F1: 2022 French GP Weekend Preview: Can Leclerc Reignite Championship Challenge?

The 2022 Formula 1 season is shaping up to be a multi-way fight in the driver's championship. While reigning world champion Max Verstappen had a poor start to the season down to reliability issues of the Red Bull, he soon recovered and is now leading the championship by a sizeable margin. However, the points table doesn't paint a full picture. Despite being 38 points behind Verstappen, Charles Leclerc is still very much in the championship fight. Multiple poor results meant that he had dropped to P3 in the championship, and was just 11 points ahead of teammate Sainz - who also had a poor start to the season - after British GP. But Leclerc showed great pace in all the races, and won the Austrian GP despite having troubles with the throttle pedal of his Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 pushing him up to second.

Following the two title protagonists closely behind are their teammates, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. After the win in the UK, Sainz had clawed back most of his points deficit to Leclerc, but last race's DNF due to a spectacular engine fire from P2 has put a spanner in his works. Not far behind in points is George Russel. Apart from the crash at Silverstone, Russel has finished every race in the top 5, and his consistency has yielded him a healthy tally of points. Should Mercedes find more pace over the summer break than its rivals, Russel can compete to finish in the top 3 of the standings.

Speaking of Mercedes, the team's junior driver and reigning Formula E world champion Nyck De Vries will be driving in FP1 this weekend instead of Lewis Hamilton. According to the new sporting regulations imposed by FIA, each team has to run rookie drivers in two FP1 sessions throughout the championship, and Hamilton has chosen this weekend to let De Vries take the wheel of his car. "Nyck is replacing Lewis in first practice this weekend, as part of the allocated sessions for young drivers this year. So, we're looking forward to seeing how he gets on", team principal Toto Wolff said. The former Formula 2 champion is also a part of Mercedes-EQ Formula E team, and is teammates to ex-F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

Formula 2 is also set to race in France this weekend alongside Formula 1. Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich currently leads the championship, followed by Logan Sargeant and Theo Pourchaire. Indian driver Jehan Daruvala is currently fourth in the championship, after he was given a 20-second time penalty post last feature race in Austria, demoting him from a possible race victory to P12, and out of points. Daruvala is seeking redemption after losing an engine while in the lead of the feature race in Spain, and having other mechanical issues during the season too. Should he be successful in mounting a title challenge, he will have a decent shot at a Formula 1 seat. The Red Bull junior driver has acquired enough superlicense points required to enter F1, and has also completed the minimum kilometres of testing required in a Formula 1 car to acquire a F1 Superlicense, as he tested with McLaren in their 2021 title challenger MCL35M at Silverstone, and again at Portimao earlier this week.