2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix highlights

Introduction

 

Max Verstappen won the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix for Red Bull after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out of the race on Lap 18 – walking away unscathed – as the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the podium at Paul Ricard.

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Mario Isola – Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

In these boiling conditions that peaked at 57 degrees of track temperatures, we thought two pit stops might be favoured. But in the end, as per our initial forecast, only one stop was needed – the fastest way on paper – thanks to the ability of both the hard and the medium compounds to handle these demanding conditions. There was a high degree of degradation, in line with what we would expect in these temperatures, and some blistering but nothing that compromised the performance and integrity of the tyres here, at another exciting and unpredictable race.

How the compounds made a difference:

2022 Formula 1 French GP Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:30:02.112	25	233
2.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+10.587s	18	127
3.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+16.495s	15	143
4.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing Honda	+17.310s	12	163
5.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+28.872s	11	144
6.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Alpine F1 Team	+42.879s	8	37
7.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+52.026s	6	70
8.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	+56.959s	4	56
9.	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	McLaren Racing	+60.372s	2	19
10.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	+62.549s	1	4
11.	5	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Aston Martin F1 Team	+64.494s	0	15
12.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+65.448s	0	16
13.	23	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	+68.565s	0	3
14.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+76.666s	0	46
15.	47	Mick Schumacher	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+80.394s	0	12
16.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+6 laps	0	5
17.	6	Nicholas Latifi	Canada	Williams Racing	DNF	0	0
18.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	DNF	0	22
19.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	DNF	0	170
20.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	DNF	0	11

2022 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	759
1.		Scuderia Ferrari	554
3.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	515
4.		Alpine F1 Team	173
5.		McLaren Racing	159
6.		Alfa Romeo Racing	55
7.		Aston Martin F1 Team	55
8.		Haas F1 Team	37
9.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	35
10.		Williams Racing	8

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

Max Verstappen extended his 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship title lead to 63 points with victory at the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix on Sunday as Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez finished in fourth place.

Dutchman Verstappen started in second position with Mexican Pérez third as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc opened up an early lead before he crashed into the wall at Turn 11 to force his retirement and bring the safety car out.

Verstappen duly held on for a comfortable victory as Mercedes driver George Russell passed Pérez late on to deny him another podium finish.

Max Verstappen

We had a superb pace from the start, although following around here, the tyres overheated a lot so I couldn’t really go for a move, but I stayed calm and stayed close. It was really unlucky for Charles and I’m glad he’s OK. It could have been a really fun race because both cars were so quick! From there I just concentrated on my race and looked after the tyres. The pit lane is so long here so that prevented us from having another pit stop. Today was a great day, but there are plenty more races ahead of us and I just always aim for the most points possible. The fight is nowhere near over.

Sergio Pérez

It was a difficult one out there today. I was off the pace and, unfortunately, wasn’t able to get the podium we wanted. I struggled with tyre management and it was tough to get on top of it. The battle I had with George was a good one. I wish we could have pushed for a 1-2, but Mercedes were very strong and it was difficult to overtake them. There are some bits for us to analyse and hopefully I will recover my pace and come back stronger for Hungary.

Christian Horner – Team Principal & CEO

The main thing today is that Charles was OK. It was a cracking race between Max and him in that first stint. We pushed the button early and went for the undercut. Max had effectively taken track position, so it’s a shame we didn’t get to see how that played out. It would have been a great battle. In the end, it was a straightforward victory for Max and a very good point scoring day. It was frustrating we didn’t have Checo on the podium too; it was just bad timing for the virtual safety car for him. There was a software error, so it held longer between them than they should have been. We have to keep pushing this season and look to get the best out of every ounce of performance. There are lots of factors at play, but today was a big day for us.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Mixed feelings for Scuderia Ferrari come at the end of the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix. On the one hand, Carlos Sainz put on a great show, moving through the field from 19th to fifth, but on the other, Charles Leclerc retired while leading and looking on course to secure his fourth win of the season, when he crashed at turn 11 on lap 18.

The race. Charles kept the lead at the start and, as in Austria a fortnight ago, made the most of the F1-75’s ability to better manage the tyres to pull away from Max Verstappen. Carlos bided his time in the early stages, working to get his Hard tyres up to the right operating temperature before moving up the order. The Spaniard was soon in the top ten and when Charles went off on lap 18, bringing out the Safety Car, Carlos pitted to fit medium tyres. Unfortunately, the stewards deemed that there was an unsafe release as he left the pits and they handed him a 5 second penalty. On fresh tyres, Carlos’ pace was immediately excellent, allowing him to get as high as a third, with two memorable passing moves, first on George Russell at Signes and then on Sergio Perez at the last corner. Then he had to pit again to take the penalty, at which point we fit his car with another set of mediums. Carlos fought his way back up to fifth, also depriving Max Verstappen of the race fastest lap. He was duly voted “Driver of the Day” by the fans.

Hungary before the break. It’s with a bitter-sweet feeling that the team now returns to Maranello, even if it is clear the car package is competitive, so that it can head to Budapest hoping to turn things around in the Hungarian Grand Prix next Sunday, prior to the usual fortnight-long summer break.

Charles Leclerc #16

I’m very disappointed. This is not the outcome that I wanted today, as we had the pace to win. I made a mistake and paid the price for it. Now I will head home to reset before the next race in Hungary, where I will give it my all once again.

Carlos Sainz #55

It was a hard race today, but I also enjoyed going through the field, making lots of overtakes. To make places up with the hards was tricky, but as soon as I put the mediums, the pace improved a lot and I made good moves. I gave everything out there today and, even though we were unlucky with the pit stop and the penalty, we fought at the front.

Like always, we will review everything these couple of days to see where we can improve and hopefully we can bring home a better result before the summer break. A pity for Charles, as he was doing a dominant race. We’ll keep pushing.

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director

Although this result was far from the one we wanted, there are still some positives to take away from this race. First, the F1-75 was very competitive, even on this difficult Paul Ricard track. There is no point on dwelling on Charles’ mistake. These things can happen, even to great drivers like him and together, we have already put it behind us. Carlos had a strong weekend, starting with qualifying, when he did what was required of him for the team. In the race, he was patient in the early stages and then made up places lap after lap, including some brilliant overtaking moves. Now we look ahead to Hungary, where we want to fight for the win once again.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

Dramatic conclusion to the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix, with Lewis and George scoring the first double podium for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team this season

A solid start for Lewis saw him gain one position in the opening lap, finishing the race in P2 after an accident for LEC on lap 18 and Lewis defended P2 in his 300th Grand Prix.

George scored a hard-fought P3 finish, after a late overtake following the VSC on Sergio Perez in the closing stages
With track temperatures of 56 degrees, the hottest of the weekend, the team decided on a one stop strategy, with the drivers managing the tyres well in the heat.

This is the team’s first double podium finish since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton

What a significant result, considering we have been so far off all weekend and that I missed FP1. I wasn’t expecting to fight for second place or a podium, so this is a wonderful result for us. Our team has been amazing with reliability and it shows that with dedication and focus, we can slowly make our way up. We don’t have the same pace yet as the two teams at the front, but today we could keep one of them at bay so a great result for us, everyone has worked really hard. Huge congratulations to the teams back at the factories and the team here. Without them, this wouldn’t have been possible, and I’m proud of them. And George did an amazing job today, too.

George Russell

It was a long and tough race. Our pace was strong, but we really struggled with the warm-up of the tyres on the restart and Checo was strong today. I was glad to see the chequered flag and come home P3. We’re making a lot of progress and we really need to improve our qualifying performance as we’re lacking consistency. We know as a team we struggle with the tyre warm-up and at the restart; I struggled with the same issue. Our race pace today was reasonable and we’re getting closer to the front. We’re doing everything we can to improve the performance of the car and we believe we are on the right path, so we’re excited about what the next races can bring for us. We’re making progress and there is still more to come, thanks to everyone back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth for their hard work and dedication.

Toto Wolff

Overall, the drivers did a fantastic job, and the team effort was great today. We’re extracting the maximum that is possible on race day currently. George was clever and fast, while Lewis was fighting like a lion. Lewis is absolutely on it and keeps pushing the team. He keeps his positive mindset, even on grim days like yesterday, and he never stops pushing. But we need to stay humble, because our car is just not good enough to fight with the teams in the front. We’re lacking six to seven-tenths to the leaders. In qualifying, we struggle to bring the tyres into the optimum window and don’t extract the most from the first flying lap. And then in the race, we lose three seconds at the start of the race, but once we stabilise, we are actually not so bad. We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe we have the best people to do so. Today was a great team effort at track and back at the factories and we’re heading in the right direction.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Team Principal Andreas Seidl after the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix.

Lando Norris

Tough day, but I think it was what we expected. It was a long race, and we struggled a little with the degradation of the tyre but also just with the pure pace. We weren’t as quick as we needed to be, so yeah, just tough, but I won’t say disappointed. It’s sort of what we were expecting, so not a surprise. The upgrades brought performance and we will work over the next event to make sure they’re fully optimised. We’ll keep pushing, keep trying to improve, and we’ll go again next weekend. Thanks again to all the team here and at the factory for their efforts.

Daniel Ricciardo

It’s points, so that’s a positive. It’s only ninth, but still important. I had a bit of pace early in the stint and tried to get more out of it, but then it fell away a little too quickly so I definitely struggled from mid-stint onwards and didn’t have the pace to run with the Alpines and Lando. I felt like I did the best that I could – but it’s not enough to make me happy. Thanks again to everyone for the hard work in getting the upgrades to track this weekend and we’ll push to get more out of them over the next few races. Double points, but we’ll keep working.

Andreas Seidl

P7 and P9 maximised what we had in our hands today. Alpine were a little quicker over a race distance, but Lando and Daniel both drove very good races and we go away from Le Castellet with a lot of positives. The upgrade package we introduced here gave us a step forward in terms of performance. Big thank you to the development and production teams back at the factory for providing us with enough parts to run the upgrade on both cars, and also to the trackside team and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP who worked very hard in tough conditions to ensure we could get both cars home and in the points.

We have a lot of data to analyse within the next few days, to see how we can extract more performance from our updated MCL36, before we get back on track, five days from now at the Hungaroring. One more big effort before the summer break.

McLaren Racing best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team moved into fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship after claiming double points from its home race – the French Grand Prix – at Circuit Paul Ricard with Fernando Alonso a superb sixth and Esteban Ocon in eighth.

Esteban’s four points bring his first score in Formula 1 at his home race in the third attempt, progressing from tenth to eighth place at the chequered flag. Fernando enjoyed a strong Sunday – his seventh points score in a row – with his overtake on McLaren’s Lando Norris on lap one proving decisive in closing out sixth place at the end. Today, the Spaniard set the Formula 1 record for most ever laps completed as he moved onto 18,672 career laps in Grand Prix racing.

Esteban received a five second time penalty after a collision with Yuki Tsunoda on lap one, but, after serving that during his sole pit-stop, the Frenchman showed patience to recover the deficit and ensure he came home with points courtesy of a second well-crafted overtake around the outside of Turn 10 on McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Both drivers were strong off the line from seventh and tenth on the grid, with Fernando holding sixth and Esteban eighth. A Safety Car on lap 18 after Charles Leclerc’s crash allowed most of the field to pit. Fernando pitted first for Hards with Esteban soon after – taking his penalty during the pit-stop – to come out behind McLaren’s Ricciardo, who he had earlier passed on lap seven with a move into the Turn 8 chicane.

From there, Fernando cruised to sixth place at the flag, keeping Norris well at bay, while Esteban had to be patient, and then clinical, to snatch eighth from Ricciardo seven laps from the end with a neat move on the outside of Turn 10.

The team moves onto 93 points in the Constructors’ Championship heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix – the last race before the summer shutdown.

Fernando Alonso

I am pleased with our race today. It was well-executed from our side and we managed the pace and tyres well. We had to work through a lot of things in terms of the car balance this weekend, but we ended up finishing just behind the top five positions, so a very solid race in the end and more points on the board for us. I had a good climb up to fifth, but then we dropped to sixth and perhaps resumed our normal position in the race. It shows that when we have a clean weekend like this one, then we can finish in the top six positions. Hopefully, we can keep up this level of consistency throughout the second half of the season and continue our momentum.

Esteban Ocon

The goal today was to score points with both cars, and we’ve done just that! I’m happy with my race today and it was brilliant to drive in front of the home fans who have been incredible all weekend, so thanks to them for all their support. It was a tough one out there in the heat, and I enjoyed the on-track racing with some tight battles. We’re now fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, so we leave here feeling very positive and motivated to keep that position. I hope we race in France next year as there is nothing quite like a home Grand Prix. Merci to all the fans and allez Alpine!

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

We’re very pleased to score strongly with both cars from our home race and we’re now ahead in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship and it is deserved. It was great to race at Circuit Paul Ricard today in front of such passionate home fans, so thanks to them for their fantastic support all weekend. On track, we knew we had a splendid chance to score well with both cars today. We needed a good start, which we achieved, and well-executed races by both team and drivers. Fernando did a great job to get past Lando [Norris] at the start and from there he managed his race brilliantly to score eight points in sixth. Esteban too had a great start but was given a time-penalty for his collision on lap one with Yuki [Tsunoda]. He had to keep his head down to claw back the advantage he gained, and his patience and decisiveness was key in passing the second McLaren of Daniel [Ricciardo] for eighth place. Now our aim is clear. We must do everything we can to remain in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. It won’t be easy, but we must keep our flow of upgrades coming and put together strong race weekends – like we have done at home in France this weekend – for the rest of the season.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN left the Circuit Paul Ricard empty handed on a difficult Sunday on which Valtteri Bottas finished 14th and a technical issue cut Zhou Guanyu’s race short. The team will aim to bounce back immediately at next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before the summer break.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77)

It was a really long race, and it felt like a lot of sweat with nothing to show for it! Of course, you can learn something from every race, so that must be what we take away from this weekend. We dropped a lot of places at the start and that made it very difficult for us: our race pace was not as good as we expected, even though the car improved a lot on medium tyres. Hopefully, some updates we will have in Budapest will help us. We know the team works really hard on it. To keep in the fight with the cars ahead of us in the constructors’ championship, we need to find some extra performance, but I am confident we can do it as a team.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24)

About 10-15 laps to the end, I was suffering from a power unit issue; I tried to do some switching, but eventually that put an end to my race. It was a technical issue, and we investigate that ahead of Budapest to avoid having it happening again. Apart from that, the race just never went our way. We were struggling all the way through. Regarding the contact with Mick, I was defending my inside in Turn 11. He was trying to go for the outside but then it got to one point where the corner just became too small for me. I think it’s difficult to judge for both of us, as that kind of compromised my race. Unfortunately, that happens in racing, we just have to move forward. It was definitely not a day to remember for us, but having another back-to-back race means a whole new weekend of opportunities to get competitive again and put ourselves back where we belong.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

We were confident, before the race, we could convert some decent grid positions into points, but sadly, it wasn’t to be the case this afternoon. Valtteri struggled off the line and also had to take evasive action, as there were a few tangles ahead of him. We found ourselves with two cars at the bottom of the field by the end of the first lap, and it was always going to be hard to recover into the top ten from there. We had a decent pace – Zhou showed it when running in clean air after his stop – but that was not enough to make up the ground today. In the end, we brought one car home outside the points and had to retire the other with a power unit issue: definitely not the result we hoped for, but at least we’ll bounce back immediately in Hungary. We’ll analyse today and understand what happened, especially because we expect the weather to be similar next weekend.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

Haas F1 Team finished with Mick Schumacher 15th, while it forced Kevin Magnussen to retire, at the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix, held Sunday at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Schumacher started from a 17th position on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and gained places to hold 14th through the first stint. Schumacher came in on lap 10 for White hard tires, emerging at the back of the train, before making a second stop for the same compound on lap 19, during a safety car stint caused by Charles Leclerc’s accident.

Shortly after the restart, Schumacher was spun through turn 11 after contact from Zhou Guanyu, for which it penalized the Alfa Romeo driver. Schumacher recovered to the track and was eventually classified in the 15th spot.

Magnussen qualified in 10th place but was demoted to 20th position on the grid because of taking on fresh engine components. From there Magnussen made a strong getaway on mediums, climbing up to 14th position, before capturing another couple of positions in the early stages.

Magnussen pitted on lap 9 for hard tires and came in once more for another set of the hard compound during the safety car period caused by Leclerc’s accident. Magnussen returned on track in the lower segment of the midfield but was unfortunately involved in a collision with Nicholas Latifi at turn 2 on lap 38. At the end of the lap, Magnussen boxed to retire the car.

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20

We gave it our best, and I tried very hard today, made some good moves, but the degradation on the tires was too high. The car was impressive at the beginning of the stints and our pace was fantastic, as we saw yesterday in qualifying as well. We had a lot of degradation and that’s why we couldn’t really fight today.

Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47

We had a tough start on the medium tire. It didn’t really work as well as we imagined. We knew it was going to be tough, so we came in early but unfortunately there was a safety car, which meant for many people it was a free stop essentially. With a pitlane like we have here, the difference is big, so we were quite far behind and then we had contact with Zhou. Overall, it was quite tough, but we learned some things and hopefully we have a better weekend in Budapest.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

It was all going to plan until the Safety Car came out and it all went downhill from there. The strategy team did a fantastic job to predict what the tires would do because they did exactly what was predicted. The Safety Car came out, and we had to go, change the tire too early because we were on a two-stop and all the other cars on a one-stop got a free stop, so what can you do? The car once again showed that it’s fast. We just need to regroup and hope that we didn’t get unlucky. I don’t even ask for luck!

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finishing in 12th and Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda exiting the race early at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Pierre Gasly

We tried to fight to get back into the points and what we managed was P12, which clearly isn’t the performance we would have liked. The fans and spectators made it a special weekend to put a big smile on my face, but I am extremely disappointed in the performance we showed. If I knew what the problem was, we could have changed it, but there was just a lot of sliding around and a lack of grip, especially in the high-speed corners. I tried everything I could in the car to push, changing lines, but there was nothing that clicked. Obviously, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but based on the pace we had today, we need to review to understand why Friday went so well and from then on it was a struggle. We finished only three seconds behind P10, so we aren’t miles away, but there are no points for P11 or P12. It is now important to understand this new package. It will take some time, but it is tight in the midfield, so we have to find the solutions. There are a couple of days before Budapest so we, as a team, have to stay strong together to find the solutions and make a big step forward.

Yuki Tsunoda

I got quite a lot of damage early on and it just kept getting worse with each lap. I watched back on the onboard, and I definitely left enough space, but he lost control. It ruined our entire race and five seconds is not enough in the end, when he continued with no damage, even getting some points. I know in racing these things happen, but it is such a shame especially after such a good Qualifying, and I feel bad for the team, also everyone back at the factory, to have it end like this after all the work they’ve done. We didn’t score any points after such a big upgrade, but I think I did the best I could this week. Even though Quali was good, the race is where points are scored in the end, so it was unfortunate. Top 8 could have been possible, but it is what it is, and we will definitely be back stronger and better in Hungary. We have a good car, so we stay positive.

Guillaume Dezoteux – Head of Vehicle Performance

Unfortunately, we leave Paul-Ricard with no point. Yuki’s race got compromised immediately after he got hit by Ocon and he ended up last. He tried to carry on, but the damage to the car was big and Yuki couldn’t maintain the pace and catch-up to the pack in front. There was no other choice but to retire him. Regarding Pierre’s race, we knew it would be difficult starting from the back, hence we put him on a different strategy with the Hard. The first half of the race was looking alright, but on Lap 28 Pierre did a mistake trying to overtake Albon and lost several places. From there, he pushed hard, and he had a good pace regaining the lost ground, but it wasn’t enough to get the Aston Martins. After a promising Friday, we failed to convert the improvements of the car into points, which is frustrating, but we have seen positive signs for the future races. We will analyse all the data before Hungary to further improve the setup around the new aero package. We will fight back!

Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

Lance and Sebastian battled hard in the heat at Circuit Paul Ricard, with Lance bringing home a valuable point after a great start and Sebastian just missing out on a top-10 result.

Lance Stroll

We had an excellent first lap today that set us up to have a great race. I nearly got [Esteban] Ocon in Turn Nine as well, but it was important to have such a good start.

I felt I had some momentum in the closing stages to possibly catch [Daniel] Ricciardo. We are continuing our trend of being more competitive on a Sunday, so today is an excellent platform as the summer break approaches.

I had a snap on the exit on the last lap because I was struggling with my tyres at the very end. It was a good fight with Sebastian, but the most important thing was to bring a point home for the team today.

Sebastian Vettel

My afternoon was frustrating. I was stuck in traffic for the entire race – but you expect that when you start in the midfield. And, with the strategy, I do not think there was really much more the team could have done there.

We need more grip. In the race, things were not too bad – the cars ahead of us were not disappearing – and we also understand the car a little more after this weekend.

I had a chance to pass Lance on the last lap; I was faster but we are not fighting for one point – it is the same net result for the team. It does not make any difference.

Mike Krack, Team Principal

We decided on a one-stop strategy for both drivers, but we did not want to risk stacking our drivers’ tyre stops during the Safety Car period triggered by [Charles] Leclerc’s accident because the pit lane was extremely congested at that point and we would have had to hold Sebastian for too long.

Despite rear tyre degradation in the last third of the race, Lance did well to hold on to 10th and score a hard-earned point, with Sebastian just behind him.

A double points finish would have been great, but it was not to be. Our race pace was decent and our reliability was good, and that is a solid basis to take forward to the Hungaroring – a circuit that we think may suit our car better than Paul Ricard.

Last but far from least, on behalf of our entire team, I want to express our deepest sympathy with the family and friends of 18-year-old Jake Pedley, one of our apprentices, who tragically lost his life in a road accident on Tuesday.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

The team are leaving Le Castellet with a feeling of what might have been after finishing without points at the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix.

Alex Albon eventually came home in P13 whilst Nicholas Latifi retired with 14 laps remaining after picking up damage whilst battling with Kevin Magnussen.

Alex Albon

It was tricky out there today, but more enjoyable. We were in contention for most of the race and were looking close to the points – we were down on pace and were using a lot of the tyres to stay close, and it just fell away from us towards the end. We’ll look at the data and hopefully we can improve week on week as we were quick in qualifying. We’ll look at it and see what we can do better for Hungary.

Nicholas Latifi

There are a lot of positives to take from today. The pace was competitive, especially in dirty air, and I was racing cars I haven’t been racing against all year, so that’s been nice. I definitely don’t think I was at fault for the incident with Kevin. It was maybe more of a racing incident. The incident was a shame as our pace was strong and we were racing out of position against cars that we were quicker than. Being further up in qualifying would have made a difference, but it’s nice to get racing again. I take the confidence in that pace from the upgrade and I feel the season is getting back on track and we can make a proper start now.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:

The hot conditions made for a tough race with all drivers needing to manage the cars and tyres throughout. The safety car was temptingly timed but made for a tricky long final stint on the Prime tyres. Our cars were too close to each other to stop both on the same lap and so Nicky did an extra lap, which meant that he didn’t get the full advantage of pitting behind the safety car. Both drivers managed the race well, but unfortunately, Nicky had to retire following a puncture and extensive car damage. Alex could battle to the end but had to manage his fuel and tyres against quicker cars and wasn’t able to fight for the points. It was good to get a lot of extra racing laps on the new package and all the data and feedback collected will help us at the remaining races.

Williams F1 Team best pictures: