French Grand Prix – Qualifying: Verstappen beats both Mercedes

Q3:

The first driver to set a lap in Q3 was Max Verstappen who set an impressive first lap. The Dutchman was four tenths faster than his rival for the title, Lewis Hamilton, and five tenths ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez.

Pierre Gasly’s Q3 did not start in the best way. Indeed, the Normand’s first lap was cancelled because he had crossed the white line at the exit of turn 6. A time that would have placed the Frenchman in 7th position.

Finally, it’s Max Verstappen who, with a magnificent lap, becomes the first of the weekend to go under the 1’30 mark. The world championship leader will be joined by his runner-up on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race.

Following on the grid are Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, but above all, there are good surprises from this qualifying session such as Carlos Sainz in 5th place, and also Pierre Gasly in 6th place.

Q2:

Due to the very severe degradation of the tires on the Paul Ricard track, most of the drivers were opting to do their lap on the medium tires in order to have better tires for the race.

Always in the top 10 during the Free Practice sessions, Pierre Gasly had a very good first lap with his medium tires by temporarily securing the 1st place. The Normand’s lap time is quickly beaten by Bottas’ Mercedes and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

While the Scuderia seemed to be struggling since the beginning of the weekend, the Ferrari found a lot of pace in the hands of its new driver Carlos Sainz, who finished 3rd this morning in Free Practice 3. While the Spanish driver set the 5th best time of the session, his garage neighbor, Charles Leclerc, barely made it to Q3 with the 9th fastest time.

While the Alpine was the 3rd best car on the grid during the first two days of testing, the French team lost some pace on Saturday. In qualifying, Esteban Ocon, who recently signed a brand new 3-year contract, was eliminated in Q2 in 11th position. The Normandy driver complained on the radio that his car was not as performing with the mediums as with the softs.

At the very end of the session, it was the Mercedes that beat the two Red Bulls, promising a very interesting battle for the pole position between the four men.

Eliminated: Mick Schumacher, George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sebastian Vettel, and Esteban Ocon.

Q1:

As in recent Grand Prix races, this qualifying session is disrupted very early by a red flag. Starting his flying lap, Yuki Tsunoda loses control of his AlphaTauri at the exit of turn 1 and crashes his rear wing. A unfortunate collision for the Japanese driver who most likely broke his gear box.

While the Mercedes seemed to be the big favorites for this French Grand Prix during the first free practice sessions, the Red Bulls hit hard during their first qualifying lap which placed Verstappen and Perez at the top of the time sheet.

At the very end of the catastrophic session for Mick Schumacher who, once again this season, hit the barriers. An unfortunate accident for the young German especially since he was poised to temporarily lift his Haas into Q2. An accident that caused a red flag, bringing an end to the qualifying session for Kimi Räikkönen and Lance Stroll, who could have been contenders to advance to Q2.

This is the first time this season that one of the American team’s cars manages to get out of Q1.

The eliminated: Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Nikita Mazepin, Kimi Räikkönen, and Nicholas Latifi.

Qualifying results: