Verstappen Takes Seventh Win as Ferrari and Leclerc’s Title Hopes Fade
Formula 1 returned to France for a rumored last time. As the contract between F1 and Circuit Paul Ricard to hold races ends this year and there are no talks between F1 and the circuit to extend the contract, this French Grand Prix will very likely be the last one in a short time. If this really is the last hurrah of Circut Paul Ricard, it was an exciting send-off for the track.
The French fans enjoying their home Grand Prix.
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The action kicked off at qualifying. Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen used more engine components than regulations allowed, so they received grid penalties and are set to start at the back of the grid before qualifying. However, they played a significant role in qualifying. Magnussen and Sainz made their way into Q3 while preventing others from doing so. After finally making it into Q3, Magnussen did not exit the garage, and Sainz carried out the team strategy Ferrari set for him.
As Red Bull cars are faster on the straights and Ferrari knew that Sainz would start from the back no matter what happens in qualifying, they wanted Sainz to provide slipstream for his teammate Charles Leclerc on the straight after turn nine. The strategy was successful as Leclerc was the only driver who could break the 1:31 time barrier. Leclerc took his 16th career pole, with Max Verstappen taking second and Sergio Perez taking third.
Leclerc takes his 16th career pole, equaling Verstappen’s record.
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The main race took place in hot weather. The air temperature was over 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and the track temperature reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit. So naturally, this heavily affects tire degradation, and drivers must manage their car temperature carefully.
The high temperatures gave teams more issues to be concern about.
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Leclerc maintained his lead at the start while Lewis Hamilton jumped Perez for third place. Verstappen was able to follow Leclerc but he was not able to find an overtaking opportunity. The same goes for his teammate Perez with Hamilton. Both Red Bull drivers were desperate to gain a position but they were able to do so. Verstappen decided to pit for new hard tyres before Leclerc does. Leclerc decided to stay out but will soon regret that decision. Just one lap after Verstappen’s pit stop, Leclerc spun out at turn eleven. He crashed into the tyre barrier and for the third time, was forced to retire from first place in a race this year.
Leclerc lost the rear of his car and spun into the barrier at turn 11.
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“I think it’s just a mistake,” said Leclerc. The Monegasque driver explained, “tried to take too much around the outside, put a wheel probably somewhere dirty, but it’s my fault, and if I keep doing mistakes like this then I deserve not to win the championship.”
Leclerc crashed out and caused a safety car and gifting the lead to main rival Verstappen, but that was just the start of a disaster for Ferrari. Sainz pitted under the safety car, and the team made two mistakes in a row. First, the pit stop was slow as the rear jackman held up Sainz by not putting him back on the ground after all-new tires were fitted. Then the pit released Sainz from the pit box right into Nicholas Latifi’s way. Sainz got a five-second penalty soon after for unsafe release, which further compromised the effort the Spaniard put in to recover from starting in 19th place.
Sainz was released right into the way of Latifi, causing Sainz to be penalized.
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Verstappen and Hamilton were able to get away nicely after the safety car restart, so they weren’t threatened for the rest of the race. Perez, however, had George Russell filling up his rearview mirrors. The misfortune did not stump Sainz from making his recovery run, as he made up more positions after the restart. Sainz was eighth when the race restarted, and he passed Russell for fourth in 10 laps. After a further 10 laps, Sainz challenged the Red Bull Perez.
However, Sainz was on medium tires that would not last him until the race's end. Especially with the hot conditions and Sainz’s overtaking efforts, which increased the tire wear. Both Ferrari and Sainz knew they would have to make an extra pit stop, but the question was when they should make the stop.
Sainz was locked in a fierce battle with Perez for the last podium position.
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Ferrari told Sainz to stay out when he was ready to challenge Perez for third place. Sainz fully committed to the fight and got his elbows out to go side-by-side with Perez. Ferrari then made the confusing decision to ask Sainz to change his tires in the middle of the fight. Sainz made the logical call to reject the pit stop and took third place soon after. It didn't matter as Sainz was called into the pits one lap after getting up to third place. Sainz dropped to ninth after the pit stop as he had to serve his five-second penalty as well.
Russell was able to catch up with Perez due to an earlier fight between Sainz and Perez.
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The fight between Perez and Sainz cost both drivers time and allowed Russell to get another shot at attacking Perez. Russell had an ambitious move on Perez at turn eight and caused contact between the drivers. Both Perez and Russell immediately complained that they were driven into. Race control did not see the need to investigate the incident, so the race continued. Russell did not get a chance on Perez until Zhou Guanyu was forced to stop on track because of a mechanical issue and caused a virtual safety car. A hardware issue occurred for race control as they tried to get the race restarted.
The 2022 Formula 1 Sporting Regulation article 4.13.7 states, “When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to end the VSC procedure, the message "VSC ENDING" will be sent to all teams via the official messaging system and, at any time between 10 and 15 seconds later.”
Russell was able to pass Perez after the virtual safety car period ended.
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In this case, the hardware issue forced race control to send out two “VSC Ending” messages which confused Perez. As a result, the race resumed after 59 seconds instead of the intended 10 to 15 seconds. And when the green flag was shown to get the race back underway, Russell got onto the throttle immediately. Perez was confused by the glitch and was still on the brakes. Russell breezed past Perez for third with three laps remaining, and there was nothing Perez could do.
Verstappen crossed the line to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
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Verstappen crossed the line first after 53 laps to take his seventh win of the season, extending his championship lead to 63 points. Hamilton achieved Mercedes’ best result this year by taking second place in his 300th F1 race. Russel rounded up the podium, and for the first time this season, Mercedes got both drivers onto the podium. Perez lost out on the podium through no fault of his own. Sainz was able to recover and finish fifth. However, if Ferrari had used the correct strategy and pitted Sainz before his fight with Perez, Sainz would've likely finished in a higher position.
Both Ferrari and Leclerc have lost a significant amount of points in France.
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A Ferrari disaster allowed Red Bull to extend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship to 82 points, and Mercedes is also only 44 points away from Ferrari. With only 10 races left, Ferrari’s title hopes are quickly fading. Do they have any tricks under their sleeves to help them catch up? Will they be able to solve the reliability issues at hand? We will see at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. I am sure all teams will want a good result in the last race before the summer break, so it will be an interesting race to watch.
