Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the 2022 French Grand Prix from outside the pole at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet, France on Sunday. The win was the 27th career for the Belgium born driver and his seventh win of the 2022 season.

Pole sitter, Charles Leclerc, led the first 18 laps of the Grand Prix until he lost the back end of his F1-75 and hit the tire barriers in Turn 11.

"I'm very disappointed. This is not the outcome that I wanted today, as we had the pace to win. I made a mistake and paid the price for it. Now I will head home to reset before the next race in Hungary, where I will give it my all once again," said Leclerc.

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, finished 10.587 seconds behind Verstappen for his sixth podium position of the 2022 season.

Hamilton's teammate, George Russell, moved into the final podium position, passing Red Bull's Sergio Perez with three laps to go after a late virtual safety car restart. Discounting the British Grand Prix, Russell has finished in the top five in every Grand Prix event for the 2022 season. Russell now has four podium appearances this season.

"That was our best race of the year and really pleasing to see both drivers racing at the front. We know that we've got a long road ahead of us but compared to where we were a couple of months ago in Monaco and Baku, it's really satisfying to see the team and drivers having a bit of fun again." said Mercedes Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin.

The double podium position was Mercedes first for the 2022 season.

Perez would finish fourth followed by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz who started the race from the rear of the field due to a power unit change. A late pit stop to replace worn tires and a five second penalty moved Sainz from third to ninth with 10 laps remaining.

"It was a hard race today but I also enjoyed going through the field, making lots of overtakes. To make places up with the Hards was tricky but as soon as I put the Mediums the pace improved a lot and I managed to make good moves," said Sainz.

After coming out on the mediums, Sainz ran the quickest lap of the race, 1:35.781 minutes, on Lap 51 of 53.

Both Alpine and McLaren gained double points on Sunday with Alpine drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finishing sixth and eighth, respectively. McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh and ninth, respectively.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10. Stroll now has four top ten finishes for the season.

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RESULTS  
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Pos	Driver		Team		Laps		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	53	1h 30:02.112
2	Hamilton	Mercedes	53	+ 0:10.587
3	Russell		Mercedes	53	+ 0:16.495
4	Perez		Red Bull	53	+ 0:17.310
5	Sainz		Ferrari		53	+ 0:28.872
6	Alonso		Alpine		53	+ 0:72.879
7	Norris		McLaren		53	+ 0:52.026
8	Ocon		Alpine		53	+ 0:56.959
9	Ricciardo	McLaren		53	+ 1:00.372
10	Stroll		Aston Martin	53	+ 1:02.549
11	Vettel		Aston Martin	53	+ 1:04.494
12	Gasly		AlphaTauri	53	+ 1:05.448
13	Albon		Williams	53	+ 1:08.565
14	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	53	+ 1:16.666
15	Schumacher	Haas		53	+ 1:20.394
16	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	47	+ 6 Laps
	Latifi		Williams	40	Accident Damage
	Magnussen	Haas		37	Accident Damage
	Leclerc		Ferrari		17	Accident
	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	17	Accident Damage


Fastest Lap: Sainz (Ferrari) 1:35.781 (Lap 51)