Event: French Grand Prix
Track: Circuit Paul Ricard
Weather: 55.3-52°C Sunny & dry
Tarmac: 26.3°C dry
Humidity: 49.3%
Wind: 1.9 m//s SE
Pressure: 965.2 bar
Lewis Hamilton scored his 86th pole position today and set a new qualifying record on Paul Ricard. The British driver also scored the 107th pole position for Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas' P2 made it the 63rd front row lockout for the Mercedes F1 team in France.
Q1 session
In Q1 the usual suspects were working hard to get into Q2. Kimi Raikkonen made an error in the Alfa Romeo in turn 10 and left the track. The blue and red painted rough asphalt around the circuit didn't destroy his tyres and was able to go on. All drivers used the softest red tyre compound in Q1. With 5 minutes Sergio Pérez (Racing Point), Kevin Magnussen (Haas, George Russel (Williams), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Robert Kubica (Williams) in the danger zone as the track was becoming quicker by the second.
At the end of Q1 Nico Hulkenberg pushed out a very good lap with the Renault and drove the 4th quickest lap time of the session, while Max Verstappen was very lucky to get into Q2 as he was on P14. The top 14 drivers go to Q2 and were only 0.777 sec. apart. Home grand prix driver Romain Grosjean, who already had a tough weekend unfortunately didn't make it to Q2 in the Haas. The complete Williams team again didn't make it to Q2.
Q2 session
In the second qualifying session both Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren drivers and Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen and went out on the Medium Pirelli tyre compound.to try and get into Q3. They used the medium tyres because the tyre compound you drive your quickest lap time on in Q2 decides on what tyre you must start if you make into the top 10. Lewis Hamilton was the quickest in the first stint, but was pushed down to P2 by Bottas later on. In the last minute of the session Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso), Sergio Pérez (Racing Point), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) were in the danger zone..Lando Norris again showed great pace and drove the 5th quickest time in the McLaren.
Q3 session
In the third qualifying session Lewis Hamilton was quickest after the first stint. Sebastian Vettel didn't finish his lap because he made an error during a gear change and had no lap time yet. In the second stint. Valtteri Bottas was the first to cross the finish line of Q3 but wasn't quicker than his team mate. Sebastian Vettel had a tough afternoon with a P7 in the Ferrari. McLaren had a great day with a P5 and P6 by Norris and Sainz. Norris only came 0.009 sec. short for P4.
The pole position lap time of last year 1:30.029 min, was also driven by Lewis Hamilton which was the old qualifying lap record.
Qualifying Results 2019 French GP
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:30.609 | 1:29.520 | 1:28.319 | 20 |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:30.550 | 1:29.437 | 1:28.605 | 19 |
3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:30.647 | 1:29.699 | 1:28.965 | 19 |
4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:31.327 | 1:30.099 | 1:29.409 | 19 |
5 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:30.989 | 1:30.019 | 1:29.418 | 21 |
6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 1:31.073 | 1:30.319 | 1:29.522 | 21 |
7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:31.075 | 1:29.506 | 1:29.799 | 19 |
8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:30.954 | 1:30.369 | 1:29.918 | 20 |
9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | 1:31.152 | 1:30.421 | 1:30.184 | 19 |
10 | 99 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 1:31.180 | 1:30.408 | 17 | |
11 | 23 | Alex Albon | Toro Rosso | 1:31.445 | 1:30.461 | 14 | |
12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | 1:30.972 | 1:30.533 | 14 | |
13 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:30.865 | 1:30.544 | 15 | |
14 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | 1:30.964 | 1:30.738 | 15 | |
15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:31.166 | 17 | ||
16 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:31.564 | 6 | ||
17 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:31.626 | 9 | ||
18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1:31.726 | 9 | ||
19 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | 1:32.789 | 8 | ||
20 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 1:33.205 | 8 |
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Saves bothering to watch any more on TV let alone buy tickets. Just have to wait to 2020 to see if anything changes.
None
Watch on app
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.