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 shining at Circuit Paul Ricard, Leclerc cruised through Q1 ahead of Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz, who will start at the back due to engine penalties, took Q2 with an impressive lap.
Q3 saw Leclerc enjoy a tow ahead of Sainz over his two laps, the Monegasque improving to 1m 30.872s to hold off Verstappen by 0.304s. Sergio Perez finished third, 0.159s behind his team-mate, while Lewis Hamilton improved to P4 with his final run.
Lando Norris managed to split the Mercedes into P5 for McLaren while dropping George Russell to P6.
FP3: Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in final French GP practice
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari 1:30.872 2 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing 1:31.176 3 Sergio Pérez 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 just behind Norris, with both Alpine and McLaren on points ahead of the French GP, while Yuki Tsunoda qualified eighth.
Sainz sacrificed his Q3 to take 9th place for Ferrari, but thanks to engine penalties he will start at the back of Kevin Magnussen, who made it to Q3 but did not start the session.
Daniel Ricciardo missed Q3 by less than a tenth of a second in 11th, while Esteban Ocon qualified P12 on the road for Alpine at home. Valtteri Bottas finished 13th in the standings, leaving Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel 14th and Williams’ Alex Albon 15th.
Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll (16th and 17th respectively) missed Q2 by 0.06s, while Zhou Guanyu’s oversteer saw him finish 18th for Alfa Romeo. Mick Schumacher’s brief encroachment on track boundaries dropped him 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 an increase in the grid for Sunday’s race.
Leclerc took his seventh pole of the year
Q1 – Verstappen leaves time on the table as Leclerc sets the starting benchmark
With the temperature rising and the wind speed rising, it was clear that qualifying would be a big challenge for the French field.
Charles Leclerc took first place with his flying first lap, leaving Max Verstappen second by 0.164s, and although the Dutchman attempted another lap, he did not improve, although his second sector was much superior that of Leclerc and perhaps an ominous sign…
Carlos Sainz was more than half a second in third place, the Scuderia driver starting from the back with engine penalties. Sergio Perez was fourth, 0.627s off Red Bull’s top spot, while Lando Norris was the last driver within a second of P1 in fifth for McLaren.
Despite his start at the back of the grid for the new power unit components, Kevin Magnussen took sixth in his only run of Q1, ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who enjoyed a solid tow of Verstappen, by 0.063 seconds.
Verstappen appeared to be improving in his second Q1 run, but seemed to fall back in Sector 3
Valtteri Bottas was eighth for Alfa Romeo, leaving Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ninth and George Russell tenth, both more than 1.3 seconds off the pace.
Having missed the chance to run on soft tires in FP3, Sebastian Vettel impressed for Aston Martin in 11th, leaving Alpine’s Esteban Ocon 12th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 13th.
Daniel Ricciardo made it to Q2 in 14th position despite having his second race flagged by track limits; Alex Albon rejected his lap 8 spin to take 15th place from Williams.
In 16th place, Pierre Gasly was eliminated at home in Q1 by just 0.06 seconds ahead of Albon, having set exactly the same time as Lance Stroll, the traffic-frustrated Aston Martin driver in P17.
A cruel oversteer into the Mistral straight saw Zhou Guanyu finish 18th, Mick Schumacher dropped a lap time to drop him from 11th to 19th and out of Q1, with Nicholas Latifi last and 20th .
Knocked out: Gasly, Stroll, Zhou, Schumacher, Latifi
The limits of the track cost Schumacher and he finished a disappointing 19th
Q2: Defiant Sainz goes for glory with impressive lap
Sainz put on a show in his first run, setting a time of 1m 31.081s to hold off Verstappen by an astonishing 0.909s. Pérez was a preliminary third, just 0.130s behind his team-mate, while Leclerc was half a second further back in P4. As for Mercedes, neither Russell nor Hamilton were happy with their early effort, finishing 12th and ninth respectively.
Leclerc improved to within 0.135s of Sainz in his second run, leaving Verstappen third and Perez fourth, only for the Mexican to go out for a second run but not improve, while Hamilton ended up rounding out the top five.
Alonso split the Mercedes, just 0.002 seconds ahead of seventh-placed Russell, while Magnussen made it to eighth for Haas. Norris took ninth and Tsunoda reached Q3 for the first time since Baku in 10th position – Ricciardo missing out by less than a tenth of a second.
Ocon failed to make it to Q3, finishing 12th ahead of Bottas, while Vettel and Albon were more than two seconds off the pace in 14th and 15th respectively. With Sainz as the starter from behind, all eyes will be on the pace of the speedy Spaniard on Sunday; Magnussen’s fast run in Q2 will also be cause for excitement.
Both Haas and Ferrari also had the chance to trouble their rivals in Q3…
Knocked out: Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Albon
Sainz surprised as Ferrari led Q2
Q3: Ferrari sets up for first Paul Ricard pole since 1990
Ferrari’s game plan for Q3 was clear; they went out 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 back but had not enjoyed a tow during his run.
Perez was a provisional third, 0.431s back in 3rd, while the Mercedes moved into 4th and 5th with Russell ahead of Hamilton, both on used tires for their first runs.
The usual lull gave fans time to cool off in the unrelenting heat, with Perez breaking the silence to lead a train of cars into the final laps. Ferrari continued their team play, Sainz giving Leclerc a tow for the second race; Verstappen went out behind Leclerc, not Perez, for his second attempt at pole.
Leclerc had the advantage and turned it into a chasm, improving to 1m 30.872s – thanks to his team-mate Sainz on the radio – and holding Verstappen back by 0.304s, even as the Dutchman improved. Perez also improved, but finished 0.159s behind his team-mate as he prepares to start on the second row.
Hamilton fitted a new set of softs and improved to P4, although he finished more than four tenths behind Perez, while McLaren’s Norris took fifth to split the Mercedes drivers while Russell finished sixth. Alonso, in seventh, starts Sunday behind Norris, his Alpine team currently level with McLaren on points, while Tsunoda took eighth for AlphaTauri.
Sainz’s sacrifice saw him finish ninth in Q3, but he is set for a recovery mission on Sunday alongside Magnussen, who did not attempt a lap in Q3. So tomorrow, from the front row, it will be Leclerc and Verstappen.
French GP 2022 qualifying: Leclerc beats championship rival Verstappen to pole position
key quote
“It was a great lap. I fought all weekend to get a lap and I managed it, but I have to say that I also had the help of Carlos and it was an amazing team work because without Carlos I would have been much closer , so thank you very much. to Carlos and I hope he can join us in the fight for victory tomorrow” – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
What follows
The French Grand Prix gets underway at 15:00 local time, which is 13:00 UTC, with Leclerc and Verstappen once again set to start from the front row, while Sainz will look to work his way back through the field in the meeting of 53 laps.
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