00:01Here comes Joe Guanyu down the main straight, was 16th, stays 16th, he's out of qualifying.
00:06No Q3 for Joe Guanyu on this particular occasion.
00:10But Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher are both putting in personal bets in each sector on their lap so far.
00:16Yuki Tsunoda crosses the line, stays 11th.
00:19Here's Mick Schumacher desperately trying to get out of the bottom six, as is, bottom five I should say,
00:25as is Lance Stroll, who's currently at the moment the man who's safest and is still safe, but on the
00:32cusp.
00:33No one improving their times until Mick Schumacher knocks Lance Stroll out, Schumacher goes 10th fastest.
00:39So, identical times for Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll as Sebastian Vettel now goes 11th fastest.
00:46Well done to him, great lap. Kevin Magnussen right at the end puts in a lap that is 6th fastest,
00:50whilst his teammate Mick Schumacher is down an 11th, that's the top six for Mick Schumacher.
00:56Danny Rick, oh hang on two seconds, as we watch Alexander Albon.
01:02Schumacher has lost his time as well.
01:04That's the spin for Alex Albon.
01:06But what we've got here is Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher both having a lap time deleted for exceeding track
01:15limits.
01:17Not good for Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll complaining about traffic, Joe Guanyu just couldn't improve.
01:22Mick Schumacher paid the penalty for exceeding track limits and Nicolas Satifi's slowest of all.
01:29Where does Sebastian Vettel jump to? Down the main straight we go, stays outside the bottom five, he just didn't
01:36have the grip in the final sector.
01:38Bottas goes 7th fastest overall. Bottas had a shock in first sector as well, a 23-4 versus the quickest
01:44we've seen as a 22-6, 8 tenths off the Ferrari.
01:47Tsunoda goes 6th fastest. Was it shocking for Valtteri Bottas or was he saving a bit in his tyres? Not
01:52pushing too hard I wonder.
01:53Fernando Alonso goes 5th fastest overall. George Russell was 15th and he's now 6th.
01:58That pushes Bottas right to the cusp because Magnussen and Hamilton are still out there trying to improve their times.
02:05Valtteri Bottas is now out of the qualifying session because Daniel Ricciardo has just gone 9th fastest overall.
02:12So Esteban Ocon now is the man at risk. Kevin Magnussen will start at the back of the grid. Can
02:17he get into Q3? Yes he can.
02:18He goes 7th fastest. Puts Daniel Ricciardo at risk as Lewis Hamilton now to cross the line. Hamilton goes top
02:25five. Ricciardo is out of qualifying.
02:29Norris is safely through. Ricciardo is out alongside Ocon and Bottas, Vettel and Albon.
02:37For 27-8 Verstappenstein, the mid-sector versus the 28-1 of Charles Leclerc. So the slipstream's not worked at
02:43the moment.
02:44It may work over the lap but certainly not where the Ferrari wanted it with the intention.
02:48Leclerc is now ahead of Carlos Sainz as you would expect.
02:51A 1.31.6 for Sergio Perez and we're on board with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
02:56Fernando Alonso goes 1.8 seconds slower than Sergio Perez.
03:01Yuki Tsunoda goes a couple of tenths slower than Fernando Alonso.
03:04Charles Leclerc will now cross the line and will take provisional pole from Sergio Perez by that 4 tenths of
03:10a second.
03:11So all attention now turns to Max Verstappen who is ahead in the middle sector of the Ferrari.
03:16And Verstappen crosses the line, can only go second fastest.
03:20But that's Ferrari with the toe getting a lap time.
03:23There's only eight one thousandths of a second quicker than Max Verstappen.
03:27Hamilton goes fourth fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso and then Yuki Tsunoda.
03:32And we look back to George Russell who replaces his teammate provisionally on the second row by just a few
03:38one hundredths of a second.
03:39Lando Norris goes sixth fastest.
03:42Here's the slipstream coming up so he's toes him all the way up through scene and I think he'll pull
03:46to the right.
03:47And Laboussi, I mean that's absolutely spot on.
03:50It couldn't have been any better done to be honest from Carlos Sainz.
03:53Because it's flat through scene, that corner, the right-hander.
03:56Then pulls to the right.
03:57It's almost like you told him what to do.
04:0122-7 for the first sector for Sergio Perez.
04:0523-1 for Fernando Alonso and a 23-3 for Yuki Tsunoda.
04:08That's very decent from Sergio Perez.
04:10That's a tenth quicker than he was able to do before and that's what we're saying.
04:13That's where the evolution comes.
04:14That's where you need to start pushing the brake pedal.
04:16A little bit harder and there's Leclerc just done the best first sector of anybody.
04:190.01 up.
04:22You can see Sainz just up there in the distance.
04:24So they're going for the same strategy again.
04:25The toe from turn nine all the way to turn 11.
04:29They're probably going to stay on board as well.
04:31And Verstappen, what's he been able to do?
04:32So Verstappen's down through that first sector.
04:34He's not replicated his first sector from beforehand.
04:36Charles Leclerc then with the edge.
04:39Currently has a provisional pole and currently ahead in times on this final flying lap.
04:44There goes the toe that Carlos Sainz is giving Charles Leclerc.
04:47And once again he'll keep her head through the same corner and then back out into Lobosa.
04:52And that's two tenths up on what he was able to do before in the mid-sector Crofty.
04:55So that's what he had to do and he had to use that toe.
04:58So I would suspect he's going to be there.
04:59But Verstappen is 0.12 up as well.
05:02Probably not enough at this point but that 27.8 in the mid-sector.
05:06Only a tenth up on what Leclerc was able to do.
05:08So it ain't over till it's over.
05:10But Verstappen's got it all to do here.
05:12The man on provisional pole is Charles Leclerc.
05:15He is looking good to retain that and keep it as well.
05:18Decent pace from the two Mercedes on this lap.
05:21And Hamilton ahead of George Russell by three tenths.
05:23Leclerc crosses the line. He's extended his advantage.
05:27Gets a big cheer from the crowd.
05:29Charles Leclerc on provisional pole.
05:31Max Verstappen five times this season.
05:34They have been first and second in qualifying.
05:36We'll make that six.
05:38And it's Charles Leclerc on pole from Max Verstappen here at Paul Ricard.
05:43Lewis Hamilton, previous pole sitter here, gets onto the second row.
05:47With his final run in that Mercedes.
05:49Can George Russell, his teammate at Mercedes, deny him?
05:52Russell crosses the line. No.
05:54Stays fifth. Hamilton out qualifies Russell.
05:56And that's six apiece in the Mercedes head-to-head battle.
06:00And then Lando Norris splits the two Mercedes.
06:03And makes it three bits in a row on the grid.
06:06Hamilton ahead of Norris, ahead of Russell.
06:09That is a fine lap from Lando Norris in a McLaren car
06:13that looks a lot better this weekend, it has to be said.
06:15Fernando Alonso, seventh fastest ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
06:19Carlos Sainz didn't set a time.
06:21Neither did Kevin Magnussen.
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