Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton on pole for 2018 French Grand Prix

In Formula 1’s return to France, Lewis Hamilton took the pole. Will Mercedes’ qualifying pace also show up on race day for the French Grand Prix?

Qualifying for the first Formula 1 French Grand Prix in 10 years and the first at Circuit Paul Ricard in 28 years was a mixed bag for a lot of teams and drivers. Some were delighted, while others were left wondering what might have been. Here is our recap of qualifying for the 2018 French Grand Prix.

Qualifying 1

For Q1, Williams’ Lance Stroll took the initiative and set the first qualifying time of the session with a lap at 1:34.725, only to be beaten by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly. The Haas pair of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen set the first real competitive times of qualifying to go P1 and P2, respectively. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen then took the top overall spot from Grosjean by nearly half a second. The Mercedes pair put their first qualifying times in after Verstappen to go P1 and P2, with Valtteri Bottas briefly ahead before teammate Lewis Hamilton took P1.

McLaren struggled in Q1 with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finishing in the drop zone roughly 1.7 seconds behind. Williams couldn’t get out of Q1 with either Stroll or Sergey Sirotkin. They were knocked out and are set to start on the last row.

Eliminated in Q1:  Alonso, Brendon Hartley, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Stroll

Qualifying 2

Light rain hit the session. However, all the drivers started the session on a mixture of supersoft and ultrasoft tires. As the times rolled in, Mercedes emerged on top with Hamilton taking P1 with a lap at 1:30.645, which was more than half a second ahead of his teammate. On their second runs, the Ferrari pair were sandwiched the Mercedes pair in P2 and P3. Sauber’s Charles Leclerc made Q3 on his final run of the session in P10 when he dropped Force India’s Esteban Ocon into the drop zone.

The elimination zone in Q2 included two Frenchmen in Gasly and Ocon. Ocon’s teammate, Sergio Perez, also finished in the elimination zone.

Eliminated in Q2:  Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Perez, Gasly, Marcus Ericsson

Qualifying 3

On the first runs, when the dust settled, the Mercedes drivers were P1 and P2, with Hamilton on provisional pole by 0.095 seconds ahead of Bottas. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took P3 and Verstappen took P4 after their first runs. The session was briefly red-flagged when Grosjean went into the wall after going too deep into turn three.

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When the session restarted, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen aborted his second run after making a mistake at turn three. He is set to start the race P6. Vettel’s second run was messy and he only managed P3 as a result of it. The Mercedes pair locked out the front row with Hamilton on provisional pole after both drivers improved on their second runs. Leclerc, on his only run of the session, beat Magnussen and is set to start the race P8.

Provisional Grid for 2018 French Grand Prix

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With Lewis Hamilton on pole for the 75th time in his F1 career alongside teammate Valtteri Bottas, there will be less chance of a turn one incident between the top two qualifiers on Sunday. However, despite an imperfect second run, Vettel is still just behind the pair and that’s dangerous if the German can get a good start. As it stands, Mercedes are 1-2 and normal service has resumed. Will it stay that way on Sunday? Tune into ESPN at 9:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 24 to find out.