F1 French GP: Verstappen secures win after Leclerc crashes out
24th July 2022After Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out of the French Grand Prix, early on, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen capitalised on the Monegasque’s misfortunes to extend his championship lead with another race win.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great start from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who managed to maintain the lead of the race ahead of Verstappen into turn one. Slightly further back, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton also gained a fantastic start and dispatched Red Bull’s Sergio Perez straight away.
As the pack arrived at the turn eight Nord Chicane, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon’s car became unsettled when it rode over the inside kerb. In the end, Ocon made contact with Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who ended up being spun out. Fortunately, the Japanese driver was able to continue on his way, albeit at the back of the pack.
Race control soon put the incident, between Ocon and Tsunoda, under investigation. Ocon was soon given a five-second time penalty for the incident.
After four laps, two battles began to rage on; Leclerc vs Verstappen out in front and Hamilton vs Perez, for the final podium position. By the time Leclerc crossed the line to start the fifth lap, Hamilton found himself four seconds adrift of Verstappen in P2.
On lap nine, Kevin Magnussen, Haas, was the first driver to venture into the pit lane for his mandatory stop. The Dane swapped his yellow-ringed Medium tyres for the white-ringed Hard compounds.
A lap later, Perez had dropped two-seconds a drift of Hamilton who remained in P3, six seconds behind Leclerc and Verstappen in P1 and P2 respectively.
On lap 17, Verstappen was the first – out of himself and Leclerc – to pit. The defending world champion, swapped his mediums for the hard tyres and filtered back onto the French circuit in P7, behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.
A lap later, Leclerc lost rear-tyre grip and found himself in a spin before he stopped inside the barrier at turn 11. As a result of the crash, the safety car was deployed.
During the safety car intervention, Hamilton – who had inherited the race lead – was the first to pit. After the stop, the seven-time world champion returned to the track behind Verstappen, in P2.
At the same time, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who started at the back of the pack – in P19, had an unsafe release after he returned to the fast lane just ahead of the Williams of Alexander Albon. As a result, the British driver – who drives under a Thailand flag – was forced to lock up his front tyres to avoid contact with Sainz. Ferrari’s Spaniard was soon given a five-second penalty for the pit lane incident.
During the safety car intervention, Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri was pushed back into his respective garage and the Japanese driver soon became the second driver to retire from the French GP.
The safety car finally returned to the pit lane at the end of lap 20 and Verstappen dictated the field’s pace before he got back up to racing speed, on the exit of turn 12.
The lap after the restart, the yellow flag was brought out once again after Magnussen was seen stranded on the exit of turn 11. It was later found that Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou had clipped the rear tyres of Magnussen with his front wing. The Chinese driver was soon given a five-second time penalty for the incident.
On lap 38, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi tried to make a move on the Haas of Magnussen down the inside of turn one. However, the Dane kept his nose in as they raced around turn two, but there wasn’t enough space and both drivers came together. Latifi came off much worse as the Canadian spun out onto the run off area.
Magnussen soon ventured back around to the pit lane and retired from the race.
On lap 42, Mercedes’ George Russell tried to snatch P3 away from Perez after the young Briton made a late move down the inside line, into the Nord Chicane. Due to the late lunge on Perez, the Mexican driver had to cut the corner in a bid to avoid contact with the #63 Mercedes.
A yellow flag was brought out in the closing stages of the race, as Zhou was found stranded on the exit of turn six. The Virtual Safety Car was soon deployed to clear away the stranded Alfa Romeo.
As the VSC was cleared, Perez was found napping in the final corners when the race went back under green flag conditions and Russell managed to slip past the Red Bull driver with ease, by the pit entry line.
In the final laps, it looked as if Mercedes were set to obtain their first double podium finish of the season as Russell sat in P3 while Hamilton sat, comfortably, in P2 – behind Verstappen in P1.
Podium:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- George Russell, Mercedes
That’s it for the article: F1 French GP: Verstappen secures win after Leclerc crashes out! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
