Hamilton holds off Bottas to claim French GP pole

Lewis Hamilton held off the competition from team-mate Valtteri Bottas to claim pole in the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard, with the Mercedes dominant, finishing well clear of Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton was in control for much of qualifying and recorded a 1.30.029 to finish just ahead of Bottas, who produced a superb final lap to put pressure on his team-mate in a session where the others, including the Ferraris, struggled to keep pace.

Vettel had to settle for third spot in the end, while the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were never really in the hunt and will start Sunday's race in fourth and fifth, with Kimi Raikkonen down in sixth.

Q3 was red flagged halfway through after the unfortunate Romain Grosjean, on his home circuit, spun out and into the tyre wall, but the rain that threatened to come never arrived, allowing Mercedes to claim a one-two, with ominous form going into the race.

Q2

Cars begun to queue in the pit lane at the start of Q2 as the rain started to fall, as the teams all wanted to record a fast lap time in the dry, and Lewis Hamilton sent the tempo with a superb 1.30.645 to stay ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. A superb drive from Charles Leclerc put him into Q3 in tenth spot, with Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Marcus Ericsson.

Q1

It was a disaster for McLaren, with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne only 16th and 18th fastest and therefore eliminated from the session. Things weren't much better for Williams, with Lance Stroll leaving the track and ultimately finishing last, while Sergey Sirotkin could only manage 19th. Brendon Hartley made up those who exited qualifying easrly, while Lewis Hamilton went fastest.