Charles Leclerc to start French GP in pole position with Lewis Hamilton fourth after qualifying

CHARLES LECLERC used help from Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz to beat Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen to pole position for Sunday’s French Grand Prix.

British superstar Lewis Hamilton – preparing for his 300th F1 race -managed to qualify in fourth for Mercedes.

Sainz had nothing at stake since he was starting from the back of the grid after multiple engine-part changes, so Ferrari used him to give Leclerc a tow on his two runs in Q3.

Leclerc was up by just 0.008 seconds from Verstappen after his first run.

The team worked seamlessly on Leclerc’s second run as he beat his own leading time and finished 0.3secs ahead of the Dutch whiz and 0.46secs clear of the F1 champ’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

After securing pole, Leclerc said: “It was a great lap. I have to say thanks to Carlos for the help. It was great teamwork.

“It’s quite tricky to get it exactly right, in the first lap we were maybe a bit too close. In the second lap we adapted and it was a bit better.”

Leclerc thanked Sainz on the team radio after his seventh pole of the season and 16th of his career.

It was also a good sign of Ferrari working together, after Leclerc expressed frustration at team orders in Monaco and at the British GP.

Leclerc added: “It’s all about trust in the end. Carlos judged it perfectly and got out of the way at the right moment. It would have been a lot tighter with Max without the tow.”

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Verstappen said Ferrari’s tactics were smart but that it wasn’t something Red Bull could try, since they were both going for pole.

The Dutch star was happy with Red Bull’s straight-line speed but had a bit of trouble getting the tires in the right window in hot conditions that are set to increase for Sunday’s race.

Verstappen said: “On that final lap I just had two moments that cost me a bit of lap time. But we still have two cars in the top three, so that’s good.

“It was a bit more tricky than I would have hoped, but overall we have a decent car for tomorrow.”

Sainz’s engine caught fire near the end of the last Grand Prix in Austria two weeks ago.

He was handed a 10-place grid penalty on Friday because Ferrari changed the power unit, and extra engine changes on Saturday sent him to the last row with Kevin Magnussen, whose Haas team made similar engine changes.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was fifth and Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell in sixth – as under-pressure Daniel Ricciardo could only come in 11th.

Russell was still in the drop zone with four minutes left in Q2, and was worried about a potential yellow flag scuppering his final lap so he asked to come out as early as possible.

Ferrari are seeking a third consecutive victory following Sainz’s win at Silverstone and Leclerc’s drive to victory in Austria, where he trimmed Verstappen’s championship lead to 38 points.

Red Bull and Ferrari have won the first 11 races between them, with the former leading seven victories to four.