Max Verstappen will take off from pole position for Round 7 of the 2021 season at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Joining him on the front row is Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in P2 for tomorrow’s race ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third.
Alongside Valtteri on the second row will be the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who will take of from 4th on the grid.
Highlights:
The Q1 session was red-flagged this afternoon, just 4 minutes in when the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda lost control at the first corner on his opening hot lap, causing him to spin around backward and into the barrier.
It was game over for the Japanese rookie driver when he couldn’t get his AT02 back into gear after the crash, ending his qualifying session.
All 19 remaining drivers headed out for flying laps when the track was cleared with Charles Leclerc the first driver in the long train of cars.
The Monegasque briefly went fastest but was replaced at the top of the timesheets by the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 1st and 2nd with 8 minutes to go.
Moments later, Leclerc had dropped down to the elimination zone, while his teammate Carlos Sainz seemed to be faring better in 11th.
With 1 minute remaining, Stroll had yet to post a time on the board after falling victim to the track limits on his first lap, but his chance at Q2 was cut short when another red flag was summoned.
A really good opening lap from Mick, so such a shame he dropped it on his second push – our Q1 times ⤵️
P14 @SchumacherMick ⏱ 1:32.942
P18 @nikita_mazepin ⏱ 1:33.554#HaasF1 #FrenchGP #Quali pic.twitter.com/YZcL8caBeX— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) June 19, 2021
Mick Schumacher in the Haas went off at Turn Six and spun all the way to the barriers, causing damage to his car’s rear and left-front – which saw an end to the session so the VF21 could be cleared from the track.
Nicholas Latifi, Kimi Raikkonen, Nikita Mazpein, Lance Stroll, and Yuki Tsunoda were therefore eliminated in Q1 – while Leclerc managed to survive ahead of Q2.
14 cars returned to the track for Q2 after Schumacher’s retirement with Sergio Perez posting the first fastest lap of the session.
He crossed the line in 1:30.971, which was 0.109s faster than Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in second early on in Q2.
Carlos Sainz remained close behind in third for Ferrari, with Bottas in his shadows followed by Gasly and Hamilton.
The world champion was half a second adrift early on in this stage on the medium tyres – however, on his second run, he replaced Perez with a lap in 1:30.959s.
With four minutes to go, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was in the danger zone in P10, 0.694 off the pace – after his final flying lap, he only improved enough for 9th.
#Q2 is over. Taking it to #Q3 💪 @Charles_Leclerc @Carlossainz55 #FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/iUbMdtgpFA
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 19, 2021
Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel, Antonio Giovinazzi, and George Russell all missed out on Q3, while Valtteri Bottas was out in front with a lap in 1:30.735 ahead of the final fight for pole.
Q3 saw an extremely close battle between Red Bull and Mercedes with the two teams in and out of the top spot.
After battling right into the final seconds, Max Verstappen landed pole position for the first time since the season opener in Bahrain.
Joining him on the front row is Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in P2 for tomorrow’s race ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third.
Joining Valtteri on the second row is the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who will take of from 4th on the grid.
The Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will be in P5 and P7 on Sunday, split by the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly in sixth.
Closing out the top ten for Round 7 at the Circuit Paul Ricard is the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in 8th and 10th, split by the Alpine of Fernando Alonso in 9th.
