2022 French GP Qualifying Update

James Punt has already penned an in-depth outright French GP preview, read it here. Today we’ll find out who gets pole position, check out James’ 2022 French GP Qualifying Update below.

2022 French GP Qualifying

Usually after three free practice sessions we have some sort of idea of who is where in terms of performance, but not so much this weekend.

Yesterday it was Ferrari fastest in both sessions and by some margin. Even then, Ferrari said they were not sure about Red Bull’s real pace, and they were right to be suspicious. Come today and it was the Red Bull which was faster by 0.354.

On Friday Red Bull were faster in the longer runs but Ferrari faster over one lap. It was the size of the one lap pace which was surprising. The teams will have gone away and made changes and today the Red Bull was faster over one lap. It was doing it the same way, by being faster on the straights, running lower downforce. Ferrari are running more downforce which worked on Friday, but not today. Have Red Bull just found their sweet spot and Ferrari not?

Race Set Up

In terms of having a good race set up, the Red Bulls looks better. This is a track where straight line speed means you can overtake. Ferrari were banking on getting pole and controlling the race, but would they be able to keep the Bulls at bay? I doubt it. Now, if Max can get pole position, he should be able to run off and hide. If he doesn’t, he will be putting them under pressure on the straights and the DRS is powerful on this track.

The two teams have taken a different strategic approach for this race. One of them will be wrong. Who’s your money on being right? Mine is on Red Bull. It was Ferrari who were left scratching their heads at the end of FP3. The soft tyre, which was at its best after a couple of laps on Friday, was done after a lap and a half today.

I suspect that Red Bull ran with more fuel yesterday, maybe in a lower engine mode, and now they are showing what they have got when it’s a bit late for Ferrari to react. Charles Leclerc is an excellent qualifier, and he can’t be ruled out, but he was 0.637 slower this afternoon.

2022 French GP Qualifying Tip: 2 points Max Verstappen to be the fastest qualifier @ 1.91 with Betfred, Betvictor, Boylesports (2.10 Betfair Exchange)

Elsewhere, the much vaunted Mercedes upgrade has made no difference, they are still around 1 second off the pace. McLaren are a little better and might get both cars into Q3. Alpha Tauri looked decent yesterday, and they will be aiming for Q3, but the real improvers are Williams.

Albon has been 8th in two of the three sessions and even Latifi was 12th in FP3. Two Williams in Q3? Unlikely, but Albon was only 0.053 off Alonso’s time in FP3, and Alonso was ‘best of the rest’. Latifi was just 0.09 off 10th place. The odds aren’t great to be honest, but I can’t resist.

2022 French GP Qualifying Tip: 1 point both Williams to reach Q3 @ 4.50 with Ladbrokes

Alpine have confused. Off the pace yesterday but Alonso was 7th in FP3, Ocon way back in 17th.

The final update will be posted around an hour before the start of tomorrow’s race.

Finally, an apology. I made a mistake in the original preview. It said 1 point Under 17.5 finishers with Ladbrokes, when of course it should have said Over. I hope you all picked up on the error and got the correct bet on. Thanks to Tony Ansell for bringing it to my attention.

-JamesPunt