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Verstappen claims pole for French GP after 2 red flags during Q1

Bryn Lennon - Formula 1 / Formula 1 / Getty

The battle between Red Bull and Mercedes continued Saturday when Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Sunday’s French Grand Prix following a crash-filled qualifying session that included two red flags during Q1.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes followed Verstappen, respectively. The 23-year-old's Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified fourth overall.

Pos. Driver Team Time
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:29.990
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.258
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.386
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.455
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.850
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +0.878
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.997
8 Lando Norris McLaren +1.262
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1.350
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1.392
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine Q2
12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Q2
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Q2
14 George Russell Williams Q2
15 Mick Schumacher Haas Q2
16 Nicolas Latifi Williams Q1
17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Q1
18 Nikita Mazepin Haas Q1
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Q1
20 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Q1

The solid qualifying result for the Red Bulls comes after Verstappen was unable to finish the season's last race at Azerbaijan.

"No points are scored today, but we have to finish it off tomorrow and try and get the 25 points we lost in Baku," Verstappen said after claiming pole position, according to F1.

Qualifying got off to a rocky start when AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda and Haas' Mick Schumacher were responsible for the two red flags during Q1. Schumacher would have reached Q2 for the first time if he had finished the first session.

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