Max Verstappen secured his seventh race win of the 2022 F1 season this weekend at the chaotic French Grand Prix, further extending his lead in the drivers' standings. The Dutchman drove a pretty lonely race after starting the Grand Prix from second, while his main title rival had yet another heartbreaking weekend.
Despite getting a phenomenal race start ahead of Verstappen on lap 18 of the Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc watched the championship title slip further away from him after he hit the barriers at Turn 11. Leclerc was heard frustratingly blaming the throttle on the team radio at the time of the crash, accounting for his third DNF of the 2022 F1 season.
Mercedes have achieved their best result of the season so far with their first double podium. After a long and difficult battle with Sergio Perez, George Russell finished the race in third behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who secured the best ever result by a driver in their 300th F1 Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows have managed to make significant progress over the season, while Ferrari have been going in the opposite direction when it comes to their reliability and strategy.
It was a day of damage limitation for Carlos Sainz, who started the Grand Prix at the back of the grid after receiving a penalty for taking on new power unit elements. However, Ferrari did not make it an easy race for the Spaniard with their confusing strategies and delayed decision-making.
Although Sainz seemed to have an easy podium-finish on his hands, if not a potential race win, he was forced to settle for an underwhelming fifth-place result with an extra championship point for the fastest lap of the race.
The race witnessed a total of five DNFs, including Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnessun, Nicholas Latifi, Charles Leclerc, and Zhou Guanyu.