F1 Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins French GP

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	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	53	1:30'02.112		25
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:30'12.699	10.587	18
3	George Russell	Mercedes	53	1:30'18.607	5.908	15
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	53	1:30'19.422	0.815	12
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	53	1:30'30.984	11.562	11
6	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	53	1:30'44.991	14.007	8
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	53	1:30'54.138	9.147	6
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	53	1:30'59.071	4.933	4
9	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	53	1:31'02.484	3.413	2
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	53	1:31'04.661	2.177	1
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	53	1:31'06.606	1.945
12	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	53	1:31'07.560	0.954
13	Alex Albon	Williams	53	1:31'10.677	3.117
14	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	53	1:31'18.778	8.101
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas	53	1:31'22.506	3.728
16	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	47	1:21'56.065	6 Laps
	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	40	1:09'55.378	7 Laps
	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	37	1:04'07.218	3 Laps
	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	17	28'04.942	20 Laps
	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	17	29'34.727	1'29.785
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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	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	51	1'35.781			219.575
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	30	1'37.491	1.710	1.710	215.724
3	George Russell	Mercedes	51	1'37.548	1.767	0.057	215.598
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	30	1'37.668	1.887	0.120	215.333
5	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	45	1'37.780	1.999	0.112	215.086
6	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	52	1'37.963	2.182	0.183	214.685
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	4	1'38.088	2.307	0.125	214.411
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	53	1'38.160	2.379	0.072	214.254
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	53	1'38.684	2.903	0.524	213.116
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	53	1'38.786	3.005	0.102	212.896
11	Lando Norris	McLaren	43	1'39.037	3.256	0.251	212.356
12	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	43	1'39.044	3.263	0.007	212.341
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	48	1'39.068	3.287	0.024	212.290
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	27	1'39.133	3.352	0.065	212.151
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	52	1'39.185	3.404	0.052	212.040
16	Alex Albon	Williams	53	1'39.199	3.418	0.014	212.010
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	11	1'39.265	3.484	0.066	211.869
18	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	25	1'39.368	3.587	0.103	211.649
19	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	40	1'39.650	3.869	0.282	211.050
20	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	4	1'40.216	4.435	0.566	209.858
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2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix pitstops

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