F1

Williams look set to hand American racer Logan Sargeant a Formula One Friday free practice slot this season, with team boss Jost Capito hailing him on ...

How he got the pole yesterday was really impressive. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Max Verstappen produced a dominant display in final practice at the French GP to outpace Ferrari and establish Red Bull as favourites for qualifying at the ...

Lewis Hamilton beat the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez to fourth, with Mercedes team-mate George Russell fifth, but each of the trio were in the region of a full second back from Verstappen. Max Verstappen produced a dominant display in final practice at the French GP to outpace Ferrari and establish Red Bull as favourites for qualifying at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Max Verstappen was in a league of his own in Practice Three at the French GP; the world championship leader was comfortably clear of the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc; watch French GP qualifying live on Sky Sports F1 from 2:35pm on Saturday

Ferrari will look to keep the pressure on Red Bull during qualifying for the French Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were quickest in FP2 on ...

For viewers planning to live stream F1 in 2022, you can purchase a Sky Sports Pass on NOW TV. For fans in Canada, TSN will carry the English-language telecast of races. 3 p.m. Monaco Grand Prix Miami Grand Prix Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday's 2022 French Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. local time. "I was focusing more on the long run because I am not going to be in the fight for pole position given the amount of penalties. This reality informed Sainz's approach to his impressive practice sessions on Friday. 15 minutes until qualifying begins: Red Bull were second best last night but their impressive straight-line speed in FP3 suggests some rear-wing adjustments have come up trumps. 10:00 left in Q1: Leclerc and Verstappen have each posted times, with the world champion just clocking his first hot lap, ducking in second behind his title rival. But drivers' championship leader and reigning world champion Verstappen hit back in the opening session on Saturday as Red Bull's overnight adjustments paid dividends.

Ferrari will look to keep the pressure on Red Bull during qualifying for the French Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were quickest in FP2 on ...

For viewers planning to live stream F1 in 2022, you can purchase a Sky Sports Pass on NOW TV. For fans in Canada, TSN will carry the English-language telecast of races. 3 p.m. Monaco Grand Prix Miami Grand Prix Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday's 2022 French Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. local time. "I was focusing more on the long run because I am not going to be in the fight for pole position given the amount of penalties. This reality informed Sainz's approach to his impressive practice sessions on Friday. 15 minutes until qualifying begins: Red Bull were second best last night but their impressive straight-line speed in FP3 suggests some rear-wing adjustments have come up trumps. 10:00 left in Q1: Leclerc and Verstappen have each posted times, with the world champion just clocking his first hot lap, ducking in second behind his title rival. But drivers' championship leader and reigning world champion Verstappen hit back in the opening session on Saturday as Red Bull's overnight adjustments paid dividends.

Williams look set to hand American racer Logan Sargeant a Formula One Friday free practice slot this season, team boss Jost Capito has said.

How he got the pole yesterday was really impressive. Williams look set to hand American racer Logan Sargeant a Formula One Friday free practice slot this season, with team boss Jost Capito hailing him on Saturday as a prospect for the future. He also took pole at the French Grand Prix weekend at Le Castellet on Friday.

Formula 1 drivers were left frustrated by a change to the Paul Ricard pitlane speed limiter zone introduced by the FIA ahead of the French Grand Prix.

Even Albon, who escaped sanction at the time, conceded that he was at fault. He also noted that the white line rule provides a sufficient deterrent to abuse of track limits. When an informal vote was taken on whether it was a just penalty, all drivers bar Alonso and teammate Esteban Ocon voted yes. Secondly, it means that drivers carry less speed as they leave the pits and thus makes it harder for them to defend their position into Turn 1 when emerging from a stop. However, after considering the matter overnight Freitas explained in his latest notes that "the deterrents ("baguette kerbs") adjacent to the track at the exit of T5 and T15 have been removed." Freitas wrote: "There is an active digital panel placed on top of the pit wall adjacent to the pit exit (driver's right). Each time a car is leaving the pit lane this panel will display an arrow pointing to the left to inform drivers on track that a car is exiting the pitlane."

Max Verstappen ended the French Grand Prix's final practice session fastest. Check out the full results from FP3 at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

The full results from FP3 for the French GP can be seen below: Result Free practice 3 - French Max Verstappen set the pace in final practice for the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard.

No driver has ever received a race ban for penalty points in Formula One however it has been met by some in the junior Formula 2 category. Amaury Cordeel was ...

The pair have both received 30 points however the Dutchman has operated under the system for a year less than the four-time world champion. Amaury Cordeel was the latest driver to be inflicted with it being forced to sit out the British Grand Prix this year. Max Verstappen is one of the closest Formula One stars to a race ban after accumulating seven penalty points.

Alpine boss Laurent Rossi is confident both Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri will be on the Formula 1 grid in 2023, but he will only consider loaning ...

He’s a very promising talent, we would love to fulfil this talent in the team. “We’re making and building scenarios for him and Oscar, as I’m sure you would ask me. Williams F1 chief Jost Capito said the team had “various options” to explore for its line-up next year, and that he would be open to having a driver on loan if it worked for the team.

Alpine plans to hand Fernando Alonso a drive in its LMDh programme, leading to him returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans once his Formula 1 career is over.

So obviously this is part of the discussion. “He was always going to have a seat in LMDh the day he switches, he will be welcome, it’s his team. “We talked about the fact that Fernando is a legend of the sport, but also a legend of the Renault Group. For us, he’s the champion.

Charles Leclerc will start on pole position for the French Grand Prix after a superb final lap of qualifying saw off the threat of Max Verstappen.

I really think that could cause them trouble tomorrow in the race and that would be an advantage for Red Bull." "I think they have too much downforce on that car. "You can see that when you're a little bit on the back foot and you're expectations are on a certain level for the race weekend, and it doesn't come together, a kind of freestyling starts. He added: "Honestly, looking at Verstappen's pace from Friday when he was practicing for the race, I would definitely prefer to be in Verstappen's shoes." Sergio Perez was third for the Red Bull - meaning Leclerc will have two charging Bulls to contend with - and he will be joined on the second row by Lewis Hamilton, although Mercedes yet again struggled at Paul Ricard. Leclerc was helped by a tow from team-mate Carlos Sainz - who will be at the back of the grid for Sunday's race due to engine penalties - and the result continues his new-found momentum as he bids to eat into Verstappen's 38-point lead.

World champion Max Verstappen qualified second with Sergio Perez third in the other Red Bull.

“It was trickier than I hoped but overall we have a decent race car. After taking his 16th career pole and seventh of the season, Leclerc said: “It was a great lap. CHARLES: “Without Carlos [giving me a tow] it would have been much closer. Leclerc heads into Sunday’s race 38 points behind Verstappen, and with Carlos Sainz already due to start last for changing the engine which caught fire so spectacularly in Austria, Ferrari used the Spaniard as a tow to pull Leclerc along. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow”#FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/7KVcx4lwxA “I also had the help of Carlos and that was amazing team work, because without him it would have been much more close so a huge thanks to him and I hope he can get into the fight.

Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen in Formula 1's 2022 French Grand Prix qualifying as Ferrari used tow tactics with the penalty-addled Carlos Sainz to ...

Zhou Guanyu ended up 18th having led the pack to the chequered flag, but failed to set a personal best on his final lap after catching a wild oversteer snap through the long, fast Turn 6 right that feeds in the Turn 7 kink on the Mistral straight. Albon had been unable to set a final Q1 time after he lost the rear of his car exiting the Turn 8 part of the chicane that breaks up the Mistral straight and spun. Esteban Ocon had led the pack around for the final laps and did leap up the order having been in the drop zone after the first Q2 runs, but he was shuffled back to 12th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.

Charles Leclerc claimed pole for the French F1 GP ahead of Max Verstappen, thanks in part to driving in the slipstream of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

The 37-year-old Hamilton is in his 16th season in the sport in which he has already matched Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles and is the most successful driver with 103 poles and 103 wins. Verstappen now has a 38-point advantage over Leclerc in second place and 57 points on Pérez. Hamilton will reach his 300th race this weekend but it is unlikely to be the celebratory affair he might have hoped for. It was a vital advantage as Verstappen, following him on track, was breathing down his neck and crossed the line just eight thousandths of a second down, setting up a mighty head-to-head for the final runs. This is Leclerc’s 16th career pole and his seventh this season, in which he has demonstrated remarkable pace over the single lap. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were in fourth and sixth, with McLaren’s Lando Norris was fifth.

A return to world championship glory with BMW turbo power was the prelude to a catastrophic slump from which Brabham could not escape.

OPINION: Lewis Hamilton appears unlikely to extend his tally of seven Formula 1 world championships in 2022, as Mercedes tries to recover the ground it has lost with its new car. The drivers aren't exactly happy with that in practice, but it does afford the uniformity that they desired... The Red Bull and Ferrari battle for supremacy takes to Formula 1's next battleground at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Formula 1 drivers were left frustrated by a change to the Paul Ricard pitlane speed limiter zone introduced by the FIA ahead of the French GP.

Even Albon, who escaped sanction at the time, conceded that he was at fault. He also noted that the white line rule provides a sufficient deterrent to abuse of track limits. When an informal vote was taken on whether it was a just penalty, all drivers bar Alonso and teammate Esteban Ocon voted yes. Secondly, it means that drivers carry less speed as they leave the pits and thus makes it harder for them to defend their position into Turn 1 when emerging from a stop. However, after considering the matter overnight Freitas explained in his latest notes that "the deterrents ("baguette kerbs") adjacent to the track at the exit of T5 and T15 have been removed." Freitas wrote: "There is an active digital panel placed on top of the pit wall adjacent to the pit exit (driver's right). Each time a car is leaving the pit lane this panel will display an arrow pointing to the left to inform drivers on track that a car is exiting the pitlane."

F2 champion Piastri is yet to experience the chance to race in Formula 1, but the Alpine racer has been tipped to get his chance in 2023 with a space likely ...

"We didn't put any pressure on him so he has the time to develop and he's really impressed us how fast he got to grips with the car, the tyre management and getting results. Asked by reporters if the team plans to test Sargeant with a run in an FP1 session this year, the German replied: "I think that would be obvious. He is contracted to Alpine, who already have Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon on the books.

During Saturday's qualifying session at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Sainz worked together with team-mate Charles Leclerc, providing him with a tow during his Q3 ...

But yeah, happy for the team, happy to see Charles profiting from it and getting the pole. Now it’s time for me to get back to the front tomorrow.” So, I knew what to do from the beginning and I think we executed it nicely.

Formula 1 teams have urged the FIA to not delay finalising any potential floor changes for next year, amid concerns about 'painful' extra work on the 2023 ...

And, whilst you can mitigate that and improve it, if we want to actually change it fundamentally then it will need a clear change to the regulations.” If it's 25mm, that will play a role. “The issue as a technical director it is that you will have to spend resources you potentially didn't plan to put on this, because even it's not a departure, it's a blank sheet of paper,” he said.

Formula 1 heads to France this weekend for round 12 of the 2022 season; watch all the action live on Sky Sports F1 - Sunday's race starts at 2pm, with full ...

Sky Sports F1 is your home for every race this season and here's the full schedule for the French Grand Prix... All the details for how you can watch the French Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports. French Grand Prix: When is practice, qualifying and the race live on Sky Sports?

Mercedes has denied suggestions it is pushing to change Formula 1's floor regulations for its own competitive gain, saying there is no guarantee any tweaks ...

We don't know as Mercedes that a regulation change will suit us. "It happened. But Shovlin thought the compromise was "just coming from teams that thought there will be a change but we want it to be as minimal as possible", and that F1 could not lose sight of the safety issue at hand.

Lewis Hamilton believes it is “going to be a while” until Mercedes can fight for Formula 1 wins if its France form continues after qualifying over eight ...

"I don't know what the time is, but it must be at least half a second probably just down the straights. But it's not impossible." "The top two teams are in their own league really.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff didn't think it was possible they would end qualifying so far behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

“We are seeing within one session we go from totally uncompetitive in the first sector to – second run in Q3 – we’re the best in sector one. “Then we went to Austria, a track where we are normally not competitive at all and we could clearly see the signs why we were not competitive but we were close. “We were slowly but surely working our way back to the front-runners and there were good signs in Silverstone,” Wolff told media including RaceFans today.

Lando Norris believes that the McLaren Formula 1 team's latest update package is going in the right direction, with porpoising potentially indicating that ...

But I think there's still more to get out of it." "So I do feel some differences, but it's not like a back-to-back test, if you will. "It felt like I had a decent amount," he said. "But I don't think we expected a lot of it. "Just different, I wouldn't say trickier," he said. And it's still too early to say, I've just driven it, and things feel different, some things a little bit better.

F1 star Lance Stroll might not have many points in the drivers' standings, but he's scored pretty well off the grid as he's in a relationship with Italian ...

"Paul Ricard is quite a challenging circuit, with a variety of corners and some long, winding sections towards the end of the lap," Stroll said ahead of this weekend's race at Paul Ricard. "The ground-effect cars we have this year appear to be producing better racing, so I hope we can put on a good show for the fans here. Discussing the brand, she said: "It all started during the quarantine, looking for a way to express my creativity within the walls of the house. Earlier this week she posted a picture of herself with a friend having fun in the sun in Ibiza. And not long before that she uploaded a snap wearing an eye-catching pink set, declaring it to be her new favourite colour.

CHRISTIAN HORNER once had a huge row with Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, with one witness claiming the Austrian 'lost his s***'.

"I'm not only talking about Mercedes - all of the cars suffered in some way or other in Baku and still do here. Horner, the Team Principal of Red Bull, has branded claims his team could be impacted by new rules as "total rubbish" after Mercedes' Wolff said some of his rivals were using "flexi-floors" to give their cars a performance advantage. "Over the course of the season, each driver is required to give up one of their first practice sessions for a young driver. This week, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have revived their war of words from 2021. In the 2022 F1 season, all teams are required to hand a "young driver" a spot in two first practice sessions. "And team principals trying to manipulate what is being said in order to keep their competitive advantage and trying to play political games when the FIA tries to come up with a quick solution to at least put the cars in a better position is disingenuous and that's what I said.

Paul Ricard will host the 12th round of the 2022 F1 season on Sunday. Here are the worldwide start times for the French Grand Prix.

PART ONE - TEAM REPRESENTATIVES James KEY (McLaren), Jan MONCHAUX (Alfa Romeo), Mario ISOLA (Pirelli) Q: James, we're going to start with you, tell us about ...

And we will finally go for what we believe is the best for the team. And one of the big issues was actually getting all of that work into the weekend and one of the first things to drop is pitstop practice. On the other hand, we would like to have the regulations being more simple instead of being more complicated, not only for the teams, but also for the FIA to police and to do the appropriate checks. But the reality is that these cars will always run close to the ground, they'll always be banging on the road and whilst you can mitigate that and improve it, if we want to actually change it fundamentally, then it will need a change to the regulations. And as I mentioned before, I think the year out of the car made him very well understand how the dynamics of a driver and the team works as he has seen the team working with the drivers from the outside, and I think that helps him a lot. But the behaviour of the car is the same. There's definitely sort of a trend, I suppose, of some of these flatter-sided sidepods – Ferrari really came in with the most extreme example of that – and then what you do at the back is still a little bit open, but the downwashing direction seems to be a good compromise for that. I believe we did a good job together with the teams to design the wheel core in a way that is helping the mechanics to do the pit stops properly. But the midfield is so tight, you can easily end up in the back of Q2 or even not past Q1: four-tenths is really, really tight, so it's going to need a flawless exercise for the rest of the season if we really want to go and challenge the higher position. So, we have to rebalance a little bit the front with the rear: the rear is very strong, the traction is good, so, we were not planning to change massively the rear tyre. And Zhou is for me, he is a surprise of the season. I think probably the better way to describe that is we can see what we need to do with the car.

Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz has been hit with grid penalties however following the fiery end to his race in Spielberg. Lewis Hamilton is also hoping for a ...

TV channel: The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event, with coverage beginning at 12.30pm BST on F1 and 1.55pm on Main Event before it begins at 2pm. How to watch F1 French Grand Prix: TV channel and live stream for race today How can I watch the F1 French Grand Prix?

Chess is a war over the board - the object is to crush the opponent's mind,” said chess world champion Bobby Fischer. GP Racing's OLEG KARPOV recently ...

OPINION: Lewis Hamilton appears unlikely to extend his tally of seven Formula 1 world championships in 2022, as Mercedes tries to recover the ground it has lost with its new car. The drivers aren't exactly happy with that in practice, but it does afford the uniformity that they desired... The Red Bull and Ferrari battle for supremacy takes to Formula 1's next battleground at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Fernando Alonso believes McLaren may be out of reach for Alpine in today's Formula 1 French Grand Prix, calling the 0.5s gap to Lando Norris in qualifying ...

“It is going to be a challenge. Alonso admitted it had “not been an easy weekend” for Alpine and the team was still “not happy in FP1 and FP2” with how the car was behaving. We struggled.

Here is the provisional starting grid for the 2022 F1 French Grand Prix, which will be held at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Ferrari Red Bull Red Bull Mercedes He will be joined by Kevin Magnussen, who has also been penalised for exceeding his permitted usage of several power unit components. Ferrari

Formula 1 returns to the birthplace of grand prix racing this weekend with the French GP at Paul Ricard. As one of the oldest events in all of motorsport, ...

In the meantime, Mika Hakkinen had been in a hurry at the start of the race and had carved his way though the pack - getting through Frentzen and Alesi to climb up to second from 14th on the grid. Whether you believe EJ's parable of the man with the brolly, or whether the team had just taken a gamble and won big, it set Frentzen on course for an unlikely title bid. A safety car period followed the stops, as Alesi threw his Sauber into the gravel, with the race brought to a restart on lap 35. Per EJ, the team was informed that the rain wasn't about to stop, and thus the Jordan pit crew filled Frentzen's car up to the maximum and sent him on his way, intending not to stop again. Barrichello led again, passed by Hakkinen again as Frentzen looked good for third - but the top two had to stop again for a splash-and-dash to the finish. Without the presence of his arch rival at the front and Mansell mired in the pack, Prost eased to clear towards a fourth home race win. A more traditional front-running trio of David Coulthard, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher occupied the next three positions on the grid. Pressure applied by the British driver saw Patrese make a crucial mistake and spin off, opening the path for Mansell to take second place. In fact, due to the early chaos and an incredible first lap to go from 16th to ninth, F1 debutant Jean Alesi became the surprise closest contender to Prost, rising to second in his Tyrrell before pitting. The race was immediately red flagged, as the 1985 British Formula 3 champion stepped out of his rolled March and remarkably was relatively unscathed. But wind the time back to Friday qualifying and something truly remarkable occurred - Minardi topped the times. But Maserati’s challenge had grown stronger and there were three A6GCMs in the top five.

The Paul Ricard circuit is a punishing one on tyres, and on the evidence of Friday's practices, world champion Max Verstappen is in much better shape to deliver ...

Free Bets are paid as bet credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Minimum odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. The Paul Ricard circuit is a punishing one on tyres, and on the evidence of Friday’s practices, world champion Max Verstappen is in much better shape to deliver over a race distance.

'Frustrated' Ricciardo's admission as Hamilton eyes milestone miracle — French GP LIVE.

3rd row: Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 4th row: Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 2nd row: Sergio Pérez (MEX/Red Bull) Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) I think the gap is more concerning than the finishing order.” Front row: Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) I made a mistake on my last lap.

Follow all the action and video as Charles Leclerc starts on pole ahead of Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton fourth. Watch live on Sky Sports F1.

Sergio Perez starts third with Lando Norris fourth, George Russell fifth and Carlos Sainz near the back after engine penalties. Ferrari head to Circuit Paul ...

Sergio Perez starts third with Lando Norris fourth, George Russell fifth and Carlos Sainz near the back after engine penalties. Not now!” he shoots back. Follow all the action with Standard Sport’s live French Grand Prix blog! “Not now! Latifi is the next man to spend some time off track after a scuffle with Magnussen that led to the Haas bouncing off the kerb and sending his Williams spiralling. A bit of a disagreement between Ferrari and Sainz over team radio with the driver wanting to stop for new tyres before having a go at Perez.

Carlos Sainz says criticism of Ferrari's F1 strategy calls has been unfair, after its tactics helped Charles Leclerc score French Grand Prix pole position.

"But I think this year the team has been very solid on the strategy side and I think today proves it. "It's nice to see. "And I think it's a bit unfair because [with] every team this season, there's going to be mistakes with tyres, choosing tyres and everything.

Max Verstappen won the F1 French Grand Prix in his Red Bull to extend his lead in the drivers' title race.

With the safety car called, Hamilton pitted for a free stop and emerged in second behind Verstappen when racing resumed on lap 21. Leclerc made a clean getaway from pole to hold the lead while Hamilton leapt out of his blocks and jumped Pérez to take third. He overcooked it, lost the rear and spun out into the wall at turn 11 and admitted it had been his fault. Verstappen looked to have slightly superior race pace in a straight line but did not have enough to make the pass. This is the 27th win of Verstappen’s career, his sixth in the last nine races and seventh this season. The victory has crucially further extended Verstappen’s lead over Leclerc who is second in the championship to 63 points, with ten races remaining.

Max Verstappen took victory in the French Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc retired from the lead. Check out the complete race results from the Circuit Paul ...

The full results from the 2022 F1 French GP can be seen below: From then on, Verstappen cruised to his seventh win of the 2022 F1 season, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a season's best second place, and George Russell in third. Max Verstappen claimed victory in the French Grand Prix, as title rival Charles Leclerc once again retired from the lead in 2022.

Race leader Charles Leclerc crashes into the barriers at Turn 11 and is out of the French Grand Prix! Max Verstappen took a huge step towards defending his ...

That allowed Russell and Perez to battle, combatively, for the final podium place. He emerged in ninth, and did well just to get back to fifth in the end. Having to serve a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release during the Safety Car, that cost Sainz nearly half a minute. Leclerc got onto the kerbs at the exit of Turn 11 and then spun. Hamilton came out just behind the Red Bull. The Spaniard had advanced to third before Ferrari, in another odd strategy decision, pitted him with 10 laps remaining.

The all conquering Mercedes F1 team who have won the most consecutive constructor titles in the history of Formula One have had a miserable start by their ...

Lewis Hamilton is 37 and would be pushing 40 by the next time Mercedes could deliver a car possible for him to win a championship. The all conquering Mercedes F1 team who have won the most consecutive constructor titles in the history of Formula One have had a miserable start by their standards to the new era of car design regulations. Very disappointing to be a second or 9/10ths off the pace.” But it’s a gradual process. “We’re certainly not of that mind. Yet the reality was different.

Max Verstappen led home Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to win Formula 1's 2022 French Grand Prix – a race that title rival Charles Leclerc had crashed of ...

Tsunoda stopped on the same lap as Leclerc’s crash as a result of the floor damage he had picked up in the lap one clash with Ocon that had dropped him to the rear of the pack. That was behind Perez, who lost out to Russell after the Mercedes driver jumped ahead of the Red Bull when the VSC ended as they approached the final corner and then soaked up pressure over the final three laps to seal third. On lap 42, Russell made a late move to the inside of the Turn 8 part of the Mistral chicane and when Perez turned in the pair came close to crashing before the Red Bull scampered across Turn 9 and stayed ahead – to Russell’s frustration but with the stewards’ quickly deciding the incident did not merit investigation. From there, Verstappen was untroubled to the finish and came home with a 10.5s margin of victory ahead of Hamilton, who was likewise unthreatened in second – this was despite a brief moment of worry for the leaders when Zhou Guanyu stopped in the Turn 6 runoff and triggered a brief virtual safety car. But just after it had warned Leclerc to look after his mediums, the race was turned on its head when Leclerc crashed out at Le Beausset – losing the rear of his F1-75 in a mistake while running close to the edge of the track deep into the high-speed hairpin on his stressed rubber. The Dutchman was now the one seemingly struggling for grip as at one stage he slipped off the road at Turn 6, so picking up his first track limits violation, and by lap 14 he had had fallen out of DRS range as Leclerc began to increase his pace back towards where he had been lapping in the early stages.