More than three tenths for Verstappen
Charles Leclerc will start the French Grand Prix on Sunday from the first starting position. The Monegask was Max Verstappen, who clocked second time on the sweltering Circuit Paul Ricard, the boss during qualifying.
For a long time it seemed that Verstappen would take pole position, but in the end Leclerc took the longest. In his last attempt, the Ferrari driver clocked a time of 1:30.872, which made him three tenths faster than Verstappen. Sergio Perez will start from third place tomorrow. Actually Carlos Sainz was faster, but he didn’t set any time in Q3.
It was already clear to Sainz prior to qualifying that he will start at the back on Sunday. Because his Ferrari went up in flames in Austria, he got a completely new engine and related parts. Because he uses more new parts than the regulations allow, he was given a series of grid penalties. Magnussen, who finished tenth, will also start tomorrow with Sainz at the back because of a new Ferrari engine.
In the first part of qualifying things went wrong for Mick Schumacher. The German set a good enough time for Q2, but he had exceeded the track limits and his time was taken off the board by race officials. A disappointing nineteenth time remained.
The Grand Prix weekend in France will be completed under hot conditions. On Saturday it was already 30 degrees during qualifying, with an asphalt temperature of 56 degrees. It is expected that it will be a little warmer on Sunday. The French Grand Prix also starts at the hottest time of the day, as the race starts at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
France Grand Prix Qualification
- Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:30,872
- Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:31,176
- Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:31,335
- Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG | 1:31,765
- Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:31.032
- George Russell | Mercedes-AMG | 1:32,131
- Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:32.552
- Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:32,780
- Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | no time
- Kevin Magnussen | hare | no time
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl