LE CASTELLET, France – Max Verstappen dug deep on his final flying lap during Formula One qualifying Saturday at Circuit Paul Ricard, and the effort was enough to give him the pole for the Emirates French Grand Prix.
Verstappen toured the 3.63-mile, 15-turn circuit in a record 1:29.990 with his Red Bull Racing RB16 to land the top spot on the grid for the second time this season.
It marked the fifth pole of Verstappen’s 127-race F-1 career and ended a two-year qualifying streak by seven-time F-1 champion Lewis Hamilton at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Hamilton was second-quick at 1:30.248 and fell a quarter second short of his third straight French Grand Prix pole. The Briton topped qualifying there in 2018 and ’19. Last year’s race fell to COVID-19.
“So far it has been a really positive weekend on a track where, normally, it has been a bit difficult for us,” noted Verstappen. “I think yesterday that FP2 was a bit of a turnaround and we just made it even better today. Of course, to get pole position, is always really nice.
“No points are scored today, but for us this was a great day,” Verstappen added. “Now, we have to finish it off tomorrow and try and get 25 points – what we lost in Baku. But this shows great promise from our side and I hope that we can keep it up.”
Despite a chassis swap between Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, the former secured his sixth front-row start in seven races this season.
“I’ve been generally unhappy in the car [all] weekend,” Hamilton said. “Congratulations to Max, he did a great job today. They’ve been incredibly quick. You see they’ve got a new engine this weekend, not a new spec or anything as far as I’m aware, but they’re quick down the straightaways.
“I think [we lost] a lot of time on the straights today, so we’ve got a race on our hands, and we’re loving the battle,” Hamilton added. “We’re just going to keep pushing, keep fighting and giving it everything [to succeed].”
Bottas and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, will share the second row of Sunday’s grid, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz qualifying fifth as “the best of the rest.”
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso were sixth through ninth, respectively.
The second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo closed out the top 10 in qualifying.