LE CASTELLET, France — Charles Leclerc secured pole position at the French Grand Prix to keep the pressure on title rival Max Verstappen, who qualified 0.304 seconds off the Ferrari driver in second place.
Leclec benefitted from a slipstream from teammate Carlos Sainz, who was not in the running for pole position himself due to an engine penalty.
The slipstream helped combat Ferrari’s straight-line speed weakness relative to Red Bull, with Sainz offering the tow on the second part of the Mistral straight.
Although Leclerc said it made his advantage over Verstappen more comfortable, he did not think it was the defining factor in taking pole at Paul Ricard.
“I think the advantage of the tow was around 0.2s compared to Q2,” Leclerc said. “So it’s significant and it would have been a lot more tight with Max without the tow. So it was a nice help anyway.”
Verstappen’s engineer said the Red Bull driver’s fastest lap was hampered by some “unfavourable wind,” but he was still quick enough to outqualify teammate Sergio Perez by 0.159s.
Leclerc is 38 points behind Verstappen in the championship but looking to build on his victory at the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Lewis Hamilton will line up fourth on the grid for Mercedes ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the second Mercedes of George Russell. Hamilton was 0.9s off pole position, but Mercedes is hoping it will be closer to the top two teams on race pace.
Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest for Alpine, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in eighth.
Sainz and Kevin Magnussen were classified ninth and 10th but will both drop to the back row of the grid with engine penalties. Both drivers took new engines ahead of final practice, which took them over their allocation of power unit components for the season and resulted in podium.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a place in Q3 by 0.086s but will move up to ninth on the grid once penalties are applied. Esteban Ocon was 12th fastest, which will become a 10th-place starting position for his home race on Sunday.
Valtteri Bottas was 13th fastest, 0.216s off a place in Q3 and 0.224s ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Alex Albon was 15th fastest, which will become 13th on Sunday.
Pierre Gasly was knocked out of qualifying in the first session by just 0.016s, meaning he will start his home race from 14th position. Lance Stroll set an identical time to Gasly’s but will start behind him in 15th, as he set it later in the session.
Zhou Guanyu was 18th fastest, which will become 16th on the grid, after losing the rear end of his Alfa Romeo in Turn 6. Mick Schumacher was 19th fastest after his best lap, which was good enough for 11th place in Q1, was deleted for cutting the apex of Turn 3.
Nicholas Latifi was 20th and slowest of all but will be elevated ahead of Sainz and Magnussen once the grid penalties are applied.
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