Verstappen’s fifth pole tips balance
MAX VERSTAPPEN dominated qualifying for the French Grand Prix to put his Red
Bull on pole position.
The championship leader finished 0.258 seconds clear of title rival Lewis Hamilton, with his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas third at the Paul Ricard circuit.
Sergio Perez will start fourth in the other Red Bull ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the Alphatauri of Pierre Gasly.
Hamilton (below) has won the past two editions of the French race from pole but this weekend the seventime world champion has not had an answer for the pace of Red Bull and Verstappen.
Using Bottas’ old chassis following a planned rotation of parts, Hamilton had complained in practice on Friday that there was something wrong with his car.
So he will take some comfort from joining his title rival on the front row.
Nevertheless, it is Verstappen who heads into today’s race as the favourite to extend his four-point advantage.
There were fist-pumps in the Mercedes garage with Bottas taking third to split the Red Bulls.
“So far it has been a positive weekend on a track that has been really difficult for us,” said Verstappen after claiming his fifth pole.
“No points are scored but for us today is a great day.”
Hamilton said: “It has been a really hard weekend mentally, trying to get the car into a happy place.
“I have been unhappy in the car. Max has been incredibly quick. We have got a race on our hands and we are loving the battle.”
Earlier, Yuki
Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher both crashed out of
Q1. Tsunoda slid backwards into the barriers after carrying too much speed through the opening corner.
The Japanese rookie was unable to engage first gear in his Alpha Tauri and the session was stopped to retrieve his stricken machine.
Then, in the closing minutes of
Q1, Schumacher lost control of his Haas through the righthanded Turn 6 and collected the barriers.
FIA race director Michael Masi deployed the afternoon’s second red flag.
Despite the accident, Schumacher is due to line up in 15th for today’s race, one spot behind British driver George Russell in his Williams.