Round 12 F1 GFT Driver Rankings: Verstappen strengthens P1 Ranking with French GP win
25 July 2022
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
Paul Ricard Circuit, FRANCE — Verstappen wins the 2022 French Grand Prix, his 7th victory of 2022, after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc crashes out on Lap 18 while leading the GP. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton (P2) and George Russell (P3) completed the podium. Even with all the drama surrounding Ferrari and Charles Leclerc’s pole winning speed in qualifying, Verstappen’s win and and Leclerc’s crash and resulting 19th place finish didn’t change positions P1 — P17 in the F1 GFT AI Driver Rankings after Round 12 in France. However, the win did expand Max Verstappen’s lead in the Driver Points to 63 over Leclerc and 70 over Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing teammate Perez.
Verstappen Post Race Interviews:
“I mean I think we had really good pace from the start,” said race-winner Verstappen. “I was putting pressure on Charles but following around here with this heat, the tires are overheating, I could never really go for a move, only once into Turn 11.
“But we just tried to stay calm, try to stay close. Of course, we pitted a bit early and from then onwards you never know how the race is going to go. But the car was quick today, and of course unlucky for Charles — I hope he is okay.
“From there onwards I just did my race, looked after the tires, and because of the pit lane of course being so long, you couldn’t do another stop, so you had to stay out, but the tires were wearing a lot. It was all about looking after the tires until the end.”
UP NEXT
Round 13 The 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix with 70 laps on the 4.381-kilometre Hungaroring in Budapest takes place next weekend on July 29–31
