F1 2022: What do the Driver Standings look like after the French GP?

In round 12 of the 2022 F1 season, Max Verstappen has once again emerged victorious. He took his seventh race win of the season at the French Grand Prix this weekend and further extended his lead in the championship standings with an extra 25 points.

Despite starting behind his title rival Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman drove a relatively lonely race this Sunday after the Monegasque's afternoon came to an abrupt end early on in the GP. On Lap 18 of the 53-lap race, Leclerc found himself in the barriers after apparently facing issues with the throttle, making up for his third retirement of the 2022 season. With this, and a fourth-place finish for Sergio Perez, a mere seven points remain between Leclerc and Perez, who stand second and third respectively in the standings.

Mercedes had the perfect Sunday in France, securing their best team result of the season so far with a double podium finish. Lewis Hamilton, in his 300th F1 career Grand Prix start, drove a strong race to come ahead of his teammate to get his best result of 2022 in second place. George Russell and Sergio Perez had quite the battle for third, although the Mexican eventually lost the position to Russell towards the end of the race.

What could have been a great weekend for Carlos Sainz despite a power unit penalty that sent him to the back of the grid for the race start, turned out to once again be an underwhelming GP for the Spaniard. This is not the first time that Ferrari's sloppy strategy has cost their drivers a strong result. The team's delayed and chaotic decisions resulted in a fifth-place finish for Sainz, who was showing the pace to finish on the podium, if not win the race itself.

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Here are the 2022 F1 Driver Standings after the French Grand Prix

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing RBPT	233
2	Charles Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	170
3	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing RBPT	163
4	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Ferrari	144
5	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes	143
6	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes	127
7	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	70
8	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine Renault	56
9	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	46
10	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine Renault	37
11	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas Ferrari	22
12	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren Mercedes	19
13	Pierre Gasly	FRA	AlphaTauri RBPT	16
14	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	15
15	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas Ferrari	12
16	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	AlphaTauri RBPT	11
17	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	5
18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	4
19	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Mercedes	3
20	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Mercedes	0
21	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	0