Losers

Pierre Gasly 

Gasly endured 🦩a torrid home weekend which loo♏ked promising after AlphaTauri introduced their new upgrade package.

The Frenchman was knocked o🀅ut in Q1 and the decision to start on the hards proved costly due to the untimely Safety Car.

Unfortunately for Gasly, neither he nor AlphaTauri have lived up to expectati꧒ons so far in 2022, particularly com♐pared to last year when he was consistently in the top six.

Charles Leclerc & Ferrari 

Another major blow to Leclerc ♎and Ferrari’s title ambitions this year.

Leclerc’s shun𒁏t on Lap 18 from the race lead was compounded by the team’s🍸 confusing strategy with the recovering Carlos Sainz, who started from the back of the grid due to engine penalties.

Sunday’s race epitomised Ferrari’s season so far and wh🔜y they’re so far behind Verstappen and Red Bull.

Sergio Perez

A shocking weeke꧅nd for Perez who looked out of sorts up un𝕴til qualifying.

Perez lost out🐭 to Hamilton at the start and despite having race-winning machinery, struggled to compete with the seven-time champion.

He was then caughꦍt napping by Russell on the Virtual Safety Car restart, dropping to fourth.

It should have been a 1-2 finish for Red🌳 Bull given🥂 the issues for Leclerc and Sainz.

Alfa Romeo

After a promis🍒ing start to the season, competing with McLaren and Alpine for fourth in the constructors’ champio﷽nship, Alfa Romeo keep going backwards.

Not only in the development race, but their new clutch system fo🦄r this weekend, developed by Ferrari, didn’t seem to work.

Starting from 11th on the grid, Bott🌞as dropped to 17th on 𒆙the opening lap.

Alfa Romeo need to pick up their form again soon with Haas not too far ꦿbehind and expected to introduce a sizeab🔯le upgrade in Hungary.

Winners

Max Verstappen

Another perfect day for the reigning F1 world champion as he moved 63 points clear of Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ championship.📖 

A second drivers’ tit🦋le is a near-certainty on current form with Verstappen’s incredible consistency and error-free driving putting him well clear of the rest.

Before Leclerc’s D🅰NF, the race was in the balance with Verstappen stopping early to get track position over his rivaꦍl.

Leclerc would have🧔 stopped later and rejꦓoined behind the Dutchman, although on significantly fresher tyres.

Would he have overtakeꦑn the Red Bull driver? Who knows how it would have playe♑d out. 

Regardless, it was another cl💞assy performance from Verstappen ahead of F1’s race at the Hungaroring, a track that no doubt will﷽ favour Ferrari.

Mercedes

Remarkably, Mercedes’ 2-3 finish at ꦓPaul Ricard is their first double podium finish of the season.

Expectations were high for t🍷he eight-time champions going into the weekend but they d𓃲idn’t live up to them as Lewis Hamilton qualified nearly one whole second off pole position.

However, race day was more encouraging for the tea﷽m given that both Hamilton and Georg💙e Russell beat Sergio Perez on merit.

Hamilton was able to stick with Verstappen fairly well albeit lacking ﷺa couple of tenths to really challenge for the victory.

Alpine

Alpine moved into fourth in the constructors’ championshi✃p after another tidy race from Fernando Alonso.

In typical Alonso fashion, the ♏Spaniard was fast off the line on the opening la🍰p, moving up to fifth ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Once the race settled down🐭, Alonso was comfortable in sixth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

On the other side of the garage, Esteban Ocon continued his consistent🍬 run of finishing in the points with eighth, overtaking the other McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo late on.

Lance Stroll

It was a welcome return to the𝔉 points for Stroll at the French Grand Prix. 

The Canadian made a storming start from 1🎀5th on the grid, running in 10th for the opening phase of the race. 

Stroll maintained that 🐽position until the e🤡nd of the race, defending from Aston Martin teammate Sebastian Vettel.

While his defence received some criticism from fans after the race, it w♉as smart from Stroll to keep the position on the final lap at his teammate’s expense.