Lewis Hamilton beats Valtteri Bottas to France pole as Mercedes dominate

French GP

Hamilton beats Bottas to France pole as Mercedes dominate

Silver Arrows in a league of their own!

Matthew Scott

Saturday 22 June 2019 16:00 Updated: 16:06

Lewis Hamilton overturned Valtteri Bottas' impressive form heading into qualifying by beating his team-mate to pole position for the French Grand Prix. The Mercedes pair were in a class of their own in qualifying, with Charles Leclerc taking third on the grid.

The Silver Arrows wiped the floor with their rivals all day long, and Sebastian Vettel's frustrating weekend sunk to anew low as he could only qualify seventh on the grid.

Leclerc was the only driver to cling onto Mercedes' coat-talis, but his Q3 lap was still six tenths adrift of Hamilton.

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Max Verstappen will start fourth, but one of the biggest stories came as McLaren locked out the third row.

The papaya cars have looked in good form all weekend, with Lando Norris heading Carlos Sainz rich reward for their efforts.

Daniel Ricciardo will start alongside Vettel on the fourth row in his upgraded Renault, outqualifying his Red Bull replacement Pierre Gasly for a second weekend in succession.

Gasly will start ninth alongside Alfa Romeo's Antonio GIovinazzi.

Q2

Alexander Albon and Nico Hulkenberg – both running without upgrades given to team-mates – went out, along with Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen, while Kimi Raikkonen was outqualified by Giovinazzi for a second race in a row.

Q1

Daniil Kvyat and George Russell, both set for penalties this weekend went out in Q1, along with Robert Kubica, Romain Grosjean and Lance Stroll – a 12th fall at the first hurdle for the Canadian, made all the more baffling as his team-mate Perez went through in P6.