July 22nd to July 24th will see the French Grand Prix take place on the famous Circuit Paul Ricard. With its confusing turns and numerous corners, we will be in for a ride.
The race will take place on the 24th at 14:00 UK time, following the qualifying on the 23rd.
The French Grand Prix will be round 12 of the 2022 championship. The drivers will have to do 53 laps of the circuit.
French Grand Prix History
The first time this track was ever raced upon was in 1971. The current fastest lap holder is recorded by Sebastian Vettel with a whopping 1:32.740. Michael Schumacher has more French Grand Prix wins than any other driver, winning the event eight times.
French Grand Prix 2021 Recap
Last year’s winner of the French Grand Prix was Max Verstappen after an interesting fight for P1 with Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen passed Hamilton with only 2 laps to go also claiming his thirteenth career win. Hamilton finished second and Sergio Perez completed the podium with P3.
Verstappen was also able to take the fastest lap during the race with 1:36.404. Along with the driver of the day.
Behind Perez, Valtteri Bottas took 4th place.
It was also a superb day for the Mclaren team with Lando Norris in 5th and Daniel Ricciardo in 6th.
French driver Pierre Gasly had a strong race and was able to take his best ever finish in his home Grand Prix with P7. Fernando Alonso finished just behind the Frenchman with P8.
Sebastian Vettel took his third consecutive points to finish in 2021 with ninth place. While teammate Lance Stroll completed the top 10 after a late pass on Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
The Ferrari team lacked major race pace at Paul Ricard, with Sainz ending up in 11th and Charles Leclerc in 16th.
After an entertaining race in 2021, we can only hope we get one as such this season.
Preview
The French GP has 2 home racers taking part: Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Hopefully, we will see the home racers battle for a place on the podium.
After the Austrian Grand Prix, following Charles Leclerc’s victory, we can be in for a very entertaining race. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc will have to battle out for that P1 position, as Leclerc is catching up to Verstappen in the championship battle again after previously leading it.
Along with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez who is also currently in the battle for the championship. Could he potentially end up back on the podium in France?.
Lewis Hamilton is also making his way up the championship leaderboard, with 4 in a row podium finishes. Will he continue this streak at Le Castellet?. The Mercedes team has recently made an upgrade to their car, maybe this will help push the team up in the constructors’ championship.
Could we possibly see a surprise winner at the French GP who will be able to take home the iconic French trophy?
We are now more than halfway through the 2022 championship, where Max Verstappen is the current championship leader with Charles Leclerc only 38 points behind him. Let’s hope we have an action-packed race that could change this gap and make the season even more interesting.
My prediction for the French Grand Prix winner – Max Verstappen.
Image Credit RedBull content pool
