@CharlesLeclerc storms to #FrenchGP pole position. #F1

Leclerc French GP pole – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beat title-rival Max Verstappen to pole position for tomorrow’s French GP as the Scuderia used slip-stream tactics with the penalty-hit Carlos Sainz to help capture the P1 slot on the grid.

 

 

The other Red Bull RB18 entry of Sergio Perez rounded out the top three as Sainz’s running on a scrub set of softs meant he qualified ninth but will fall to the back of the grid thanks to Ferrari putting in a fresh engine for this weekend after his Austrian GP DNF.

 

In Q3, Leclerc held provisional pole with a 1:31.209 and was a very narrow 0.008 seconds quicker than Verstappen as the two F1-75 entries ran together to try and cancel out the top speed advantage of the Red Bull with it’s Honda power-train and lower-drag rear wing.

 

On the second flyers, Sainz again ran in-front of Leclerc on track, the latter dropping back ahead of the final sequence of turns on their out-laps to avoid the dirty air from his team-mate interrupting his progress through the opening corners.

 

But as he done in the initial flying laps, Sainz slowed exiting the chicane halfway down the Mistral Straight and then slip-streamed his team-mate down the rest of the straight, through the fast Signes right hander before pulling over just before Le Beausset.

 

Leclerc then shot to the quickest time in the final sector, having already beaten his previous-session leading effort in the first sector, to set a 1:30.872 and took his 16th-career pole.

 

This ended up being 0.304 seconds faster than Verstappen after the points leader could not reciprocate his best times in the initial two sectors.

 

Behind Perez, was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris with George Russell sixth in the second F1 W13 racer.

 

Then followed Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who was seventh and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took eighth, then came Sainz finishing ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, who did not run in the final qualifying stage as the Dane too will start at the back of the grid for power-unit component changes.

 

In the second qualifying stage, which saw Sainz hit the top of the time-sheets after a blistering 1:31.001, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who’s personal best at the last moment was not enough to progress into the top ten, with all the eliminated drivers doing the same having run in-front of the Australian, who was last to cross the line.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon ended up 12^th and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who was 13^th and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel took 14^th whilst Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th.

 

Albon made it through to Q2 after Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher lost his effort due to losing his final hot-lap in the first qualifying stage.

 

Albon was unable to set a final Q1 time after losing the rear of his FW44 racer exiting the turn eight part of the chicane that breaks up the long Mistral Straight and spun out.

 

In the opening segment of qualifying, which was topped by Leclerc, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified 16^th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who set an identical lap time right at the end of Q1 but lost out as he done it after the Frenchman, as the Canadian had to deal with traffic in the final corners.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 18^th, having lead the field to the chequered flag, but could not set a personal best on his final flyer after catching a huge snap of oversteer through the long, rapid turn six right that feeds onto the turn seven kink on the Mistral Straight.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher posted a solid lap, which reached the top ten and put Albon into 16^th, but it was taken away from the German due to exceeding track limits at turn three by running too far over the white line on the inside of the corner and was demoted to 19^th. Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1116/france/qualifying.html

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2022 French GP Qualifying – The Top Three

 

 

2022 French GP Pole Position – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, 1:30.872:

“I had the help of Carlos, and that was amazing team-work. Without him it would have been incredibly close. I hope he can join us back in the fight tomorrow.”

 

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.304:

“Overall, we were lacking a bit in qualifying, general grip. I think we still have a decent race car; we are quick on the straights so we can use that tomorrow.”

 

3^rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.463:

“It’s been a good recovery, I’ve been nowhere the whole weekend, I think it’s been my worst weekend up to qualifying actually.”

 

In the earlier FP3 session it was points leader Verstappen on top of the time-sheets for Red Bull in-front of Ferrari duo Sainz and Leclerc who were second and third respectively as Mercedes’ Hamilton and the Dutchman’s Red Bull team-mate Perez completed the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1116/france/practice-3.html

 

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#FrenchGP FP2: @Carlossainz55 leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

#FrenchGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

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