French Quali: Max Pole, Lewis P2
Championship leader Max Verstappen continues his top form and grabs Pole at the French GP Qualification
Max Verstappen and Red Bull knew they will be doing good at street circuits. However things were expected to back to normal once we return to standard Race tracks – Paul Ricard now and the Red Bull ring for the following two weekends. But Red Bull showed incredible resilience and Max managed to put his car on Pole at the French GP.
Mixed Results for Mercedes
Mercedes were expected to come on top at Paul Ricard and they did for the first two practice sessions. But they not as good as they would have liked. Lewis Hamilton struggled all through the practice session. His chassis swap with Valtteri may have played a role in it. However he shined when it matters the most, the final lap of Q3 and managed to put his car on P2. Bottas looked in good touch throughout the practice sessions and clinched P3, much better than the last two street race.
The other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez looked in good touch but couldn’t manage to weave a nice lap in Q3, putting himself in P4.
Ferrari boys looking good
Both the Ferrari boys were in good touch, which they were not expecting outside the street circuits. Carlos Sainz has had a good luck here in the junior categories and that showed here, as he managed a P5, ahead of his team mate Charles LeClerc who finished P7.
Gasly impressive as always managed a P6. His team mate Yuki Tsunoda however crashed in Q1 and will be starting from the back. McLaren did not look in that good touch in the practice sessions but they managed to put in a decent performance – P8 for Lando and P10 for Daniel.
The French team Alpine was impressive all through the practice sessions at the French GP, as if their car was custom made for this track. However they were a bit disappointing in the Quali. Alonso managed only P9 and Ocon shockingly did not make it to Q3, finishing P11.
Two red flag in Q1 were unfortunate for Lance Stroll who couldn’t manage to put together a good lap in Q1. He will be starting from the back. Mr. Saturday George Russell did a good and will be starting P14. First Q2 qualification for HAAS this season with Mick on P15, albeit in weird circumstances as Mick crashed and brought in the red flags.
With two Red Bull and two Mercedes in top four, we have an interesting French GP tomorrow, as Max leads the way.
French GP : Quali Classification
