Max Verstappen has taken back-to-back victories at the French Grand Prix and with it a sizable lead in the driver’s championship standings.

It wasn’t all Red Bull all the time though as Charles Leclerc scored an impressive seventh pole of the season. The Ferrari driver lead cleanly from the start of the race too and held his own against Verstappen. For more than ten laps it looked well within Leclerc’s hands in terms of pace. So much so that Red Bull pulled the strategy call by bringing Verstappen in on lap 17 for hard tyres. Although Leclerc stayed out the pressure of a Verstappen undercut loomed large. So large that it prompted Leclerc into pushing harder on his worn medium tyres which ended with the Monegasque driver in the barriers on lap 18. Initially it seemed like the spin couldve been triggered to a throttle issue, as experienced in Austria. However, Leclerc explained post-crash that it was driver error.

The race re-started on lap 22 with Verstappen leading from Hamilton, Perez, and Russell. By this point Carlos Sainz, starting from the back due to engine penalties, has recovered to P5. The Spanish driver delivered an impressive turn of pace. Soon, he was on the tail of Russell and well in contention for the podium. Strangely, Ferrari decided to pit Sainz. Much to the bewilderment of…all. It dropped Sainz to P9. Despite a 5-second penalty, for an unsafe pitlane release, Sainz recovered to P5. But there’s little doubt that Ferrari fluffed a certain podium result.

Elsewhere, a tasty battle between Checo Perez and George Russell for the final step on the podium. A bit of wheel-banging and a subsequent radio rant from Russell was brought down a notch by the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car. The recovery of Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo brought another opportunity for Russell. In quite a cunning move as swept past slow moving Perez. After the race, the stewards confirmed a software glitch that prompted a double message of BSC ending. It may have been to blame for Perez’s slow reaction, but it was no less opportunistic and cutthroat from Russell.

Up ahead Lewis Hamilton delivered a solid drive into second place some 10 seconds off leader Verstappen. While Mercedes did benefit from an absent Ferrari the double podium finish is a testament to their reliability.

Behind Sainz in P5 was Fernando Alonso while Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren. Homeboy Esteban Ocon was P8 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in P9. In P10 Lance Stroll salvaged the final point on offer for Aston Martin.

Verstappen’s win, the 27th of his career, and Leclerc’s retirement gives the Dutchman a ominous 63 point lead in the drivers’ championship points table. Ten races remain in the 2022 season and whole lot of points on the table. But if Ferrari do not clean up their act Max Verstappen May well be shining the plaque on his second driver’s title trophy.