Lewis Hamilton needed a flying late effort to beat team mate Valtteri Bottas to pole position at Paul Ricard.
The pair pushed Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari down to third place and will start at a strategic advantage having opted for the harder super-soft tyres in Q2.
Charles Leclerc impressed by qualifying his Sauber an excellent eighth. But it was a poor session for McLaren as neither car made the cut for Q2.
Q1
McLaren’s poor start to 2018 hit a new low in the first round of qualifying for the French Grand Prix as for the first time this year both drivers failed to progress beyond Q1.A strong performance by the Sauber drivers was partly their undoing. Marcus Ericsson, notwithstanding his limited practice running due to a crash yesterday, reached Q2 for the first time this year, joining his team mate.
That pushed Fernando Alonso onto the cusp of the drop zone. Sergio Perez’s final lap delivered the coup de grace, consigning Alonso to elimination along with Stoffel Vandoorne.
Only the struggling Williams pair looked no kind of threat to the McLarens. Lance Stroll ended up at the bottom of the times after running wide at the exit of turn two and being launched into the air briefly by the aggressive kerbs.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’32.976 |
| 17 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’33.025 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’33.162 |
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.636 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.729 |
Q2
The rain which had been forecast to fall at the end of Q1 arrived on time, and Q2 began in steady, light drizzle. But it wasn’t enough to force drivers onto wet-weather rubber.
However while most teams opted for the ultra-soft tyres, Mercedes and Red Bull took the strategic option by fitting the super-softs. While Mercedes comfortably had the pace to get through on the harder rubber, it was a close-run thing for Red Bull. Ferrari stuck to the softer compound tyres which they will start on.
However the shock development of Q2 came from Charles Leclerc. The Sauber driver produced a peach of a lap, a huge eight-tenths quicker than team mate Marcus Ericsson, which lifted him into the top 10 as the minutes ticked down.
Nico Hulkenberg was the last driver who had a shot at beating him, but the Renault driver fell short by two hundredths of a second. Leclerc therefore joined the other Renault of Carlos Sainz Jnr and the Haas pair in reaching the top 10 shoot-out.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’32.075 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’32.115 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’32.454 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’32.460 |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’32.820 |
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Q3
The Mercedes drivers headed the times after the first runs in Q3 but there wasn’t much to separate them: Hamilton was less than a tenth of a second behind Bottas. Vettel was a similar gap behind in his Ferrari but Kimi Raikkonen was almost half a second slower, a deficit which the Red Bull pair took advantage of.
An error by Romain Grosjean at turn three brought his participation in qualifying to an end. The Haas driver skidded off and hit a barrier nose-first. Unable to select reverse gear, he had to climb out of the cockpit while the session was red-flagged.
Q3 resumed with enough time for the remaining drivers to do another run. However Raikkonen’s final effort did not go well: He ran wide at turn three, and later complained he’d had a slow puncture.
Vettel’s final run was scruffy – he ran wide more than once and wasn’t able to close on the Mercedes. Bottas made Hamilton work for his pole position, though. His last effort put the number 77 Mercedes ahead, and it took a final flying effort from Hamilton, with a superbly quick sub-40 second final sector, to reclaim the top spot.
Max Verstappen took advantage of Raikkonen’s troubles to put his Red Bull fourth. Sainz led the midfielders and will be joined on row four by the impressive Leclerc, who capped an excellent session by out-qualifying both Haas drivers.
Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’30.029 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’30.147 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’30.400 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’30.705 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’30.895 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’31.057 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’32.126 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’32.635 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’32.930 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari |
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2018 French Grand Prix
- French GP organisers will respond to fans over traffic chaos
- Hamilton has now won at every track on the F1 calendar
- 2018 French Grand Prix Star Performers
- French GP traffic problems due to “stunning location” – Brawn
- Hamilton regains points lead in F1’s forgettable return to France
ColdFly (@)
23rd June 2018, 16:24
Shame on you Zak/Eric!
Well done Leclerc & Hamilton.
Michael Brown (@)
23rd June 2018, 16:28
For a track with seas of runoff, going off-track was actually a disadvantage. Which is the way it should be.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
23rd June 2018, 16:28
Please get Leclerc into that Ferrari seat ahead of Raikkonen!
Aaron (@azzimus)
23rd June 2018, 16:51
i read an article saying ferrari are putting him in the seat next year…. they said ric was considered but will be too expensive
he could really upset the vettel basket, hamilton 2007 style at this rate though
Aaron (@azzimus)
23rd June 2018, 16:53
citing autosport
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136898/ferrari-ready-to-replace-raikkonen-with-leclerc
David BR (@david-br)
23rd June 2018, 18:14
@azzimus I’d say will, not could, if the move is confirmed. Bad news for Vettel, maybe, but Ferrari need to move away from their ‘one driver’ mentality, much better to have two drivers matched to push the team. Massa and Raikkonen sharing the wins in 2007 and 2008 against McLaren didn’t work out so badly.
FlatSix (@)
23rd June 2018, 18:30
@david-br, @azzimus With all due respect for Leclerc, beating Ericcson and putting in these great performances is still a big step away from beating a four time world champion over a season…
David BR (@david-br)
23rd June 2018, 21:16
@flatsix As Ricciardo did just fine when he had the chance. But the point is that Leclerc would push Vettel much harder, whether or not that means actually beating him over the season.
FlatSix (@)
23rd June 2018, 21:47
@david-br I don’t see that as a given. It’s very likely, but not guaranteed.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
23rd June 2018, 22:24
@flatsix Can’t do any worse than Raikkonen, can he? I mean, a switch from Sauber to Ferrari would at the very least be a 2 second improvement in itself, probably more.
BigJoe
23rd June 2018, 16:36
Order restored! Merc half a second faster than closest rival and 2 seconds to mid teams, 3 seconds to McLaren!
Roll on 2021.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
23rd June 2018, 17:36
We don’t know how much of that advantage is down to the tyres. It was already expected that Mercedes will expose their muscles on Barcellona, Paul Ricard and Silverstone.
harold wilson (@bonbonjai)
23rd June 2018, 18:44
BigJoe
Come on, you appear to have short memories. Ferrari have had the best car for all races this season with except for Spain.
SimRacer (@simracer)
24th June 2018, 4:19
And Australia/China/Monaco.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
23rd June 2018, 16:37
Seeing both McLaren drivers so powerless is a punch in the stomach each race weekend. I didn’t even bother to watch the qualifications. I can still enjoy the race with other exciting battles but 2018 McLarens are so far back I can’t even describe my disappointment.
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
23rd June 2018, 17:59
We’ve been suffering for 6 years… when will it end?
DrG
23rd June 2018, 16:38
Pole number 75…
Think about that for a bit.
Amazing really like or loath him.
DrG
23rd June 2018, 16:40
And I figure when the whole hurra gets past Verstappen and realises the talent that is Leclerc?
Well I am looking forward to it.
JI
23rd June 2018, 16:47
Verstappen is in a completely different tier then Leclerc. The kid is doing good in a pretty descent powered Sauber against Ericcson of all people. Verstappen has much more raw talent and speed. It’s like their karting days when Leclerc always finished behind Verstappen. This will be the new Senna vs Prost.
Gabriel (@rethla)
23rd June 2018, 16:51
Well Leclerc has much to prove if he wants to be the next Verstappen. Especially since next year he will have to do it without his weight advantage.
LosD (@losd)
23rd June 2018, 17:22
The next crash kid? No one wants to be that. ;-)
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
23rd June 2018, 16:41
Being less than 1.6 seconds behind Raikkonen was the absolute maximum
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2018, 16:54
Crashjean strikes again.
Vettel fan 17 (@)
23rd June 2018, 17:18
How Leclerc does this is amazing
Hugh (@hugh11)
23rd June 2018, 17:59
Shame Hulkenberg couldn’t get any balance in the car, although only a tenth off his team mate despite that is pretty good imo.
Merc restoring order, and really superb stuff from Leclerc.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
24th June 2018, 3:13
Yeah. A whooping 5 place difference due to the Haas drivers forgetting how to drive in Q3 though.
The midfield is really competitive this year, a shame Williams lost their invitation to the party.
dusty (@dusty)
23rd June 2018, 18:18
Top 6 race will be very similar to Barcelona. Guess Ferrari hasn’t figured out the tires “Pirelli designed for Mercedes”.
gus maia
23rd June 2018, 22:34
Probably no passes on track, but maybe a funny race with safety car help.