The halfway point of the 2022 season has now been passed, as the Formula 1 circus arrived in Le Castellet, France for round 12. Paul Ricard Circuit is a combination of slow, medium speed and high speed corners, and the long straights offer chances for overtaking. For many drivers the first image in terms of Paul Ricard Circuit is the huge run-off areas.
Coming to the GP weekend, Ferrari announced, that Carlos Sainz was to get a grid penalty. At first it was only control electronics of the power unit, which had been changed, which meant a 10-place grid penalty. However, the Red Team ended up changing also the engine, turbo, MGU-K and MGU-H, which was to throw Carlos at the very back of the grid. Magnussen in his Haas is facing a similar situation this weekend.
In spite of the upcoming penalty, Sainz showed superb performance in qualifying. In the second session the Spaniard clocked a stunning lap time, which was massive 0.9s faster than that of Verstappen's. Teammate Leclerc was 0.131s behind Carlos. As Carlos was to face the penalty, it was obvious, that the battle for pole was going to be between Charles and Max.
It was a bit surprising to see Carlos on the track in Q3, but the reason for that was to be revealed soon. Ferrari opted for team work to secure pole for Charles. Carlos came out to give tow for his teammate, as Red Bull's straight line speed had turned out about four tenths faster than that of Ferrari's. Charles did make it on top of the standings on his first attempt, but only by 0.008s to Verstappen! Perez was third, but he was 0.4s off Charles' benchmark. On Charles' final run the team effort succeeded perfectly, and the Monegasque improved his lap time by three tenths. Verstappen, on the other hand, didn't improve, which meant the 7th pole of the season for Charles. As expected, Perez made it 3rd on the grid, with Hamilton lining up alongside the Mexican. Norris in his McLaren managed to split the Mercedes drivers, with Alpine's Alonso 7th and AlphaTauri's Tsunoda 8th. Sainz and Magnussen, who both got the engine penalties, didn't set a lap time in Q3. Charles' pole marks a tie in the pole statistics for the two championship contenders, as both Charles and Max have 16 career pole positions under their belt at the moment.
Air temperature was 34 degrees Celsius and track temperature 60 degrees Celsius, as the cars headed for the formation lap. As expected, the top ten drivers had opted for the mediums, whilst Sainz back in P19 had the hard Pirellis on his Ferrari. Charles took a perfect start and accelerated into the lead, with Verstappen right at his tail. Hamilton took a magnificent start from P4 and made his way past Red Bull's Perez. Alonso in his Alpine stood out of the crowd, too by making his way from P7 up to P5.
Verstappen was able to stick within DRS distance from race leader Leclerc, lurking for chances to attack the Monegasque. Teammate Perez was putting immense pressure on Hamilton. Mercedes showed quite decent race pace, as Russell executed a classy overtaking move on Alonso, claiming P5. Meanwhile, Sainz was making his way through the field one by one. By lap 13 the Spaniard had made his way up to P13.
Red Bull opened the pit stop roulette in terms of the top teams by calling Verstappen in on lap 16. The Dutchman switched to the hard compound and rejoined the track in P7. Against the odds, Ferrari didn't react to their rival's strategy right away. Verstappen's pace was impressive, and he passed McLaren's Norris to take P6.
All of a sudden there was a dramatic turn on lap 18. Race leader Charles lost the rear of his SF75 in Turn 11, and the Ferrari ace crashed into the tyre wall nose first. Glorious race lead had turned into a bitter DNF in seconds only! Charles said something about his throttle on the team radio, but apparently it was a mistake of his own. Safety car was deployed, and all drivers, except for Verstappen and the backmarkers, who had pitted already, rushed into the pits to get a new set of tyres. Ferrari's day turned out black, as Sainz's pit stop didn't go to plan, either. The team released their driver unsafely in front of Williams' Albon, and the Thai driver had to make a lock-up not to crash into the rear of Sainz's Ferrari. 5-second time penalty was going to be inevitable.
During the safety car and the pit stop roulette Verstappen made it to the lead with Hamilton second and Perez third. The race was back on on lap 20. Sainz made an easy-looking move on McLaren's Norris, which made him 6th in the race already. On the sequential lap Sainz passed his countryman Alonso, claiming P5. On lap 31 Carlos smelled Russell's blood at the back straight and executed a brilliant overtaking move on the British Mercedes ace. Sainz showed absolutely smashing driving!
With a little over ten laps to go, Sainz had hunted down Perez, and the intense battle for the last podium place started. Unstoppable Carlos made his way past the Mexican, already laying his hands on the podium. However, on the team radio, there was a discussion on the possible second pit stop. And the 5-second time penalty was also to be served.
On lap 42 Carlos was called in due to a possible risk of puncture, as his teammate's crash had forced him to pit earlier than planned. The Spaniard had to suffer his penalty as well, and he rejoined the track in P9. This meant he had to start his overtaking show all over again. On the fresh medium tyres Carlos rapidly picked up both Ocon and Ricciardo, claiming P7.
Towards the end of the race Russell was closing in on Perez in the battle for the final podium spot. The two even had small contact in the heat of the battle, and Perez ended up wide. Meanwhile Sainz had attacked Norris and Alonso, and the storming Ferrari ace was 5th already.
On lap 49 Zhou's Alfa Romeo came to a halt at the start of the back straight. Virtual safety car was brought out. When the virtual safety car ended only a couple of laps later, Russell caught Perez sleeping by the restart and overtook the Mexican for P3. The two had a wheel-banging battle all the way to the chequered flag.
Verstappen had it easy to cruise to the victory, as he had a safe 10-second lead to Hamilton. Russell snatched the last podium spot right in front of Perez's nose. Sainz finished stunning 5th after starting to the race from the very back row. Nevertheless, the truth is, that without his teammate's mistake and the team's unsafe release Carlos would have been up there fighting for the podium finish. Alonso finished 6th for Alpine, Norris 7th for McLaren, Ocon 8th in the sister Alpine, Ricciardo 9th in the sister McLaren and Stroll 10th for Aston Martin.
The statistic doesn't lie: Verstappen has a 63-point lead to Charles in the drivers' championship standings. Red Bull, on the other hand, have a 82-point lead to the Red Team in terms of the constructors' points. Mercedes are also closing the gap to Ferrari, as they are only 44 points off the Red Team at the moment. There's no more room for mistakes, neither by the drivers, nor by the team! Forza Ferrari!
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