French Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc takes pole as Ferrari fight back

Charles Leclerc got a teammate assisted pole position for Sunday’s French Grand Prix.

Championship leader Max Verstappen finished second in Q1 behind Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz, who will start at the rear due to engine penalties, was fastest in Q2 with an impressive performance.

With Sainz unable to do anything to improve is own lot, he gave Leclerc a pair of tows in Q3 which helped him take pole position.

For McLaren, Lando Norris was able to split the Mercedes in P5 while moving George Russell to P6.

With Alpine and McLaren tied on points heading into the French GP, Fernando Alonso starts seventh, just behind Lando Norris, and Yuki Tsunoda qualified eighth.

Sainz gave up his Q3 to win P9 for Ferrari, but Kevin Magnussen, who qualified for Q3 but didn’t participate in the session, will start at the back due to engine penalties.

Esteban Ocon qualified P12 on the road for Alpine at home, while Daniel Ricciardo qualified P11 and missed Q3 by less than a tenth of a second. In qualifying, Valtteri Bottas placed 13th, placing Alex Albon of Williams in 15th and Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin in 14th.

Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll (16th and 17th, respectively) missed out on Q2 by 0.06s, while oversteer for Zhou Guanyu saw him finish 18th for Alfa Romeo. Mick Schumacher’s brief encroachment of track limits dropped him down 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 a bump up the grid for Sunday’s race.

By 0.06 seconds, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll (16th and 17th, respectively) failed to qualify for Q2, while Zhou Guanyu’s oversteer caused him to place 18th for Alfa Romeo. Nicholas Latifi finished in 20th, while Mick Schumacher slipped to 19th after briefly exceeding track restrictions.

Naturally, those who were eliminated in Q2 and Q3 will move up the grid for Sunday’s race due to penalties for Sainz and Magnussen.

French Grand Prix qualifying results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:31.727	1:31.216	1:30.872	17
2	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING RBPT	1:31.891	1:31.990	1:31.176	14
3	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING RBPT	1:32.354	1:32.120	1:31.335	20
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:33.041	1:32.274	1:31.765	19
5	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:32.672	1:32.777	1:32.032	14
6	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	1:33.109	1:32.633	1:32.131	20
7	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:32.819	1:32.631	1:32.552	17
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHA TAURI RBPT	1:33.394	1:32.836	1:32.780	20
9	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:32.297	1:31.081	DNF	10
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:32.756	1:32.649		9
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:33.404	1:32.922		12
12	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:33.346	1:33.048		12
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	1:33.034	1:33.052		13
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:33.285	1:33.276		15
15	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:33.423	1:33.307		11
16	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHA TAURI RBPT	1:33.439			7
17	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:33.439			9
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	1:33.674			8
19	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:33.701			9
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:33.794			6

Q1 107% time – 1:38.148

Note – Sainz and Magnussen required to start race from the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements. Schumacher’s fastest Q1 time of 1:33.114 was deleted for a track limits infringement.