Scuderia Ferrari was expected to unleash further performance in the qualifying session for the 2022 French Grand Prix after being outpaced by Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the third free practice session at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
The wind was picking up just minutes before qualifying was set to get underway. The sun was shining, the grandstands were packed and the engines were on, as the qualifying session at Paul Ricard started with Q1. As always after the 18-minute segment, the five slowest drivers were eliminated.
Lance Stroll is the first driver out on track, while Charles Leclerc is also out early for Scuderia Ferrari. Mercedes abandoned the ‘wavey’ higher downforce wing that Lewis Hamilton used during the third free practice session in France, as Lewis Hamilton reverted to the lower downforce setup that team-mate George Russell was running. Charles Leclerc was the first of the pole contenders to set a lap time: it was an impressive 1:31.727 from the Ferrari, as Sergio Perez was next out and he was 0.6s back from Charles. Max Verstappen was unable to match Charles Leclerc with his first run, trailing the F1-75 car by more than a tenth.
Not much pace for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell early on, both over a second off Charles. Regardless, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas were faster than the Silver Arrows. Lando Norris was fifth in a McLaren that was looking very competitive indeed this weekend. Carlos Sainz, who will be starting the French Grand Prix from the back of the grid, was third after his first flying lap, half a second back from his Maranello team-mate Charles Leclerc, and only narrowly ahead of Sergio Perez in fourth.
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Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher moved up into the top 10 with his last lap, but unfortunately it has been deleted for track limits at Turn 3. Kevin Magnussen got through in sixth in the other Haas, while Sebastian Vettel also escaped in the Aston Martin. The shock exit in Q1 was France’s very own Pierre Gasly, by 16 thousandths of a second from Alex Albon.
Amid all that drama at the back, it was Charles Leclerc who ended Q1 ahead of world championship rival Max Verstappen, as the two title contenders looked set for another pole position shootout this afternoon! Fifteen drivers made their way through to the second portion of qualifying and only 10 progressed to the final shootout.
Lewis Hamilton was quicker than Mercedes team-mate George Russell on his first run, but once more Lando Norris was faster than both of them! Max Verstappen unsurprisingly shoots to the top of the timesheet with a 1:31.990. Interestingly, it was his team-mate Sergio Perez who was second – a tenth or so back, while Charles Leclerc third but 0.6s adrift. However, the Monegasque was running on old soft tyres. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz put in a great lap to go almost a second faster than Max Verstappen with a 1:31.081, showing that there was clearly more pace in the Ferrari F1-75 car.
The only cars not to emerge for an additional run were Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, while Daniel Ricciardo’s different McLaren spell continued: he was knocked out in 11th, missing out by just eight one hundredths of a second to Yuki Tsunoda. Esteban Ocon made it two Frenchman not through to Q3, while Valtteri Bottas was also out in the Alfa Romeo. George Russell ended up seventh, while Lewis Hamilton jumped up to fifth right at the death. With hindsight, Charles Leclerc didn’t need to do an additional lap, but the Monegasque slotted in a tenth behind his team-mate Carlos Sainz. Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was the surprise package of Q2, landing in P10 with a time of 1:32.836 seconds.
The 12 minutes we had all been waiting for arrived: it was pole position shootout time at the Paul Ricard Circuit, as both Ferrari cars and Red Bulls were immediately out on track.
Ferrari did set up Charles Leclerc for a tow given the fact that Carlos will start from the back of the grid regardless of the final result in qualifying having taken new engine parts and it worked: the Monegasque driver was a whisker faster than Max Verstappen on their first runs, with Sergio Perez third. That meant Carlos Sainz sacrificed setting a lap time, despite potentially being the faster of the two Ferrari cars.
Charles Leclerc then produced another brilliant lap to claim pole for the French Grand Prix! Ferrari keep that momentum going as Max Verstappen failed to produce a clean effort on his final run, and ended up three tenths back from his rival. Sergio Perez was a further tenth or so back in third.
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