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The French Grand Prix 2022 was the 12th round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, during the weekend of the 22nd to the 24th of July.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he had to retire due to an accident, and had to retire on lap 17th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 18-19: 16 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 35.266 seconds during his pit stop on lap 16, while the slowest one was was Guanyu Zhou's, who stopped the clock at 50.790 seconds, 15.524 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 22.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Kevin Magnussen, Mick Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Nicholas Latifi decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
12Yuki Tsunoda
-
1Max Verstappen
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2Lewis Hamilton
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1Fernando Alonso
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1Sergio Pérez
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
2Esteban Ocon
-
5Lance Stroll
-
2Pierre Gasly
-
2Lando Norris
-
3George Russell
-
-Alexander Albon
-
1Sebastian Vettel
2 stops
-
2Kevin Magnussen
-
2Mick Schumacher
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-Guanyu Zhou
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3Valtteri Bottas
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14Carlos Sainz
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1Nicholas Latifi
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.17 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 4.33 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit Paul Ricard, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Nicholas Latifi, and Kevin Magnussen, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Charles Leclerc, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 17, and Yuki Tsunoda, who had a problem with the undertray on lap 17.
Collision damage
-
Nicholas LatifiLap 40
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 37
Accident
-
Charles LeclercLap 17
Undertray
-
Yuki TsunodaLap 17
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.304 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.872. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.