Ferrari team tactics earn pole for Leclerc at Paul Ricard; Verstappen P2, Perez P3 for Red Bull; Sainz still headed to the back after towing teammate to the front
Knowing that the Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz would be starting the race from the rear due to engine penalties, Ferrari cleverly sacrificed the Spaniard’s effort in the service of his non-penalized teammate, Charles Leclerc, during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix. With the twin long straights of the eccentrically colorful Circuit Paul Ricard lending themselves to judicious use of the two car draft, Sainz was able to lead out Leclerc twice in Q3 and give his Monegasque teammate just that much of an edge over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was flying solo since Sergio Perez was trying to secure his own high grid position. It worked a treat, making the best of Sainz’s bad situation after a raft of replacements were required when his engine literally blew up at the last race in Austria, and earned Leclerc his first pole since way back in Round 8 at Azerbaijan. Sainz’s team-effort tow on Leclerc ended up being good enough for a .282 advantage over Verstappen by the time session ended, though with Perez settling in at P3 and Sainz heading to the rear it will be a two-to-one Red Bull advantage when the lights go out on Sunday. It should be fascinating to see what kind of strategy the Scuderia brain trust can come up with overnight to work Sainz up through the field and hopefully put him into play against team Red Bull’s race winning aspirations.
With Sainz sacrificing himself and not setting an actual quali time of his own, Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took advantage by setting the fourth fastest time and he will line up alongside Perez on the second row. His Silver Arrows teammate George Russell was pushed down to P6 on the grid, however, when McLaren’s Lando Norris put in a fierce final lap in Q3 and snatched P5 from his fellow Brit. Wily old Fernando Alonso looked good in setting the seventh fastest time of the final session and Yuki Tsunoda flew the flag for the underperforming AlphaTauri team by qualifying in P8. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, who also took engine component replacement penalties for this weekend, ran no laps in Q3 and was classified in P10. But the Dane will also slide to the back of the field and into P20 alongside P19 Sainz to start tomorrow’s GP. That pair’s demotions elevated the lucky duo of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to P9 and P10 on the grid respectively.
Top 10 qualifiers for the French GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:31.727 | 1:31.216 | 1:30.872 | |
| 2 | 1:31.891 | 1:31.990 | 1:31.176 | |
| 3 | 1:32.354 | 1:32.120 | 1:31.335 | |
| 4 | 1:33.041 | 1:32.274 | 1:31.765 | |
| 5 | 1:32.672 | 1:32.777 | 1:32.032 | |
| 6 | 1:33.109 | 1:32.633 | 1:32.131 | |
| 7 | 1:32.819 | 1:32.631 | 1:32.552 | |
| 8 | 1:33.394 | 1:32.836 | 1:32.780 | |
| 9 | 1:32.297 | 1:31.081 | DNF | |
| 10 | 1:32.756 | 1:32.649 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Penalty-effected starting grid is here.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Leclerc will be desperate to get away from the Red Bulls cleanly, establish a gap and hold on until the calvary in the form of Sainz arrives. Verstappen and Perez will need to avoid tripping over each other in their hot pursuit of the P1 Prancing Horse. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!