Leclerc loses touch in F1 title race after 'unacceptable' mistake: 2022 French GP report

F1

Max Verstappen took victory in the 2022 French Grand Prix and a 63-point lead in the F1 championship after Charles Leclerc crashed out of the lead and admitted that he's throwing away too many points

Charles Leclerc holds his face in his hands after crashing out of the 2022 French Grand Prix

"I'm losing too many points," Charles Leclerc admitted after crashing out at Paul Ricard

Marc de Mattia / DPPI

“Of course the lead we have is great, but it’s probably a bit bigger than what it should have been when you look at the car performances between the two cars.”

Max Verstappen’s words after the French Grand Prix were so true, as he once again profited from a rival’s error, and took full advantage.

The defending champion had been confident pre-race that he had the car to overtake Charles Leclerc for victory after being on the back foot in Austria, and in the opening laps it felt like a matter of time before he moved past the Ferrari.

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Leclerc kept Verstappen behind him to led in the early laps

Marc de Mattia / DPPI

Verstappen had been forced to defend from Lewis Hamilton on the run to Turn 1 as the Mercedes made a fast start, but in some ways it was a benefit to the top two as Hamilton’s presence in third gave them a buffer as they edged away.

Leclerc couldn’t get outside DRS range of Verstappen, with the Red Bull particularly quick in a straight line. But Ferrari had opted for a higher downforce set-up – a reason it wanted to employ the tow in qualifying – and Leclerc would gain some of the advantage back in the final sector to just pull the gap out enough to be able to defend.

As the opening stint wore on, the dynamic started to change. Leclerc started to look comfortable even with Verstappen on his gearbox, and then began to edge away, First out of DRS range, then nearly a second.

The first stint had been deemed crucial because of the high temperatures, with a need to extend as much as possible to make the preferred one-stop strategy work. Not even contact between Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda at the Turn 8/9 chicane in the middle of the Mistral Straight could deliver a safety car that would make the opening phase easier, and soon Verstappen took to the pits.

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Tsunoda spun after contact with Ocon

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Stopping on Lap 16 suggested a potential two-stop strategy, or a stint that would require high levels of management. But we were never to find out which would threaten Leclerc more, as he became his own worst enemy.

With the strategy playing out perfectly for Ferrari, Leclerc inexplicably dropped it at Beausset, the long, fast right-hander after Signes. The Ferrari swapped ends and he slid head-on into the barrier. After a panicked radio message to his team, the race leader let out a scream of frustration: “NO!”

In an instant, he’d thrown away a golden opportunity for back-to-back victories.

“A mistake, a mistake,” Leclerc admitted. “I’ve been saying I think I’m performing at my highest level in my career but if I keep doing those mistakes then it’s pointless to perform at a very high level. I’m losing too many points.

Seven in Imola, 25 here because we probably were the strongest car on track today so if we lose the championship by 32 points at the end of the season I will know from where they are coming from. And it is unacceptable, I just need to get on top of those things.”

He really does, because the battle between Leclerc and Verstappen could be so thrilling, but instead the race had fallen into the championship leader’s lap.

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Leclerc despair after crashing out in France, but every top driver makes mistakes

Marc de Mattia / DPPI

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Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images

The majority of the field used the safety car period to make a pit stop, and Ferrari tripped up again with a slow one for Carlos Sainz — suddenly promoted into the race after starting on the back row — and then an unsafe release into the path of a Williams.

The five-second time penalty that followed was inevitable and meant that even as Sainz quickly cleared Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso in the space of two laps after the restart, he would be an outsider for the podium spots.

That’s because Sergio Perez was struggling in third place but still had the Red Bull’s top speed as a strong defence mechanism, and Sainz had George Russell to contend with first. After clearing the Mercedes around the outside of Signes with a lovely move, Sainz agreed to a two-stop race as long as the decision was made quickly.

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Sainz passed Perez but lost the position immediately by pitting

Paulo Maria / DPPI

But just as Ferrari told Sainz to pit, he found a way past Perez around the outside of the penultimate corner to move into third place.

The hard-tyre running Verstappen and Hamilton were well clear of the battle for third and 10 seconds apart. The problem was that unlike them, Sainz was on the medium compound and facing a potential performance drop-off. So Ferrari stuck with its plan, and a lap later called the Spaniard into the pits for a new set of mediums with 10 laps remaining.

“I don’t know why we boxed, we would have pulled away,” Sainz said after having to take his time penalty at the same point, demoting him to P9.

While the Ferrari made quick work of the Alpines and McLarens once again, he was never going to regain touch with the top four, and had to settle for adding the fastest lap. So instead it was left to Russell to provide the action in the podium fight.

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Perez was pushed off as Russell tried to pass

Julien Delfosse / DPPI

A lunge from Russell to the inside of the chicane saw Perez squeeze him towards the apex, and the Mercedes driver couldn’t quite get the car stopped in time before reaching the edge of the road, forcing Perez off. While Russell complained over team radio, Perez had left just enough space on entry and the stewards agreed to let them race on.

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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.”

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Russell made it past Perez after the VSC

LAT via Mercedes

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.”

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A double-podium finish for Mercedes

LAT via Mercedes

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.”

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Stroll remained ahead of his team-mate to claim the final points

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.

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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