Verstappen will start ahead of the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

French Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from Hamilton

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1'29.990
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'30.248	0.258
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1'30.376	0.386
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1'30.445	0.455
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'30.840	0.850
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1'30.868	0.878
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'30.987	0.997
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	1'31.252	1.262
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1'31.340	1.350
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	1'31.382	1.392
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1'31.736	1.746
12	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1'31.767	1.777
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	1'31.813	1.823
14	George Russell	Williams	1'32.065	2.075
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1'33.062	3.072
17	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	1'33.354	3.364
18	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	1'33.554	3.564
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	2'12.584	42.594
20	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
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What happened in Q1?

Yuki Tsunoda caused an early red flag when he spun his AlphaTauri at Turn 1 and glanced the tyrewall with his rear wing. Tsunoda was unable to engage first gear, after the rear axle of the car shook violently as he slid backwards, and was out of the session just moments after it had begun.

When it resumed, Bottas set the initial pace at 1m31.669s, with Hamilton just 0.023s slower. Then Verstappen reset the bar at 1m31.001s – 0.668s faster than the Mercedes duo – with Sergio Perez backing him up in second, 0.559s off his team-mate’s pace.

Hamilton stayed out for a second push lap, producing a 1m31.237s to jump up to second, but was still 0.236s shy of Verstappen.

A second red flag in the closing minute of the session, for Mick Schumacher crashing his Haas at Turn 6, meant that falling at the first hurdle were Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (by just 0.002s), Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and the second Haas of Nikita Mazepin, along with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (who lost one laptime due to exceeding track limits and another due to hitting traffic) and Tsunoda.

Schumacher made it through to Q2 for the first time, in 14th position, but wouldn’t be taking part due to a damaging both left-side corners of his car against the barrier.

French Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	4	1'31.001
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	6	1'31.237	0.236	0.236
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	4	1'31.560	0.559	0.323
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	4	1'31.669	0.668	0.109
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	6	1'31.733	0.732	0.064
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	8	1'31.898	0.897	0.165
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	7	1'32.079	1.078	0.181
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	6	1'32.132	1.131	0.053
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	4	1'32.139	1.138	0.007
10	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	5	1'32.158	1.157	0.019
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	7	1'32.181	1.180	0.023
12	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	8	1'32.209	1.208	0.028
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	7	1'32.722	1.721	0.513
14	Mick Schumacher	Haas	7	1'32.942	1.941	0.220
15	George Russell	Williams	7	1'33.060	2.059	0.118
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	7	1'33.062	2.061	0.002
17	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	7	1'33.354	2.353	0.292
18	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	7	1'33.554	2.553	0.200
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	7	2'12.584	41.583	39.030
20	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	2
View full results

What happened in Q2?

In Q2 the vast majority of the field went out on medium tyres, to avoid starting on the softs if they qualified for the top-10 shootout.

Perez set the benchmark at 1m30.971s, a tenth faster than Verstappen. Hamilton then jumped to the top on his second push lap, producing 1m30.959s – 0.012s faster than Perez.

Bottas went fastest on his second medium-tyred run, his 1m30.735s being 0.053s faster than Hamilton’s 1m30.788s.

Knocked out at this point were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), George Russell (Williams) and Schumacher.

French Grand Prix Q2 results: Bottas fastest from Hamilton

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	6	1'30.735
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	8	1'30.788	0.053	0.053
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	6	1'30.971	0.236	0.183
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	6	1'31.080	0.345	0.109
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	6	1'31.146	0.411	0.066
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	8	1'31.353	0.618	0.207
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	6	1'31.542	0.807	0.189
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	6	1'31.549	0.814	0.007
9	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	6	1'31.567	0.832	0.018
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	8	1'31.615	0.880	0.048
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	6	1'31.736	1.001	0.121
12	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	6	1'31.767	1.032	0.031
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	6	1'31.813	1.078	0.046
14	George Russell	Williams	6	1'32.065	1.330	0.252
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas	0
View full results

What happened in Q3?

In the top-10 shootout, Verstappen set the pace after the first run with a time of 1m30.325s, 0.386s ahead of Hamilton, followed by Perez and Bottas. Carlos Sainz Jr was best of the rest for Ferrari.

On the second runs, Verstappen lowered the P1 time to 1m29.990s. Hamilton’s best effort was 1m30.248s, 0.258s down. Bottas grabbed third from Perez, with Sainz again leading the rest.

Pierre Gasly lost his first lap time for exceeding track limits at Turn 6, but jumped back to sixth for AlphaTauri, ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lando Norris (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren).

French Grand Prix Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	16	1'29.990
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	20	1'30.248	0.258	0.258
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	16	1'30.376	0.386	0.128
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	16	1'30.445	0.455	0.069
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	19	1'30.840	0.850	0.395
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	22	1'30.868	0.878	0.028
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	20	1'30.987	0.997	0.119
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	18	1'31.252	1.262	0.265
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	17	1'31.340	1.350	0.088
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	21	1'31.382	1.392	0.042
View full results