- Sainz thought for a moment he could beat Verstappen in Monza F1 battle Motorsport.com
- Sainz balks after Monza: ‘That happened a lot earlier than I expected’ GPblog
- MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: Why Ferrari’s set up and strategy gamble to win in Monza didn’t pay off | Formula 1® Formula 1
- Red Bull explains late Verstappen problem that helped avert F1 fastest lap bid Motorsport.com
- Following Entertaining Fiasco at Italian GP, Ferrari Boss Is Determined to Seek Accountability From Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Over Their Actions – The SportsRush The Sportsrush
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Alonso says Bahrain podium ‘a perfect start’ to Aston Martin project as he recounts breathtaking moves on Hamilton and Sainz – Formula 1
- Alonso says Bahrain podium ‘a perfect start’ to Aston Martin project as he recounts breathtaking moves on Hamilton and Sainz Formula 1
- F1: Max Verstappen wins F1 season-opener at Bahrain Grand Prix – as it happened The Guardian
- Alonso hails “hero” team mate Stroll despite first-lap clash after podium return · RaceFans RaceFans
- Verstappen leads 1-2 in Bahrain season opener as Leclerc retires and Alonso takes final podium place in style Formula 1
- Hamilton concedes Mercedes are ‘fourth best car’ Racingnews365.com
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2022 Japanese Grand Prix FP3 report and highlights: Verstappen leads the way from Sainz and Leclerc in dry final practice at Suzuka
Max Verstappen set the pace for Red Bull amid much-improved weather conditions during final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, edging out the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
After a soaking wet opening day of practice at Suzuka, the rain clouds made way for clearer skies and mild temperatures as the field gathered for some much-needed dry running in FP3, albeit with some gusts of wind in the air.
READ MORE: Gasly to race for Alpine alongside Ocon in 2023
With drivers and teams pushing to gather as much data as possible, a variety of short and long runs – using a combination of Pirelli’s soft, medium and hard rubber – were carried out across the 60-minute session.
As for the soft-shod efforts, it was Verstappen who came out on top thanks to a late lap time of 1m 30.671s – Sainz lapping 0.294s slower, with Leclerc just 0.015s down on his team mate.
|
1 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
1:30.671 |
|
2 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari |
+0.294s |
|
3 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
+0.309s |
|
4 Fernando Alonso ALO Alpine |
+0.649s |
|
5 Sergio Perez PER Red Bull Racing |
+0.843s |
Fernando Alonso put his Alpine fourth with an impressive qualifying simulation, slotting a couple of tenths ahead of Singapore Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull.
George Russell led Mercedes’s charge in sixth position, half a tenth up on team mate Lewis Hamilton, though had a scare into the Turn 11 hairpin late on as he “almost crashed into” the slow-moving Pierre Gasly – announced as Alonso’s replacement at Alpine earlier in the day.
READ MORE: AlphaTauri announce De Vries for 2023 alongside Tsunoda
McLaren driver Lando Norris took eighth, ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine – the battle for P4 in the constructors’ standings showing no signs of easing up – as Lance Stroll completed the top 10 for Aston Martin.
As he did in the wet on Friday, Daniel Ricciardo had another moment into the final chicane en route to 11th, followed by the leading Williams and Alfa Romeo machines of Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas.
Sebastian Vettel took 14th in the second Aston Martin, as Haas driver Kevin Magnussen dropped from fifth in FP2 to 15th in the dry, and team mate Mick Schumacher made up for lost time after a chassis change brought on by his FP1 crash.
Yuki Tsunoda’s maiden home Grand Prix weekend continued with a quiet run to 17th in his AlphaTauri, as Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and the other AT03 of Gasly completed the order – the field covered by 2.2 seconds.
FP3 Highlights: 2022 Japanese Grand Prix
2022 Italian Grand Prix FP1 report and highlights: Leclerc leads Sainz for Ferrari 1-2 in opening Monza practice
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in the first practice session of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, topping the timesheets ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz and the Mercedes drivers.
Leclerc set the benchmark of 1m 22.410s, on the soft tyre, to lead Sainz by 0.077s – with George Russell rounding out the top three, just under three-tenths slower than the Monegasque.
READ MORE: Verstappen, Hamilton, Sainz and more set to take engine and gearbox grid penalties at Monza
Lewis Hamilton – who is set for a back-of-grid penalty at Monza – was fourth quickest, a tenth behind his Silver Arrows team mate.
Max Verstappen was fifth fastest – although the Dutch racer was caught behind Lando Norris in the final sector on his flying lap. The Red Bull driver was however a second quicker than the rest of the field on the hard tyre.
|
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
1:22.410 |
|
2 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari |
+0.077s |
|
3 George Russell RUS Mercedes |
+0.279s |
|
4 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
+0.421s |
|
5 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
+0.430s |
Esteban Ocon was sixth quickest in the session, just ahead of Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso in P7.
Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas finished eighth and ninth respectively for AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo, with both drivers also set to take grid penalties for Sunday’s race. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10 for McLaren.
READ MORE: Why Ferrari and Monza’s stories are uniquely intertwined, as Leclerc and Sainz prepare for a critical weekend
Alex Albon was the 11th quickest driver – just a tenth of a second off the top10 – in the Williams ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in P12.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was called into the pit lane early in FP1 with a technical issue although he was able to return and finish 13th.
FP1 Highlights: 2022 Italian Grand Prix
The other Red Bull of Sergio Perez had DRS issues and therefore finished 14th, just ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Lando Norris taking P16 for McLaren.
READ MORE: This track has never been good to us’ says Verstappen as he aims for maiden Monza win
The two Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Giovanazzi – who was filling in for Mick Schumacher – were 17th and 18th, respectively.
Nyck De Vries – subbing in for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin – was seen running aero rakes for the first part of the session and later set a time good enough for 19th, just ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in 20th.
Verstappen, Perez, Sainz join list of Monza F1 grid penalties
Two weeks after taking a fully new power unit in Belgium, Red Bull has decided to add a new internal combustion engine to Verstappen’s engine pool, incurring a five-place penalty for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Monza is seen as a prime opportunity to introduce new power units and take a grid penalty as its long straights should make moving up the field much easier than at the next races in Singapore and Japan.
Therefore, Verstappen will add a fresh fifth ICE to his pool while taking a minimal hit.
As widely expected, Verstappen’s teammate Perez has also had a fresh V6 engine installed.
As it is the first time Perez has exceeded his allowance of three ICEs, he will take a 10-place grid penalty. Perez has also taken his fourth gearbox, which is still within limits.
On Friday it was also revealed that Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will take a new energy store, MGU-K and gearbox, which will cost him 25 places on the grid.
In recent races Ferrari has staggered its engine penalties, however, and so Sainz’s penalty could yet be converted into a back of the grid start if Ferrari opts to replace more parts.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Either way Sainz will be joined at the rear by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who has also taken a fourth power unit of the season, as was announced on Thursday.
Yuki Tsunoda will start at the back of the grid as well. The AlphaTauri driver had been slapped with a 10-place grid penalty for receiving a fifth reprimand of the season in Zandvoort last week, where he was penalised for driving to the pits with his seatbelts loosened after he stopped on track.
With Tsunoda taking a penalty anyway, AlphaTauri has taken the opportunity to give him new power unit.
Finally, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas has also turned F1’s wheel of fortune and came away with a 15-place grid drop for taking a new ICE, turbocharger and MGU-H from Ferrari.
With his immediate rivals taking a grid penalty, Charles Leclerc’s chances of winning his second Italian Grand Prix on Ferrari’s home soil have received a boost, although the penalties for Sainz, Perez and Hamilton have afforded Verstappen an easier path to the front.
2022 Belgian Grand Prix FP3 report and highlights: Perez leads Verstappen and Sainz in final Belgian GP practice
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez put in a very late flying lap to finish first in final practice over team mate Max Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz was over seven-tenths off the pace for Ferrari in P3.
Spa was blanketed in clouds but mostly untouched by rain on Saturday morning, with plenty of drama in the lead-up to FP3. That included grid penalties for numerous drivers including FP2 and FP3 leader Verstappen, plus Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris – as intrigue continued to bubble regarding the futures of Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo.
READ MORE: Szafnauer ‘very confident’ that Piastri contract ruling will fall on Alpine’s side
Perez’s post-chequered flag flying lap of 1m 45.047s bumped penalised team mate Verstappen to P2 by 0.137s, and Sainz down to third by 0.777s.
That left McLaren’s Lando Norris fourth, Fernando Alonso putting in a very late flyer to go P5 for Alpine and just a tenth behind his McLaren rival.
George Russell was next on the board for Mercedes while Charles Leclerc hit the barriers and caused a very brief red flag by spinning through the gravel at Turn 12. The Monegasque driver finished sixth overall in FP3 but said, after recovering his car from the gravel: “I don’t think the car has damage”.
|
1 Sergio Perez PER Red Bull Racing |
1:45.047 |
|
2 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
+0.137s |
|
3 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari |
+0.777s |
|
4 Lando Norris NOR McLaren |
+0.918s |
|
5 Fernando Alonso ALO Alpine |
+1.014s |
Post-chequered flag runs saw Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon jump to eighth and ninth respectively, the former reporting a possible engine glitch in his Aston Martin.
Pierre Gasly therefore rounded out the top 10, shrugging off a previous off at Blanchimont.
READ MORE: 5 things we learned from Friday practice at the Belgian Grand Prix
Outgoing McLaren racer Daniel Ricciardo was 11th ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who seemed to back out of a late flying effort, while Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon finished a respective 13th and 14th for Williams.
Valtteri Bottas in P15 will be joining the other drivers at the rear of the grid on Sunday, the Alfa Romeo driver finishing a tenth ahead of 16th-place Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and 17th-place Haas racer Kevin Magnussen.
FP3 Highlights: Belgian Grand Prix
Yuki Tsunoda was just behind Magnussen, the Japanese driver in P18 for AlphaTauri, while Zhou Guanyu finished 19th for Alfa Romeo as he anticipates a back-of-grid penalty.
Mick Schumacher completed just six laps thanks to a sensor issue, and also has grid penalties to contend with after finishing P20 in final practice for Haas.
Light rain peppered the track at the end of final practice, and it’s Perez who seems to hold the cards having set the fastest time – without any grid penalties to his name as of yet.
READ MORE: Horner, Perez and Vettel back Ricciardo to ‘find his mojo again’ after McLaren separation
Who’s going to score in the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix? Pick your dream team before qualifying and take on the world to win huge prizes with the Official Formula 1 Fantasy game. Sign up, join leagues and manage your squad here.
2022 French Grand Prix qualifying report and highlights: Sainz tows Leclerc to first French Grand Prix pole as Verstappen qualifies second
Charles Leclerc took Ferrari’s first pole position at Paul Ricard since 1990, while rival Max Verstappen will join him on the front row for the 2022 French Grand Prix.
With the sun blazing down on the Circuit Paul Ricard, Leclerc topped Q1 ahead of Verstappen while Carlos Sainz, who will start at the back for engine penalties, aced Q2 with a stunning lap.
Q3 saw Leclerc enjoy a tow off Sainz for both his flying laps, the Monegasque improving to a 1m 30.872s to keep Verstappen behind by 0.304s. Sergio Perez finished third, 0.159s off his team mate, while Lewis Hamilton improved to P4 with his final run.
Lando Norris managed to split the Mercedes in P5 for McLaren as he dropped George Russell down to P6.
FP3: Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in final French Grand Prix practice
|
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
1:30.872 |
|
2 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
1:31.176 |
|
3 Sergio Perez PER Red Bull Racing |
1:31.335 |
|
4 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
1:31.765 |
|
5 Lando Norris NOR McLaren |
1:32.032 |
Fernando Alonso starts seventh right behind Norris – both Alpine and McLaren level on points ahead of the French GP – while Yuki Tsunoda qualified eighth.
Sainz sacrificed his Q3 to take P9 for Ferrari but, thanks to engine penalties, will start at the back with Kevin Magnussen, who made it to Q3 but didn’t emerge in the session.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on Q3 by under a tenth of a second in P11, while Esteban Ocon qualified P12 on the road for Alpine at home. Valtteri Bottas finished 13th in qualifying, leaving Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel 14th and Williams’ Alex Albon 15th.
Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll (16th and 17th, respectively) missed out on Q2 by 0.06s, while oversteer for Zhou Guanyu saw him finish 18th for Alfa Romeo. Mick Schumacher’s brief encroachment of track limits dropped him down to 19th and out of Q1, while Nicholas Latifi was 20th.
With penalties for Sainz and Magnussen, of course, those eliminated in Q2 and Q3 will see a bump up the grid for Sunday’s race.
Q1 – Verstappen leaves time on the table as Leclerc sets the early benchmark
With temperature and wind speed rising, it was clear that qualifying would be a mighty challenge for the field in France.
Charles Leclerc took top spot with his first flying lap, leaving Max Verstappen second by 0.164s, and though the Dutchman attempted another lap, he didn’t improve – though his second sector was far superior to Leclerc’s and perhaps an ominous sign…
Carlos Sainz was over half a second back in third, the Scuderia driver to start at the back with engine penalties. Sergio Perez was fourth, 0.627s off top spot for Red Bull, while Lando Norris was the last driver within a second of P1 with fifth for McLaren.
Despite his back-of-grid start for new power unit components, Kevin Magnussen took sixth with his sole run of Q1, beating Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – who enjoyed a solid tow from Verstappen – by 0.063s.
Valtteri Bottas was eighth for Alfa Romeo, leaving Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ninth and George Russell 10th – both over 1.3s off the pace.
Having missed a chance to run soft tyres in FP3, Sebastian Vettel impressed for Aston Martin in 11th, to leave Alpine’s Esteban Ocon 12th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 13th.
Daniel Ricciardo made it through to Q2 in P14 despite having his second run chalked off for track limits; Alex Albon shrugged off his Turn 8 spin to take P15 for Williams.
In 16th, Pierre Gasly was eliminated in Q1 at home by just 0.06s to Albon, having set exactly the same time as Lance Stroll, the Aston Martin driver frustrated by traffic in P17.
A cruel snap of oversteer heading onto the Mistral Straight saw Zhou Guanyu finish 18th, Mick Schumacher having a lap time deleted to send him from P11 to P19 and out of Q1 – with Nicholas Latifi last and 20th.
Knocked out: Gasly, Stroll, Zhou, Schumacher, Latifi
Q2 – Defiant Sainz goes for glory with stunning lap
Sainz put on a show with his first run, setting a time of 1m 31.081s to keep Verstappen at bay by a staggering margin of 0.909s. Perez was a preliminary third, just 0.130s behind his team mate, while Leclerc was another half-second behind in P4. As for Mercedes, neither Russell nor Hamilton was happy with their opening effort, in 12th and ninth respectively.
Leclerc improved to within 0.135s of Sainz on his second run, leaving Verstappen third and Perez fourth – only the Mexican coming out for a second run but failing to improve – as Hamilton ended out rounding out the top five.
Alonso split the Mercedes, just 0.002s ahead of seventh-placed Russell, while Magnussen made it to P8 for Haas. Norris took ninth and Tsunoda made it to Q3 for the first time since Baku in P10 – Ricciardo missing out by under a tenth of a second.
Ocon couldn’t make it to Q3, finishing 12th ahead of Bottas, while Vettel and Albon were over two seconds off the pace in 14th and 15th respectively.
With Sainz starting at the back, all eyes will be on the swift Spaniard’s progress on Sunday; Magnussen’s rapid run in Q2 will be cause for excitement too.
Both the Haas and the Ferrari had a chance to upset their rivals in Q3, too…
Knocked out: Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Albon
Q3 – Ferrari team up for first Paul Ricard pole since 1990
Ferrari’s gameplan for Q3 was clear; they emerged in sequence for Sainz to tow Leclerc through the circuit’s long straights, the Monegasque driver setting a provisional pole lap of 1m 31.209s. Verstappen was just 0.008s off – but he hadn’t enjoyed a tow on his go.
Perez was a provisional third, 0.431s off in P3, while the Mercedes were on course for P4 and P5 with Russell ahead of Hamilton – both on used tyres for their first runs.
The customary lull gave fans time to fan themselves in the unrelenting heat with Perez breaking the silence to lead a train of cars out for the final runs. Ferrari continued their team game, Sainz to give Leclerc a tow for the second run; Verstappen emerged behind Leclerc, not Perez, for his second attempt at pole.
Leclerc had the edge and turned it into a gulf, improving to 1m 30.872s – thanking his team mate Sainz over the radio – and keeping Verstappen behind by 0.304s, despite the Dutchman improving. Perez also improved but ended up 0.159s off his team mate as he prepares to start on the second row.
Hamilton equipped a new set of softs and improved to P4, though he ended up over four-tenths off Perez, while McLaren’s Norris managed fifth to split the Mercedes drivers as Russell ended up sixth. Alonso, in P7, starts behind Norris on Sunday, his Alpine squad equal with McLaren on points currently, while Tsunoda managed P8 for AlphaTauri.
Sainz’s sacrifice saw him end up ninth in Q3 but he gears up for a recovery mission on Sunday alongside Magnussen – who didn’t attempt a lap in Q3. Going tete-a-tete tomorrow from the front row will therefore be Leclerc and Verstappen.
2022 French GP Qualifying: Leclerc beats championship rival Verstappen to pole position
Key quote
“It was a great lap. I’ve struggled all weekend to put a lap together and I managed to put it, but I have to say that I also had the help of Carlos and that was amazing teamwork because without Carlos it would have been much more close, so huge thanks to Carlos and I hope that he can join us back in the fight for the win tomorrow” – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
What’s next
The French Grand Prix kicks off at 1500 local time – which is 1300 UTC – with Leclerc and Verstappen once again set to duke it out from the front row, while Sainz will look to climb back through the field in the 53-lap encounter.
Sainz and Magnussen set to start French Grand Prix from the back of the grid after raft of power unit changes
Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen will start the French Grand Prix from the very back of the Circuit Paul Ricard grid, after taking on a range of power unit changes.
A 10-place drop for Sainz was confirmed on Friday after he changed his control electronics unit – with Sainz having retired from the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago with a power unit issue that saw the rear half of his F1-75 engulfed in flames.
WATCH: Ride onboard with Carlos Sainz’s fastest lap in the second practice session at Circuit Paul Ricard
But with Sainz having said in an interview on Friday evening – after heading Free Practice 2 by a tenth from team mate Charles Leclerc – that he was likely to have “penalties” plural this weekend, it was confirmed on Saturday that the Spaniard would take on extra power unit elements, demoting him to the back of the grid.
Joining him will be Magnussen, with the pair respectively taking on a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K and a resultant drop to the back of the grid.
The pair also took on a new exhaust each (as did Leclerc), while Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda also took on new gearbox components – with none of those changes causing a penalty for any of the drivers.
The penalties will make the chance of Sainz repeating his British Grand Prix victory here in France remote – with the Spaniard also confirming on Friday evening that he’d found overtaking harder than he’d expected when he’d been playing cat-and-mouse on track with his rivals in FP1 and FP2.
READ MORE: 5 things we learned from Friday practice at the French Grand Prix
“I tried a couple of moments with other cars to overtake because I know I’m going to need to a lot, and I must say that it was a bit trickier than expected,” said Sainz. “Mainly because there’s a tail-wind on the back straight and with this tail-wind it looks like the slipstream and DRS effect is a bit low.
“But I don’t have any other choice; I need to find ways to overtake and the best medicine for that is just to be a bit quicker come Sunday than what we are. Let’s see when everyone runs the engine modes on Sunday if we have the top speed to overtake. I hope we do because I’m going to need to make up a lot of places!”
Carlos Sainz hints at more penalties to come after setting Friday’s fastest lap
2022 French Grand Prix FP2 report and highlights: Sainz leads Ferrari team mate Leclerc by 0.1s in second French GP practice session
Ferrari stamped their authority on the French Grand Prix weekend as Carlos Sainz beat team mate Charles Leclerc to the quickest time, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen more than 0.5s off the pace.
Before teams turned their attention to long runs and judging how long the tyres will last in warm conditions, they sent their respective drivers out on soft tyres and low fuel in the search of performance.
Sainz clock a 1m 32.527s on the sixth lap on the same set of soft tyres to edge out Leclerc by 0.101s, however he won’t be in the fight for pole after taking a new engine component that triggers a 10-place grid penalty.
READ MORE: Sainz set for 10-place grid penalty in France after taking new engine component
The Ferrari duo made an improvement of between 0-8-1.0s when they moved from the medium tyres to the softest rubber.
Championship leader Verstappen complained of understeer in the first sector and, while he offered the greatest threat to the red cars, he wasn’t quick enough to give the Italian team too much cause for concern.
|
1 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari |
1:32.527 |
|
2 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
+0.101s |
|
3 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing |
+0.550s |
|
4 George Russell RUS Mercedes |
+0.764s |
|
5 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
+0.990s |
Mercedes, running an updated package in France, continued their upward trajectory, with George Russell fourth best 0.76s off the pace, with Lewis Hamilton getting his first run of the weekend – having let reserve Nyck de Vries borrow his car in FP1 – fifth a couple of tenths further back.
Lando Norris, running McLaren’s sizeable update, was sixth – one second off the pace – with his team mate Daniel Ricciardo half a second back in ninth. Betyween them was the heavily updated AlphaTauri of home favourite Pierre Gasly and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who made a big step in form from FP1 to FP2.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez left it late to do his soft tyre run but it wasn’t spectacular, the Mexican slotting into 10th, a second behind his team mate Verstappen.
READ MORE: ‘There’s unfinished business’ – Why Daniel Ricciardo looks like a man on a mission ahead of the French Grand Prix
2022 French GP FP2: Schumacher takes huge spin in second practice
Fernando Alonso was the leading Alpine in 11th, his team mate Esteban Ocon competing in his home grand prix down in 18th, with Valtteri Bottas getting his first running of the day after Robert Kubica used his Alfa Romeo in FP1. The Finn was 12th.
Sebastian Vettel was the lead Aston Martin in 13th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda – who was given the AlphaTauri update for the second session after initial data gathering on Gasly’s car in FP1 was deemed a success.
MUST-SEE: Sebastian Vettel pilots a 100-year-old slice of Aston Martin history around the Circuit Paul Ricard
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 15th, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.
Mick Schumacher flat-spotted a set of medium tyres when he ran wide at Turn 11 on the mediums and was 19th overall, as Nicholas Latifi running the updated Williams package for the first time, two races after Albon got it, propping up the timesheets.
Who’s going to score in the 2022 French Grand Prix? Pick your dream team before qualifying and take on the world to win huge prizes with the Official Formula 1 Fantasy game. Sign up, join leagues and manage your squad here.
Carlos Sainz wins British Grand Prix; Zhou Guanyu safe after scary crash
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was 3.779 seconds behind Sainz on the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, England. Lewis Hamilton, driving for Mercedes, finished third, taking a spot on the British Grand Prix podium for the 13th time in his storied career.
Fifteen seconds into the race, the Alfa Romeo driven by rookie Zhou Guanyu was involved in a Turn 1 collision that sent it flying upside down across the gravel and landing in a heap by the catch fence. A red flag slowed the race as workers extricated Zhou, who later was cleared by medical personnel and credited the car’s halo — essentially a roll bar — with saving him.
“There are no fractures,” his team said. “Considering the circumstances, he’s pretty well.” Zhou was evaluated and released from the circuit’s medical center.
Sharing a smiling photo, Zhou offered an update of his own on Twitter. “I’m okay, all clear. Halo saved me today. Thanks everyone for your kind messages!”
Zhou’s car skidded across the gravel and flipped over the catch fence, finishing upside down after a collision involving, among others, Mercedes’s George Russell, who left his car immediately and sprinted to Zhou’s car. Zhou eventually was taken from the course on a stretcher in an ambulance.
Russell, who received mechanical assistance after the crash, was also out of the race.
“First of all, the most important thing is that Zhou is okay,” Russell tweeted. “That was a scary incident and all credit to the marshals and medical team for their quick response. Obviously gutted to end the race this way and I’m sorry for the team and the fans. Cheering [teammate Lewis Hamilton] on from the garage.”
George Russell and Zhou Guanyu have been involved in a big crash!
Russell is fine and out of the car… though Zhou’s car rolled over. Hopefully he’s uninjured. pic.twitter.com/TPcGbGk6cT
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 3, 2022
Williams’s Alex Albon and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly were also involved in the crash. Both drivers sought treatment at the medical center, and Albon, whose car struck the wall, was taken to a hospital for further evaluation. Zhou and Russell exited the race. Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda, who were also caught up in the affair, had repairs and returned to the grid.
Onboard video showed Gasly trying to move into a gap between Zhou and Russell, who moved to the left. Gasly’s right front touched Russell’s left rear, sending the latter’s Mercedes into Zhou’s car.
Zhou is the first Chinese driver to compete in Formula One.
Sainz’s chances, meantime, seemed to dim when he followed a team order to allow teammate Charles Leclerc to pass through at one point. But a late safety car restart allowed Sainz to emerge with the win as Perez, Hamilton and Leclerc battled behind him for second. Leclerc finished fourth.
Hamilton seemed well-positioned until the safety car was deployed and he lost position to Perez on the restart.
“I gave it everything today, I was trying to chase down those Ferraris. Congratulations to Carlos, in the end I was in that battle but those guys were just too quick on the straights for us today,” Hamilton said on the Sky Sports post-race telecast. “We lost a bit of time in the pit stops, and then I was chasing and chasing, but the pace was good on both stint.”
Hamilton now has had two straight podium finishes. “This is a huge bonus for us to be on the podium,” he said. “I’m glad everyone was safe from the big crash at the beginning. But we are going to continue to push, try and give it everything we can.”
Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver who is the defending Formula One champion and current standings leader, fell from the lead after his car rolled over debris. He finished seventh.
Formula One officials also said that several fans had attempted to invade the track after the crash. “We can confirm that after the red flag, several people attempted to enter the track,” the organization told the BBC. “These people were immediately removed and the matter is now being dealt with by the local authorities.”