Race Highlights | 2022 French Grand Prix

Is it going to be Verstappen or Leclerc that gets away the best? It's lights out and away we go. And Leclerc reacts very well, but Verstappen all the way ready alongside him. Lewis Hamilton ahead of Sergio Perez. Here in turn one we go. Charles Leclerc ahead of Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton ahead of Perez. George Russell making a challenge on Perez and ahead of Lando Norris. And there is Fernando Alonso swooping around the outside and up into fourth place. Great start. Absolutely great start by Alonso. Russell got out of shape as he got into turn one. And that's what's backed up the McLarens. And there's Ricciardo going to have a go at Norris. But Fernando Alonso, he'll just be trying to get the benefit of that slipstream. And very much Hamilton getting an epic start. Charles Leclerc did what he had to do. Reacted very well indeed and leads this French Grand Prix as they head to the first part of the Mistral Straight. Chicane coming up. Max Verstappen in hot, hot, hot pursuit today. It's Ferrari from Red Bull into that chicane. Lewis Hamilton comes third. Then Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso. George Russell and then Lando Norris. And there is a spin! And it is Yuki Tsunoda in the Alfa Tauri. Esteban Ocon gets a five-second time penalty for causing a collision and relegating Yuki Tsunoda to the back of the field. It's a flat corner into Sean. You keep your foot pinned down on that throttle. Here comes Max Verstappen on Charles Leclerc. There's barely a few car lengths in it. Into Levose we go. Verstappen's going to look round the outside. The crowd cheering both drivers through here. But you can see how much better the Ferrari is through that particular corner. And Verstappen just had to back off. Max Verstappen slowing down and pressing his pit limiter. Sixty kilometres an hour because of that tight pit lane entrance. They go to work on the Red Bull tyres. It was a very nice stop of 2.4 seconds. Deserves a round of applause. Your overall loss is about 28 seconds. That's why it was so critical to get past Norris so he could push in clean air. And who's that gone off? And look after these tyres. Charles Leclerc is out of the race. And for the third time this season, Charles Leclerc, when leading a race, won't go on to finish it. He's been suffering with rear degradation. It's gone in hard. I'm surprised he wasn't able to reverse out actually. He's obviously been stuck under the tyres. It's not tech pro barrier here at this old school track. But you can see the rears were already spinning up there. A round that went so unfortunate, especially when you've got that grippy run-off here. Are you OK? I cannot get through. And this race has now just turned very much on its head. Charles, he's just lost the rear in the middle of the corner. He's just been given a target lap time as well. That's an unsafe release as well. Carlos Sainz has got a five-second time penalty. Bernd Maylander on duty for the 420th time as a safety car driver for the FIA. He's going to go back into the pit lane and we can get green flags and go racing again. And it's Max Verstappen that leads this time around from Lewis Hamilton. And then Sergio Perez and George Russell. Red Bull Mercedes, Red Bull Mercedes. It's like last year. All over again out on the track. Carlos Sainz has passed Fernando Alonso. We could see that coming. And I dare say Fernando Alonso could too. The advantage Sainz has got on those medium tyres. Extra grip. They're going to go wheel-to-wheel into scene here. George Russell's not giving this one up. But Carlos Sainz has that extra speed to go blasting round the outside and up into fourth place. Here's his chance. Look, because he's right where he was when he overtook George Russell. He's put the pace back on again and he's pulled out from behind the slipstream of Sergio Perez. He's now going wheel-to-wheel through scene. This is his chance. And he's run out of room. Sergio Perez gives him just enough and then just forces the Ferrari to back out a bit. The Ferrari might come back at him again with some excellent cornering speed through Le Bosé. Very, very tough to stay behind the car in front or to make an overtake through these last few corners. But can he get down the inside going into the final turn, I wonder? Or around the penultimate corner on the outside? Sainz is trying everything. Why were they telling him to pit right then? Were they not watching the action? Carlos Sainz got ahead of Sergio Perez. Perez was fighting him back. Carlos Sainz down the main straight. Fighting ahead. Staying ahead. And up into the podium places. George Russell on Sergio Perez. There's contact. Perez goes off at the chicane. George Russell and Perez making contact once more. So they've now made a decision to pit Carlos Sainz. So Ferrari have decided, yeah, we will bring you in eventually. Lap 53 is coming up in about 10 laps' time. You're in 9th now. Have they not just thrown away a third place? Joe Guadagno has stopped by the side of the track. Are we going to get a virtual safety car here? Maybe George Russell was just trying to get a little jump on Sergio Perez for when the virtual safety car ends fully. The screen now. And I think he's been caught sleeping, Sergio Perez. And look, Russell's challenging him. George Russell's ahead of him. Only took him about 10 metres there. And George Russell is ahead of Sergio Perez. Three laps to go. And Russell's put himself up into the podium places. And no one has managed to get ahead of Max Verstappen after he took the lead following Charles Leclerc's crash earlier. Perez makes a late lunge onto George Russell. Will stick behind him. Max Verstappen started on the front row. Sees a chequered flag for the second year in a row. Wins the French Grand Prix and comes home to take victory number 27 in his career. Lewis Hamilton will finish second for the first time this season. And it's going to be a double podium finish for Mercedes as George Russell holds off Sergio Perez to come home in third. And oh! Was that contact between the two Aston Martins? It might well have been! The positions don't change. But Lance Stroll comes home to take 10th ahead of Sebastian Vettel. So we had back-to-back wins for Ferrari. They were mounting a challenge to Red Bull. But that challenge faded somewhat in the sunshine and the heat here at Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix. It's back-to-back wins for Max Verstappen. The smiles are his and Red Bull's this Sunday afternoon.