Hamilton on pole in France, Vettel only seventh

[rooster59]

Hamilton on pole in France, Vettel only seventh

By Alan Baldwin

 

Formula One F1 - French Grand Prix - Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France - June 22, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action during qualifying REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

 

LE CASTELLET, France (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for the French Grand Prix in track record time on Saturday as Mercedes, chasing their 10th successive win, swept the front row of the grid in dominant fashion.

 

The Formula One world championship leader and last year's race winner was 0.286 seconds quicker than team mate Valtteri Bottas on another searingly hot afternoon at Le Castellet in the south of France.

 

The front row lockout was the 63rd for Mercedes, a Formula One record.

 

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified third with team mate Sebastian Vettel a distant seventh on a distinctly off day for the German.

 

The pole, won in a time of one minute 28.319 seconds, was a record-extending 86th of Hamilton's career and his third of the season. The time was 1.7 seconds faster than the lap he did last year to take the top slot.

 

"The first lap was fantastic, really, really happy with it," said the five-times world champion.

 

"The second run, I was on for one of the best laps I have done for a long time. And it’s crazy; it never gets old, it never gets easier and it’s always such a challenge, regardless of what position you are battling for."

 

Hamilton lost time at the end, a gust of wind blowing the back of his Mercedes out of shape, but he was still comfortably quickest.

 

The Briton is 29 points clear of Bottas after seven races, all won by the pair. Hamilton also triumphed in the last two of 2018.

 

Bottas was fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, after also leading final practice, but could not match Hamilton's sizzling pace when it mattered in the final top-10 shoot-out.

 

"The wind changed direction and there was a couple of corners my line didn't work and I had to work it out but Lewis had a better lap," said the Finn.

 

Mercedes have looked to be in a class of their own all weekend at a circuit suiting the characteristics of their car, with Hamilton or Bottas fastest in every practice session.

 

Leclerc, rather than Vettel, has consistently been the best of the rest.

 

Vettel struggled, backing out of his first hot lap and then failing to string together all the sectors smoothly on his second attempt.

 

"I don't know what happened, I lost so much momentum there was no point to finish that lap," said the German, who starts behind the Renault-powered McLarens of British rookie Lando Norris (fifth) and Spaniard Carlos Sainz (sixth).

 

"Some laps it felt good and others it didn't. I didn't get the best out of the car but it was difficult for me, some laps I didn't have he grip I had before."

 

Vettel's time of 1:29.799 was eighth tenths of a second slower than Leclerc's best.

 

McLaren's performance was their best in qualifying since 2016, when now-retired Jenson Button qualified third in Australia.

 

Leclerc, who starts with Red Bull's Max Verstappen alongside, asked the team over the radio to get Vettel to speed up, worried he might run out of time for a final quick lap.

 

Australian Daniel Ricciardo starts eighth for Renault and Red Bull's Pierre Gasly lines up ninth -- outqualified by Verstappen for the seventh time this year -- for his home race.

 

Italian Antonio Giovinazzi starts 10th for Alfa Romeo.

 

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Tony Lawrence)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-23

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[cornishcarlos]

Lando Norris in 5th ???? That's a nice result for the lad...

[fxe1200]

4 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

Lando Norris in 5th ???? That's a nice result for the lad...

....and may be the replacement for Vettel soon.

[geoffbezoz]

1 minute ago, fxe1200 said:

....and may be the replacement for Vettel soon.

I would think LeClerc is the natural successor to Vettel, possibly as early as next season. Norris to take over the number 2 seat ? well possible but doubt it

[cornishcarlos]

LeClerc is already Ferrari number 1, just no-one wants to admit it ????

Would be good to see Lando in a Red car but I have a feeling he will want to stay with Maclaren for a while.

Don't be surprised if they are fighting for podiums next year.

[Pedrogaz]

I don't much like Vettel. Poor sportsman and poor loser. His F1 Championship wins were all with Red Bull which had by far and away the best car at the time. I think that if he and Hamilton went toe to toe in identical cars, Hamilton would trounce him, he's just a better driver and much cooler under pressure.

[Lokie]

Vettel is not in same league as Hamilton, nearly every time he chokes under pressure and quickly throws his toys out of the  pram, the time penalty was warranted as he did rejoin in a dangerous manner, I know a lot said where else or what else could he have done, but he did come well over on the track to put Ham into the wall if he did not lift (so if he is a top driver as he thinks he could have held on track instead of coming right over to ensure Ham had to lift) penalty was correct, Hamilton was on his a$$ and he binned it into the turn, he would have been overtaken without that incident so result was right in end. 

 

If Ferrari had any sense they would off load Vettel if he does not start getting results and get Daniel Ricardo in - imagine how good he would be in a prancing horse for a season or two but Leclerc is the better driver there at moment and Vettel knows it, embarrassing yesterday him holding up the youngster, he is starting his pram antics as the only answer to Leclerc's talents in the Ferrari lol... Time to hang up his overalls me'thinks

[Basil B]

Only just beat Lewis to the fastest lap by 2/100 of a second, he was on a brand new set of soft tyres and Lewis was on a set of blistered hard tyres that he had done half the race on.