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Laurent Mekies, the Racing Director at Scuderia Ferrari, felt it was a ‘satisfactory’ performance by the Italian team during Qualifying for the French Grand Prix on Saturday, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc set to start fifth and seventh respectively on Sunday.

Mekies and the rest of the team knew they were unlikely to be able to contend for a third consecutive pole position at the Circuit Paul Ricard, with the French track a much different proposition to that of the Monaco or Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which were both on street circuits.

However, it was pleasing for Mekies to see the team being the best of the rest behind Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team around a track that they did not feel would play to the strengths of their SF21.

“All in all, it was a satisfactory qualifying,” said Mekies.  “We came here knowing that the hierarchy would be different to that seen at the two unusual tracks in Monaco and Baku and that the characteristics of the Paul Ricard circuit would not be ideally suited to our SF21.

“But once again, we were able to demonstrate that we are the best of those teams directly behind the two that are fighting for the championship. Furthermore, as in the three previous qualifying sessions, we got both our cars ahead of our direct rivals.

For only the second time in 2021, Carlos Sainz Jr. was able to get the better of team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Qualifying session, with the Spaniard set to start the French Grand Prix fifth on the grid.

After a troubled Friday where Sainz appeared to struggle, he was able to put together a strong run in Qualifying at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Saturday afternoon, and will line-up on the fifth row of the grid, the best of the rest behind the two Red Bull Racing and two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers.

Sainz, who joined Scuderia Ferrari at the beginning of 2021 after two years with the McLaren F1 Team, says he is continuing to find the limits with the SF21, and he was thrilled to qualify so far up the grid in France.

“Not a bad day for the team,” said Sainz.  “After a couple of eventful Saturdays, it’s good to have a clean quali like today.

“We managed to extract everything out of the car and show the progress we have made at this type of track. From my side, I continue to adapt and learn from the different conditions and corners, and today I felt at home with the car no matter what compound I was on.

Pole position for the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America went the way of Josef Newgarden after a bold tyre call in the Firestone Fast Six paid off in a big way.

Team Penske opted to send both Newgarden and Will Power out on the primary black Firestone tyres for the final laps of qualifying as they bid for pole position and Newgarden managed to hook the lap up superbly to put his car in the best possible place for tomorrow’s race.

He’ll be joined on the front row by Andretti Autosport’s young hotshot Colton Herta who went the other way on tyres, setting his best laps on the alternate red compound but he was two tenths off of Newgarden’s pole time.

Jack Harvey was again the driver to upset the applecart at the front as he and Meyer Shank Racing qualified third at a track where they have always performed admirably so their tails will be up for the race tomorrow.

Power couldn’t match Newgarden’s magic and had to settle for fourth from Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou and the third Penske car in the Fast Six in Simon Pagenaud.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas line up second and third for the French Grand Prix, with the weather looking unpredictable come Sunday.

Both Silver Arrows qualified ahead of Red Bull Racing‘s Sergio Pérez who lines up fourth, but behind championship leader Max Verstappen who took pole.

The race pace between the two teams looks too close to call, especially with a number of balance changes made to Hamilton’s car since his race run in free practice. Team Principal Toto Wolff is relishing the battle between the two teams and is looking forward to a titanic fight to take the win tomorrow.

“That was an exciting qualifying session and a solid performance to put our cars P2 and P3, with just a tenth of a second between them, but we weren’t quick enough to claim pole position today. We made a good step with Lewis’s car from yesterday, and he felt much more comfortable with the balance once he was running in qualifying; and Valtteri has bounced back strongly from a tough weekend in Baku.

“Like the cars around us, we will start the race on the Medium tyre, which will give us the opportunity to race hard tomorrow and hopefully put pressure on Max. The long runs yesterday looked closely matched, so I’m sure we’re in for a real fight all the way to the chequered flag.”

Lewis Hamilton qualified in second place at the French Grand Prix, to see himself line up alongside championship rival Max Verstappen who stormed to pole.

Hamilton has looked close to Verstappen all weekend, however he has always been a couple tenths behind, the story was the same for qualifying with Hamilton missing out on pole by just over two-tenths of a second.

Hamilton has made several balance changes since Friday, meaning that his true race pace is unknown going into Sunday, where the weather is also another unknown with rain forecast for the race.

The 15,000 fans in attendance are surely in for a treat on Sunday, where Hamilton will look to regain the championship lead.

“It’s great to see the fans here and it warms my heart to see people coming together finally after this difficult period for us all. It’s been a really hard weekend trying to get the car into a happy place and you wouldn’t believe all of the changes I’ve made since FP1. Congratulations to Max, he did a great job today.
 
“On long run pace I think the Red Bulls were a tenth or two quicker than us in FP2 but my car is in a much different place now so I’m just going to stay hopeful and do everything that I can tomorrow. Obviously in second you’ve got a fighting chance down to Turn 1 and there’s going to be some interesting strategy calls tomorrow. Maybe it’ll rain so we’ll potentially get to see the rain masters do their thing!

Max Verstappen took Red Bull Racing’s first ever pole position at the French Grand Prix, taking the top step after an unbelievable final lap leaving title rival Lewis Hamilton alongside him in second.

It was an unbelievable lap by Verstappen to take pole by just over 0.2 seconds, the Dutchman has looked the class of the field all weekend and is now in the best position to extend his championship lead tomorrow.

For Sergio Pérez it was a disappointing qualifying, the Mexican lines up in fourth after a messy final lap, leaving him behind both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers.

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner is incredibly proud of all the hard work going on at the team, with so much currently at stake.

“It was another great performance from Max today and it’s fantastic to see him take our first pole position in France. Together we’ve been improving the car throughout the weekend and to have Checo up there as well, building on the momentum from his Baku victory, is a great Team performance. Starting from pole certainly gives us confidence but we’re expecting Mercedes to be very competitive tomorrow.

Championship leader Max Verstappen will start from pole position, after a sensational final lap at the end of qualifying in France; team-mate Sergio Pérez lines up fourth.

Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen has looked the class of the field all weekend so far, taking pole by just over 0.2 seconds from championship rival Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen says that he wasn’t actually expecting to get pole position, as the Circuit Paul Ricard is one that in the past hasn’t suited the Red Bulls.

Nevertheless it is Verstappen who will be at the front of the field as the lights go out tomorrow, with the Dutchman expecting a battle with Hamilton on Sunday.

“To be able to put it on pole here, on a track that has not been our favourite in terms of performance, is very promising and a big boost for the Team. We really did not expect it so I am of course very happy. Everything has been working really well all weekend and from today even compared to yesterday we made a good improvement through hard work and maximising set-up.

“I was confident after FP3 but you never really know where you are or what everyone else will bring in Qualifying, so we should be very happy with this performance so far. There is a long run to Turn 1 so we have to get a good start tomorrow and for sure they will be very close but our long run pace in FP2 looked good so I expect another tight battle.”

For the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, it was a Friday to forget at the French Grand Prix, with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll ending the day fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.

For Vettel, who is coming into the weekend on the back of his unbelievable podium in Azerbaijan, it was the worst possible start to the day. The German span off during Free Practice One after being caught out in the windy conditions, the German was unable to keep his car out of the wall and suffered damage to the rear of his car.

The off resulted in Vettel missing valuable track time, leaving lots to do in the afternoon session. The team have a lot of time to find, with Vettel ending the day 1.6 seconds off the fastest lap. The German will be hoping to find something positive in Free Practice Three ahead of qualifying.

“The track conditions were hot and very windy, which caught me out this morning when I had a small off. It cost us some track time, but we recovered well in the afternoon. The long run was clean and we managed to get some consecutive laps together, which was important.”

“My performance run was not the best and I made a mistake, but today is about getting a feel for the car to make sure we perform in qualifying. I think we know where we can find gains and there are some things we can do better, which is where we will focus our energy tonight.”

It was a surprisingly promising opening day to the French Grand Prix for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, Kimi Räikkönen in a shock to some ended the day in ninth spot, just inside the top ten heading into Saturday.

The veteran driver looked strong in challenging breezy conditions, despite running across the kerb at turn two like the majority of the field. Unlike those who went wide at turn two, Räikkönen managed to escape with his car not damaged, a lucky escape for the 2007 world champion.

The aim for the Finnish driver going into qualifying will of course be to make qualifying three, a target that could be reached come qualifying.

“It wasn’t too bad out there, I even feel I could have been a few places higher with a better lap.

“The hope, of course, is that we can be somewhere around this region, in the top ten, when we get into qualifying: as always, we can try to find something more tonight, with the engineers, and squeeze some more performance out of the car, but it’s not a bad start.”

Lando Norris says the McLaren F1 Team have a lot they can improve on after a difficult opening day of the French Grand Prix on Friday.

The British racer, the only driver to have scored points in every race so far in 2021, ended ninth fastest in the morning session at the Circuit Paul Ricard, and was only tenth in the afternoon, although he was under a second away from top placed Max Verstappen.

Norris says the temperatures in France made it difficult to keep the tyres in a good operating window, so it will be up to everyone within the team to get around this issue and come back stronger across the rest of the weekend.

“Tough first day, tricky conditions playing the biggest part,” said Norris.  “The temperature made it difficult to keep the tyres in a good window. So, driving the car became a bit of a challenge especially with the wind.

“I think we’ve got a few bits we can definitely improve upon, but we still have quite a bit of work to do. It’s very close with the rest of the field so every little bit is going to help – but it’s also going to make qualifying tough going into tomorrow.

On the back of their podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team began the French Grand Prix with relative success. Yuki Tsunoda ended the opening day in thirteenth, whereas home-boy Pierre Gasly impressed in seventh during blustery conditions.

Overall it was a good opening day for both drivers, Gasly who is racing in front of his home crowd for the first time since 2019 looked strong, ending the day eight-tenths of a second off the fastest time.

Rookie Yuki Tsunoda also had a solid opening day at the Circuit Paul Ricard, a circuit which he has actually raced at before! The Japanese driver ended the day in thirteenth, but only three-tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

The windy conditions did catch both drivers out, Tsunoda had a slow spin out of the final corner during the morning session and Gasly ran over the kerbs on the exit of turn two, damaging his floor slightly.

Nevertheless Chief Race Engineer Jonathan Eddolls is hoping that based on the team’s opening day performance, that they can challenge for a qualifying three spot on Saturday.

After taking pole position in the previous two events in Monaco and Azerbaijan, Scuderia Ferrari go into the French Grand Prix weekend cautious about their chances of a three-peat, but Charles Leclerc enjoyed a positive afternoon at the Circuit Paul Ricard to place inside the top five.

The morning session in France seemed to suggest that Ferrari would not be a contender at the front compared to the last couple of rounds, but once they got on track in the afternoon, the pace reappeared and Leclerc was able to end fifth fastest, just behind Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso.

Leclerc admitted that with the strong winds and high temperatures, it was important to find a good car balance, but once they found a set-up that worked, he was able to extract the kind of pace that could see him become a threat at the front, at least on Saturday.

“The main focus today was on car balance,” said Leclerc.  “The wind was very strong, which made it tricky to drive, but that was the same for everyone so we just had to try and find a good way to manage in these conditions.

“In general, here things are looking more in line with what we expected compared to the last two race weekends, where we had pleasant surprises.

It was a good opening day for the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team, Frenchman Pierre Gasly looked strong in front of his home fans ending the day in seventh place, ahead of thirteenth place team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

At a windy Circuit Paul Ricard, the French flags flew high with 15,000 fans allowed in every day this weekend, giving home-boy Gasly a special feeling after now also being a race winner.

Like the majority of the field Gasly found the conditions tricky, nevertheless he improved by a whole second in Free Practice Two to end the day in seventh, after being eighth after Free Practice One. The Frenchman was 0.824 seconds off the fastest time.

Gasly will be hoping to keep the impressive start to the weekend going, and do all he can to make qualifying three on Saturday.

“Today was an ok day, however it’s been quite difficult with the wind which has made the car very tricky to drive. In terms of performance, I think it’s good that we’ve ended both sessions within the top 10, but it’s definitely been more difficult than the last two weekends. We’ve been working on the balance of the car today, so we’ll analyse all the data tonight and make some improvements to the set-up of the car to be more confident out on track tomorrow.”

Joel Eriksson says this weekend’s Puebla E-Prix represents a ‘dream coming true’, as the Swede makes his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship debut for Dragon/Penske Autosport.

The twenty-two-year-old is stepping into the seat of Nico Müller for this weekend’s double header in Mexico as the Swiss racer competes in the DTM Series. 

And for Eriksson, it is the realisation of a dream that he has been wanting for several years.

“This is a dream coming true,” said Eriksson. “Formula E has been on my wish list for several years, and I’ve been working to get myself to this very point, about to contest my first couple of races.

“To do so in a season where the series has received official world championship status makes it even sweeter.  I’m incredibly happy to be back in a race mode and I will give it everything I’ve got to pay back the team’s faith in me.”

Fernando Alonso feels the Alpine F1 Team are looking ‘quite competitive’ this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard, with the Spaniard ending the opening day of practice fourth fastest overall.

Alonso placed seventh fastest in the morning session but was less than half a second down on the outright pace when practice continued in the afternoon, with his time of 1:33.340 putting him inside the top four.

And the two-time World Champion says they’ll be doing everything they can to convert their Friday pace into a strong performance across Saturday’s Qualifying session and Sunday’s race in France.

“We faced quite tricky conditions today with some strong winds and high track temperatures, but I think we can be quite pleased with what we managed to achieve from Friday practice,” said Alonso.

“We tested a few items in FP1 and then we followed our programme for the afternoon in FP2 with some decent mileage clocked. We’ll analyse all of our data now and this evening, but so far I think we look quite competitive here so let’s see how we go tomorrow.”