Qualifying for the French Grand Prix remains extremely exciting until the end – only Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel are unlucky.
Charles Leclerc secured pole position for the French Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver finished qualifying at Le Castellet on Saturday with the best time ahead of his rival and world champion Max Verstappen, third was his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. Leclerc will start from the front in Sunday’s race. It is already the 7th pole of the current season for the Monegasque.
Sebastian Vettel was 14th in the Aston Martin, Mick Schumacher was only 19th. Actually, the Haas driver would have ended up further ahead, but the 23-year-old’s fastest lap was subsequently canceled because he was forbidden to leave the track and allegedly left the track had given an advantage, as the race director later decided.
Only Schumacher’s second-best lap, which was only enough for position 19, was counted. The son of record world champion Michael Schumacher will not have to start from this starting position on Sunday (from 3 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online), since Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari and Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas each start from the end of the field after penalties. Schumacher should start from 17th place, for Vettel from 12th.
Sainz and Magnussen are penalized for replacing parts on the drive unit, each exceeding the allowable limit. Sainz had previously been sanctioned on Friday after training with new control electronics for the drive unit.