Tsunoda 11
- Zhou Guanyu 5
- Lance Stroll 4
- Alex Albon 3
- Nicholas Latifi 0
- Nico Hulkenberg 0
Updated Constructors’ Standings
- Red Bull 396
- Ferrari 314
- Mercedes 270
- Alpine 93
- McLaren 89
- Alfa Romeo 31
- Hass 34
- Alpha Tauri 27
- Aston Martin 19
- williams 3
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