In Canada Charles Leclerc was six-tenths of a second off pole position and very unhappy with his performance. In France he is again six-tenths off pole but is pleased with the step forward he’s made.
That tells you everything you need to know about Ferrari’s expectations heading into the French Grand Prix at a track which was likely to suit Mercedes much better. While Vettel took pole in Canada, Leclerc is their leading driver on the grid this weekend, but the red cars couldn’t tough their silver rivals.This has set up a similar grid to last year. Hamilton leads another Mercedes one-two followed by a single Ferrari – Leclerc instead of Vettel this time – with the second SF90 pushed off the second row.
Twelve months ago Vettel, from third on the grid, started very well but was effectively pinned in place by the Mercedes pair and bumped into Valtteri Bottas, earning himself a penalty. Leclerc could find himself in the same predicament, particularly as the long run to turn one will give the Ferrari chance to stretch its legs.
However even if he can get ahead of one or – the dream scenario for Ferrari – both of the Mercedes, he will face a challenge to stay there. “Their race pace on Friday was very, very, very strong,” Leclerc pointed out after qualifying. “I think a good start will be very important and then we’ll see what happens. Obviously if we’re in front at the start it will be easier – but it’s not going to be easy.”
Having qualified only seventh on the grid, Vettel’s chances of finishing higher than fourth seem slim. Ahead of him he has the two McLaren drivers, who will no doubt want to get stuck into Max Verstappen ahead of them but will also be keen to do as Renault did in Canada, and successfully keep the other Red Bull behind them.
Their cause will be aided by the fact Pierre Gasly, following another underwhelming qualifying performance, will be one of two drivers starting the race on the soft compound tyres. The other is his former Prema GP2 team mate Antonio Giovinazzi.
There’s little reason to expect the remaining drivers will deviate from the preferred single-stop medium/hard tyre approach; the soft tyre has been too fragile in the hot conditions seen so far at the track, and Sunday is expected to be hotter still. While the prospects of anyone taking the fight to Mercedes seem remote, Leclerc has a chance and for one should not have to worry about the close proximity to his team mate, whom Ferrari have seldom passed up a chance to favour so far this year.
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Qualifying times in full
| Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 (vs Q1) | Q3 (vs Q2) | |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’30.609 | 1’29.520 (-1.089) | 1’28.319 (-1.201) |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’30.550 | 1’29.437 (-1.113) | 1’28.605 (-0.832) |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’30.647 | 1’29.699 (-0.948) | 1’28.965 (-0.734) |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’31.327 | 1’30.099 (-1.228) | 1’29.409 (-0.690) |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1’30.989 | 1’30.019 (-0.970) | 1’29.418 (-0.601) |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 1’31.073 | 1’30.319 (-0.754) | 1’29.522 (-0.797) |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’31.075 | 1’29.506 (-1.569) | 1’29.799 (+0.293) |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’30.954 | 1’30.369 (-0.585) | 1’29.918 (-0.451) |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | 1’31.152 | 1’30.421 (-0.731) | 1’30.184 (-0.237) |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1’31.180 | 1’30.408 (-0.772) | 1’33.420 (+3.012) |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso | 1’31.445 | 1’30.461 (-0.984) | |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1’30.972 | 1’30.533 (-0.439) | |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’30.865 | 1’30.544 (-0.321) | |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 1’30.964 | 1’30.738 (-0.226) | |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’31.166 | 1’31.440 (+0.274) | |
| 16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’31.564 | ||
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’31.626 | ||
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1’31.726 | ||
| 19 | George Russell | Williams | 1’32.789 | ||
| 20 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 1’33.205 |
Sector times
| Driver | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 21.951 (1) | 27.300 (1) | 39.005 (1) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 22.046 (2) | 27.493 (4) | 39.066 (2) |
| Charles Leclerc | 22.184 (3) | 27.434 (3) | 39.215 (3) |
| Max Verstappen | 22.279 (5) | 27.652 (9) | 39.455 (5) |
| Lando Norris | 22.369 (6) | 27.631 (7) | 39.407 (4) |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 22.254 (4) | 27.648 (8) | 39.611 (6) |
| Sebastian Vettel | 22.370 (7) | 27.388 (2) | 39.675 (7) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 22.514 (8) | 27.630 (6) | 39.725 (9) |
| Pierre Gasly | 22.523 (9) | 27.880 (13) | 39.685 (8) |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 22.667 (13) | 27.745 (10) | 39.996 (13) |
| Alexander Albon | 22.570 (10) | 27.863 (12) | 39.857 (11) |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 22.651 (12) | 27.754 (11) | 39.940 (12) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 22.610 (11) | 27.583 (5) | 40.128 (15) |
| Sergio Perez | 22.815 (16) | 28.038 (15) | 39.808 (10) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 22.791 (14) | 27.921 (14) | 40.105 (14) |
| Daniil Kvyat | 22.929 (17) | 28.196 (18) | 40.439 (17) |
| Romain Grosjean | 22.804 (15) | 28.183 (17) | 40.562 (18) |
| Lance Stroll | 23.164 (18) | 28.150 (16) | 40.412 (16) |
| George Russell | 23.220 (19) | 28.491 (19) | 41.078 (20) |
| Robert Kubica | 23.566 (20) | 28.649 (20) | 40.990 (19) |
Speed trap
| Pos | Driver | Car | Engine | Speed (kph/mph) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | Renault | 342.5 (212.8) | |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 341.8 (212.4) | -0.7 |
| 3 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 341.2 (212.0) | -1.3 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari | 340.3 (211.5) | -2.2 |
| 5 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso | Honda | 340.2 (211.4) | -2.3 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | Ferrari | 339.8 (211.1) | -2.7 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | Mercedes | 339.7 (211.1) | -2.8 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | Renault | 339.5 (211.0) | -3.0 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 338.6 (210.4) | -3.9 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Ferrari | 337.1 (209.5) | -5.4 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes | 336.9 (209.3) | -5.6 |
| 12 | Lando Norris | McLaren | Renault | 336.6 (209.2) | -5.9 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | Mercedes | 335.9 (208.7) | -6.6 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | Renault | 335.4 (208.4) | -7.1 |
| 15 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Honda | 333.9 (207.5) | -8.6 |
| 16 | Robert Kubica | Williams | Mercedes | 333.3 (207.1) | -9.2 |
| 17 | George Russell | Williams | Mercedes | 331.5 (206.0) | -11.0 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | Honda | 331.4 (205.9) | -11.1 |
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | Ferrari | 330.3 (205.2) | -12.2 |
| 20 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | Honda | 329.4 (204.7) | -13.1 |
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Drivers’ remaining tyres
| Driver | Team | Hard | Medium | Soft | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Used | New | Used | New | Used | ||
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Daniel Riccairdo | Renault | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| George Russell | Williams | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Robert Kubica | Williams | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Over to you
Share your views on the French Grand Prix in the comments.
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AMG44 (@amg44)
22nd June 2019, 23:08
Long run to turn 1 could be messy. Lec would be trying to get 1 Mercedes at the start and Vettel out of position.
Gasly has been a disappointment so far especially when he looked so promising last year.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
23rd June 2019, 12:07
I think we can now safely say that last year’s Toro Rosso was a pretty good car. That car didn’t deserve to be only 9th in the championship. Even with two Gaslys they would have been very close to McLaren for sixth, and with two top drivers they would have defeated the other midfield teams quite easily I reckon.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd June 2019, 23:31
OK so it’s going to be hot, but is it likely to be windy? That could be a real factor in the race on this track where the cars are really on the limit in a lot of corners. Bottas looked deflated after qualifying, but whoever leads after the first corner has a real race advantage, we could be in for the first bit of real friction between the Mercedes drivers. What really intirgues me, though, is Verstappen, Leclerc and the two McLarens, should be a good race between them. Also, safety car, definitely.
@HoHum (@hohum)
23rd June 2019, 2:37
WOWEE ! When was the last time a Renault engine headed the speed-trap, I’m thinking maybe the 1.5L turbo era ?
Consequentially there has to be a downforce deficit so DanRic must be hustling and glad there is so much runoff.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2019, 7:22
@hohum In the race in Monza in 2016 maybe in 2014 as well.
@HoHum (@hohum)
23rd June 2019, 13:18
@jerejj, really, silly me, I was forgetting Team Renault, thinking only of RBR. I guess in their situation low drag was, and apparently still is, the low budget way to go.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2019, 7:24
How have the Ferrari-drivers managed to save one entirely fresh set of the softest compound for the race, unliker the rest of the other Q3-runners?
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd June 2019, 7:53
@jerejj Because nobody expects to use soft during the race? Mercedes even expended a set doing a run on softs (not going across the finish line) at the end of Q2.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2019, 9:21
@f1osaurus That isn’t what I meant, though. I thought they had used all of their soft-sets in qualifying so that like the rest of the Q3-runners, they’d only have softs left as ‘used’ for the race. You are the 2nd person who’s misinterpreted my wording, LOL.
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd June 2019, 16:14
@jerejj Not sure this is about misinterpreting words.
They only go out twice in Q3. Mercedes did a third run on softs in Q2. So Merc used 3 and Ferrari 2?
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd June 2019, 7:59
Last year Hamilton and Bottas worked together amazingly to box in Vettel on the much faster tyres. It frustrated Vettel so much that it didn’t end well for Bottas, but still they would have both been behind Vettel otherwise.
I wonder/doubt if they will collaborate like that still tough. Bottas and Hamilton will probably be more interested in going into turn 1 in front of the other Mercedes. This could end up in a “two dogs fighting over a bone” routine that the Ferrari drivers showed in Monza last year. Ending up giving the win to Hamilton instead of scoring a 1-2 themselves.
erikje
23rd June 2019, 12:31
It’s time Lewis and Valtteri clash in the first corner and open up the race for the rest. Bottas looked frustrated after q3 and his chances are dwindling fast.
So he had to take some corrective measures. His contract still is not signed, so he had to show he had balls to oppose Lewis.
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd June 2019, 16:15
That’s such a lame comment. What would that even do? The race would have been just as boring.