For a spell it looked like that would be Russell’s only chance, but then Zhou Guanyu spluttered to a halt at Turn 6 and the virtual safety car was needed to recover the Alfa Romeo. When it was due to end with three laps to go, a hardware issue meant the first message from race control wasn’t followed by a restart, and a second message followed. In the confusion, Russell reacted better when the track did go green and jumped Perez in the final sector.
“I got the message [the VSC] was going to end out of Turn 9, so I went for it and then it didn’t end,” Perez said. “Then I got the message saying it was going to end through Turn 12. And I was just too close to it. It seems like George had different information and he was able to prepare better for it.
“I mean it’s a shame the virtual safety car interfered with the result, to be honest. It shouldn’t be the case, but today it was the case.”
The Mexican stuck to Russell’s gearbox for the remaining three laps but couldn’t find a way through, allowing Russell to back-up Hamilton with Mercedes’ first double-podium of the season.
“I think collectively as a team, whilst we didn’t have the pace of the lead cars, this is an incredible result for us,” Hamilton said. “For George and I to be here — George did a great job today as well — this is progress. Even if we’re not really closing the gap as such in actual qualifying performance, but this is great points for us.
“At the beginning keeping [Perez] behind was definitely tough given that their straight-line speed was impressive. So having to try and keep them out of the DRS zone was really the trick, and then just tyre usage was probably the key today. I definitely don’t think George and I expected to be second and third. It’s the highest I’ve been all year, so this is a huge day for me overall and looking forward to taking this positive energy on to Budapest.”
Hamilton was in reflective mood as he marked his 300th start with a fourth consecutive podium, while Verstappen was grateful for a big points haul over his main rivals.
“Once Charles was off then I knew it was all about managing the tyres to the end because the two-stop was just slower because of the length of the pit lane unfortunately, which is a bit of a shame because otherwise it opens up a few more opportunities in terms of racing.
“But I just gradually increased the gap and I knew the car was good today, we had good pace, so it was all about managing the tyres in the end.
“Of course it’s a great lead but a lot of things can happen. I just want to stay focused, we need a lot more good results, we still need more one-lap pace. And also the next race is Budapest, I think that’s going to be a bit more of a struggle for us where I think Ferrari is going to be really, really quick. But we’ll see. It’s all about scoring points every single race, even when it’s not your day.”
Leclerc obviously failed to do so, but the others to score points — Alonso in sixth ahead of Norris, Ocon, Ricciardo and Lance Stroll — had little to get excited about in the second part of the race. Aside from Ocon overtaking Ricciardo with eight laps remaining to ensure Alpine moves ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship, Stroll delivered the final action with a robust defence against team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the final corner.
It was far from a thriller as F1 bids farewell to Paul Ricard – for now at least – but it could prove to be another significant moment as Leclerc and Ferrari handed even more points to Verstappen and Red Bull.
2022 French Grand Prix results
Position | Driver | Team | Time | Points |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 53 laps | 25 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +10.587sec | 18 |
3 | George Russell | Mercedes | +16.495sec | 15 |
4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +17.310sec | 12 |
5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +28.872sec | 11* |
6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | +42.879sec | 8 |
7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +52.026sec | 6 |
8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +56.959sec | 4 |
9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +1min 00.372sec | 2 |
10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1min 02.549sec | 1 |
11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +1min 04.494sec | |
12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +1min 05.448sec | |
13 | Alex Albon | Williams | +1min 08.565sec | |
14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +1min 16.666sec | |
15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | +1min 20.394sec | |
16 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | +6 laps | |
Nicholas Latifi | Williams | DNF | ||
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | DNF | ||
Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | DNF | ||
Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | DNF |
*Includes additional point for fastest lap