Max Verstappen won the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix for Red Bull after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out of the race on Lap 18 – walking away unscathed – as the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the podium at Paul Ricard. Perez lost P3 to Hamilton at the start of the race and couldn’t keep pace with him. The driver of the Day Carlos Sainz started 19th with engine penalties, but with his Ferrari on hard tyres, he made it into the top 10 by Lap 14. He pitted for mediums during the Safety Car, but an unsafe release led to him serving a stop-go penalty and pitting again for mediums on Lap 43. Yuki Tsunoda spun early on having been tapped by Alpine’s Ocon, the AlphaTauri driver becoming the first to retire from the race on Lap 17 with damage.

Follow MotorMouth on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•