Leclerc On Pole Ahead Of Verstappen For French Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc scorched to a sizzling pole position with a commanding lap in Saturday's sun-baked qualifying session at the French Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver beating series leader and world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull by 0.304 seconds

Le Castellet, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Jul, 2022 ) :Charles Leclerc scorched to a sizzling pole position with a commanding lap in Saturday's sun-baked qualifying session at the French Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver beating series leader and world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull by 0.304 seconds.

The 24-year-old Monegasque driver clocked a best lap of one minute and 30.872 seconds to claim his seventh pole this year and the 16th of his career in front of a sell-out crowd at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Leclerc was assisted by Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz giving him a decisive slip-streaming 'tow' on the long back straight.

"Grande Carlos!" said Leclerc on his slowing down lap.

The Spaniard, very fast throughout practice, will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid after taking penalties for new engine components.

Verstappen was second behind Leclerc ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton fourth for Mercedes ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren and George Russell in the second Mercedes.

"It was a great lap," said Leclerc, who is bidding to complete a hat-trick of Ferrari victories and reduce Verstappen's 38 points lead in the title race. "But I have to thank Carlos for his help -- and I hope he can get forward and challenge in the race." Verstappen said he felt his car lacked grip in the hot and windy conditions. "It was a bit more tricky than I hoped for, but we have a decent race car and great pace on the straights. So, we will see tomorrow, but Ferrari are clearly very quick again." Perez said he was glad to have rediscovered some form after struggling in recent weeks. "It's been a good recovery and the target is to recover some more and beat those red cars. They looked strong today."Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was seventh for Alpine ahead of Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri with both Sainz and Haas's Kevin Magnussen opting not to clock laps in Q3 because of their grid penalties.

They will start together from the back row after taking new engine parts.