Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the 2022 French Grand Prix after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc spun and crashed out early in the race, allowing Verstappen to cruise home for a comfortable win over Mercedes’ seven-time Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton with Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, George Russell claiming the third and final podium position with a late pass over Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Leclerc sat on pole position at the race start and remained in front while Hamilton got a good start and passed Perez to move into third on the first lap. Unable to pass Leclerc on the track, Red Bull elected to pit Verstappen on Lap 16 while Ferrari chose to allow Leclerc to stay on track but a mere two laps later, Leclerc made a mistake and spun and crashed his car into the barrier and was out of the race.
The crash vaulted Hamilton into second where he stayed for the remainder of the race while his teammate Russell made a late Lap 51 pass on Perez after Perez was asleep at the wheel on a virtual safety car restart.
With the victory, Verstappen extends his Formula 1 driver’s championship lead over Leclerc to 63 points – 233 points to 170 points – with a tightening race for third between Perez [163 points], Carlos Sainz, Jr. [144 points], George Russell [143 points] and Hamilton [127 points].
2022 French Grand Prix – Top 10 Finishers
1] Max Verstappen Red Bull
2] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
3] George Russell Mercedes
4] Sergio Pérez Red Bull
5] Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari
6] Fernando Alonso Alpine
7] Lando Norris McLaren
8] Esteban Ocon Alpine
9] Daniel Ricciardo McLaren
10] Lance Stroll Aston Martin
