Sainz tows Leclerc to pole: 2022 French GP qualifying

Ferrari teamwork helped Charles Leclerc seize pole position for the French Grand Prix, as Carlos Sainz towed his team-mate to the fastest qualifying lap.

Leclerc and Max Verstappen were once more closely matched at the Paul Ricard circuit, where the Red Bull had a speed advantage down the Mistral Straight, but Ferrari had better pace in the corners.

A track temperature of 56C added to the challenge on Saturday afternoon, with careful control needed to prevent tyres overheating before the end of their flying lap.

Ferrari topped all three of the qualifying segments, firstly with Leclerc and then Sainz in Q2.

The Spaniard has engine penalties that will mean he starts at the back of the grid for the Grand Prix. He sacrificed his Q3 times so Leclerc could slipstream him on his flying laps, going some way to make up for the Ferrari’s top speed deficit.

Both Red Bull cars remained focused on their own times; Verstappen will start second and Sergio Perez third, opening up the possibility of Red Bull teamwork helping Verstappen in tomorrow’s race.

Perez will start alongside Lewis Hamilton who appeared to be struggling for pace at times during qualifying — as did his team-mate George Russell, who starts sixth behind Lando Norris.

Mick Schumacher was an early casualty of the session, leaving in Q1 after having a lap time deleted for cutting Turn 3.

Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo were among those knocked out in Q1 and Q2 respectively.

Here’s qualifying as it happened.

Q1

Leclerc set the early running with a 1min 31.727sec lap, which Red Bull couldn’t beat, despite being 9km/h faster in the speed trap.

Perez was 0.627sec off the pace, while Verstappen was closer — 0.164sec behind, having complained that Perez had blocked him, as the Mexican completed his slow-down lap.

Mercedes arrived at Paul Ricard hopeful that its upgrades would push it closer to the front, but both drivers were more than 1.3sec off Leclerc’s time, apparently struggling to keep their tyres cool.

The Silver Arrows’ initial warm-up laps were slower than most, taking around 2min 30sec, compared with 2min 20sec for many others.

Sainz was one of the last to set a flying lap, with the knowledge that he’d be starting from the back of the grid. His 1min 32.297sec effort was enough for third, ahead of Perez and Norris.

That’s how it remained at the top: Leclerc was sent out for a second run, but questioned whether it was worth it and returned to the pits without setting another time.

Everybody else, save Sainz and Norris, went out for a second run. In the drop zone were Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumacher, Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel and Kevin Magnussen — yet to set a time and due to start at the back of the grid with engine penalties.

Zhou quickly blew his chance to move into Q2 with a wild slide out of Turn 6 and Alex Albon, who had been 13th, put himself at risk with a spin at Turn 8.

Mick Schumacher, Vettel and Magnussen all went faster, however, and escaped the drop zone. That did push Albon down into the bottom five, along with Stroll and Gasly, who set exactly the same lap time of 1min 33.439sec.

But it wasn’t settled yet. Schumacher had cut the inside of Turn 3 a fraction too far and had his lap time deleted, bringing a reprieve for Albon and eliminating the German who was classified 19th.

Few others improved in the wake of Albon’s spin which delayed Hamilton, among others. He pitted without setting a flying lap.

Q2

Red Bull set the early pace in FP2, thanks to Verstappen’s 1min 31.990sec lap and Perez 0.13sec behind.

But Carlos Sainz exposed that as pedestrian when he went out a few minutes later to set an explosive 1min 31.081sec time, almost 1sec faster than Verstappen.

His fellow companion at the back of the grid was making progress too: Magnussen splitting the McLarens to go sixth early on with a 1min 33.111sec lap.

Mercedes had plenty to do, however. Hamilton was ninth after the first runs and George Russell was at risk of being eliminated in 12th.

Also needing to avoid elimination with their final runs were Vettel, Esteban Ocon, Albon and Tsunoda.

Sainz and Verstappen remained in the pits, but Leclerc went back out for a final run and moved much closer to his team-mate with a 1min 31.216sec effort.

There was rapid reshuffling at the bottom, as the final laps came in. George Russell did escape, but in the flurry of improving times, Lewis Hamilton was pushed into 11th and the elimination zone, forcing him to make his final lap count.

He did, which bumped Daniel Ricciardo down into the drop zone, missing out by 0.086sec from Tsunoda who did just enough. Ocon, Bottas, Vettel and Albion joined the McLaren driver in exiting at this stage.

Q3

With Sainz through to Q3, Ferrari could use him as a sacrificial car and did so immediately, deploying him to draft Leclerc up the Mistral straight and into provisional pole position.

It was only by 0.008sec, though: Verstappen was lurking closely in second despite being unassisted by his team-mate, followed by Perez a further 0.4sec back.

Red Bull wasn’t tempted to follow Ferrari’s lead for the second runs and sent Perez out well ahead of Verstappen.

Another tow saw Leclerc improve by 0.337sec with a 1min 30.872sec and immediately thanked his team-mate for the assistance.

Verstappen barely improved on his final time, and ended 0.304sec behind his championship rival — still second ahead of Perez.

Hamilton managed a time within a second of Leclerc to go fourth, ahead of Norris who split the Mercedes.

2022 French Grand Prix qualifying results

*Combined engine-related grid penalties mean car will start from back of grid