French Grand Prix 2022
Thank you all for following us for this live text! See you tomorrow, 15 p.m., for the French Grand Prix! Have a good end of the day!
POLE POSITION FOR CHARLES LECLERC! Best time in 1'30″872! This is his 7th pole of the season, the 16th of his career and the first in France!
Verstappen is 2nd, Pérez 3rd ahead of Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Alonso, Tsunoda, Sainz and Magnussen.
The Q3 ranking:
First sector record for Leclerc… and Ferrari does the same aspiration trick again with Sainz!
And barely time to breathe before the drivers come out on the track! What will Red Bull do for this last attempt?
The drivers are all in the pits, here is the provisional classification:
1) Leclerc – 2) Verstappen – 3) Pérez – 4) Russell – 5) Hamilton – 6) Norris – 7) Alonso – 8) Tsunoda
Sainz and Magnussen did not set a time.
Charles Leclerc takes the lead with an 8 thousandths lead over Verstappen! Ferrari played the game of aspirations with Carlos Sainz, after the chicane! And it worked!
Everyone on track except Kevin Magnussen, who will start at the back of the grid tomorrow in any case, just like Sainz. Whoever qualifies ahead of the other will start in 19th place on Sunday.
Green light for this last part of qualifying at Le Castellet! Who will take pole position on the Paul-Ricard circuit?
Pierre Gasly's reaction after his elimination in Q1:
🗨️ “Since this morning, it’s much more complicated”
Pierre Gasly obviously very disappointed after his elimination in Q1. He will start 14th tomorrow on the grid with the penalties from Sainz and Magnussen 🗣️#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 | ▶️ https://t.co/t7uFs3yVeh pic.twitter.com/nrwn6MIav5
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) July 23, 2022
Only 3 tenths between Ricciardo, 11th, and Alonso, 6th. It’s very tight in this middle of the grid!
It's over for this Q2! Sainz keeps his best time, ahead of Charles Leclerc. But it’s over for Esteban Ocon! There will be no French in Q3!
Those eliminated in Q2:
11) Ricciardo – 12) Ocon – 13) Bottas – 14) Vettel – 15) Albon
The Q2 ranking:
Esteban Ocon moves back into the top 10, in 6th place.
The drivers return to the track with 3 minutes remaining on the clock. Only Verstappen and Sainz remain in their boxes.
With 5 minutes remaining on the clock, here are the drivers in the red zone:
Vettel – Russell – Ocon – Albon – Tsunoda
Magnussen also set a time, the Dane is currently 6th.
Carlos Sainz also took part in Q2 and even set the best time, almost a second ahead of Verstappen! The Spaniard achieves a 1’31″081!
Leclerc is relegated to almost 6 tenths of Verstappen, but the Monegasque set his first time on worn tires...
It was immediately beaten first by Norris, then by Leclerc and finally by the two Red Bulls! Max Verstappen sets the best time in 1'31″990!
Hamilton sets a first benchmark time of 1'33″329, ahead of his teammate.
At Alpine, it's a little sigh of relief with Alonso's 7th place and Ocon's 12th place in Q1. To be confirmed for this Q2…
Here we go again for Q2, and the two Mercedes take the track first.