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The 2022 F1 French GP comes at a crucial juncture in the championship. Half of the season is in the rear-view and by the looks of it, most of the upgrades that needed to be brought have already made their way onto the car. What's left now is that little "performing on the track" part that needs to be taken care of.
It's not a far cry to say that coming to the Circuit Paul Ricard, there are teams that are at a crossroads. Many of their plans for the 2023 F1 season or their targets for this season require a strong performance or at worst a return to form.
In this feature for the 2022 F1 French GP, we'll take a look at some of the teams that will be desperate for a strong result this weekend.
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#3 Aston Martin F1
Sebastian Vettel's contract with Aston Martin expires at the end of the season. The German is yet to sign an extension with the Silverstone-based outfit and has not shown any inclination to join any other team as well. One of the reasons behind that has arguably been a lack of strong results from the team. It keeps on facing elimination in Q1 with both cars in the last few races and as a driver, even Vettel admitted that it is disheartening.
Sure, Aston Martin appears to occasionally make its way up the field and scrape a point or two. If the team has to keep the services of the German, however, that's just not enough. The team brought a sizeable upgrade to Silverstone and that appears to have been a catastrophic failure. Instead of showing progress, there seems to be a decline in the last few races.
Heading to the 2022 F1 French GP, Aston Martin is at a crucial juncture right now. The team needs to show Sebastian Vettel that he's not wasting his time with them and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is the penultimate race before the summer break and will present the team with the first of its two chances to convince the German. In short, Aston Martin needs a strong result at the 2022 F1 French GP.
#2 McLaren
McLaren's stronghold as the top team of the midfield has been under threat for a while this season. The team's challenger for this season is far too peaky when it comes to performance. On some tracks, the car is easily the fourth fastest car on the grid, while on others, it suffers severely from excessive drag and other issues that work against it. To make things worse, McLaren has admitted it will not be bringing any new updates to the car because of the budget cap situation.
On the other hand, Alpine, McLaren's biggest challenger this season, has caught up with the Woking-based squad and, to be fair, passed it in terms of performance. The only reason Alpine is only level on points and not over is because of the incessant reliability issues it has been plagued with.
The track at Paul Ricard should ideally favor McLaren as the layout holds resemblance to Silverstone. This weekend has to be the one where the team strikes back in the constructors' championship before Alpine starts running away with it.
#1 Mercedes
Mercedes has put together some impressive results in the last few races. The team has scored a podium for three races in a row with Lewis Hamilton in Canada, Silverstone, and Austria. Its pace was impressive at Silverstone as for a brief period, there was an opportunity for a surprise win for Hamilton as well.
The team has been making all the right noises in the last few races. The podiums are coming in, the points are being scored, and to an extent, the gap to the front has been reduced. At the same time though, lest we forget, in all three podium finishes for Hamilton, he hasn't beaten a single Red Bull or Ferrari driver in a straight fight.
In Canada, Sergio Perez retired while Charles Leclerc was making his way from the back of the field. At Silverstone, Leclerc ran a poor strategy while Max Verstappen suffered car damage. Finally in Austria, both Perez and Carlos Sainz suffered a DNF! The results are a positive for sure, but in terms of pace, Mercedes is still a step behind.
At the 2022 F1 French GP, the Brackley-based outfit is bringing a major upgrade. For the team's sake, the upgrade has to deliver! The track layout favors Mercedes and everything is inclined towards the team joining the front-running group.
For Mercedes, this has to be the race where the team joins the frontrunners because if it doesn't, there might be some painful decisions that the team will have to make when it comes to the 2022 F1 season.
