F1 French GP: Sainz helps Leclerc to pole positon

With a engine penalty incoming, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz’s slipstream helped Charles Leclerc secure pole position and keep the Monegasque out of reach of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

How qualifying unfolded…

Q1

Haas’ Mick Schumacher was the first driver to set a lap but his time was soon beaten by Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, on home soil. However, it wasn’t long until that time was toppled as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc went to the top of the timing board with a 1:31.727, nearly two-seconds quicker than Gasly.

The championship leader, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen couldn’t beat Leclerc’s time as the Dutchman put in a time that was one-tenth slower than his Ferrari championship rival.

The second Frenchman, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, secured a 1:33 lap to place him ninth on the timing board.

With less than five minutes left on the clock, 19 drivers had set a lap time on the board. However, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was the only driver yet to set a lap time.

Regardless of his final position, in qualifying, the Dane was set to join Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the back of the grid as both drivers will serve engine penalties in the race.

But, on the final set of qualifying runs, Magnussen finally ventured out onto the circuit. Luckily, on his only run, the Dane cleared the drop-zone and progressed into Q2.

William’s Alexander Albon, on his final run, spun out at the top of the chicane in the middle of the straight. The London-born driver unsettled his car as he clipped the inside kerb, as he raced into the chicane, and found himself in a spin.

Fortunately Albon was able to get going again, but the spin hampered the runs of Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell who were behind the Williams.

Luckily both Mercedes drivers were safe to advance into Q2.

On Schumacher’s final run, the young German put in a lap time which placed him outside of the elimination zone. However, race control deemed the Haas driver had exceeded track limits, at turn three, and deleted his lap time which dropped him back down into the elimination zone – and out of qualifying.

Eliminated:

20. Nicholas Latifi, Williams

19. Mick Schumacher, Haas

18. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

17. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

16. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri

Q2

In the first set of runs, Hamilton lay down the gauntlet with a quick lap time of 1:33.329 on a used set of red-ringed soft compound tyres. However, the seven-time world champions time was soon beaten by McLaren’s Lando Norris who went five-tenths quicker than the Mercedes. But, the British McLaren opted for a fresh set of soft tyres.

Norris was soon beaten by the likes of Perez and Leclerc who went up to P2 and P3 respectively, while Verstappen shot up to the top of the timing board with a 1:31.990.

Although Sainz was set to start the race at the back of the grid, the Spaniard blew Verstappen’s time out of the water with a blisteringly quick lap of 1:31.081 which was nearly a second faster than Verstappen’s time, in second-place.

With fresher tyres, than their initial first runs, both Mercedes drivers were able to clear the drop zone and progress safely into the shoot-out for pole.

At the other end of the table, Ocon’s efforts to climb into a favourable position for his home grand prix were dashed as the French driver could only top P12.

Eliminated:

15. Alexander Albon, Williams

14. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

13. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

12. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

11. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

Q3

Before the the pit exit light went green, Sainz was the first driver to wait at the exit of the pit lane ahead of both Red Bulls and his teammate, Leclerc. As the handful of drivers ventured around the track, they went around in fairly slow manner in a bid to extend their tyres life.

In the first run, Sainz drove around the circuit in a slower manner in an attempt to provide Leclerc with a slipstream. As a result, Leclerc’s first lap time was enough to secure provisional pole position with a 1:31.209 which was eight-thousandths of a second quicker than Verstappen.

In a similar manner to Q2, both Mercedes drivers opted to go out on their first runs with a used set of soft tyres. Despite this, they still managed to put in lap times which placed them in provisional positions of fourth (Russell) and fifth (Hamilton).

This was quickly followed by a visit to the pit lane, for both Mercedes, who returned to the track with new sets of tyres.

While the top nine drivers returned to the pit lane, Sainz and Magnussen were the only drivers who were yet to set a lap time in Q3. While the Ferrari Spaniard went out to provide Leclerc with a slip stream, down the back section of the straight, the Dane remained in his respective garage.

With help from Sainz’s slipstream, Leclerc managed to extend his lead at the top of the timing board to remain out of the reach of the reigning world champion.

While slightly further down the grid, when the chequered flag fell on qualifying, Norris split the two Mercedes with a P5 start, ahead of the French GP.

Top 10:

10. Kevin Magnussen, Haas (engine penalty incoming)

9. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (engine penalty incoming)

8. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine

6. George Russell, Mercedes

5. Lando Norris, McLaren

4. Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

3. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

That’s it for the article: F1 French GP: Sainz helps Leclerc to pole positon! With the grid set, who do you think will win the race tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula 1 here!

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• Daniel Ricciardo ‘committed to McLaren’ in statement
• F1 Austrian GP: Charles Leclerc survives to victory with throttle issues

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