2022 F1 French GP: Qualifying Predictions

The first day of the 2022 F1 French GP is now in the rearview mirror and we have the Ferraris ruling the timesheet. A Ferrari driver topped the timesheets in both the free practice sessions while Red Bull appeared to be there or thereabouts.

So, what have we learned? What can we expect from the qualifying session tomorrow? Well, that's what we're here for! Find out as we share our predictions for the 2022 F1 French GP Qualifying.

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Disappointment of the session (Team)

Aston Martin does not have a car capable of qualifying well. The team has struggled with qualifying in the last few races. It has faced Q1 elimination in the last three races and by the looks of it, this weekend too, the car does not appear to have the ultimate one-lap speed to be competitive.

Will the two drivers be able to get out of Q1? At the moment, other than the Williams pair, it's hard to imagine any other driver whom the Aston Martins can comfortably outqualify. Even if they do, it's not looking impressive at the moment. Sure, come Sunday, the race pace is there for Aston Martin to progress through the field, but the team will need to find a solution fast because the compromise is starting to hurt the team now.

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Disappointment of the session (Driver)

Yuki Tsunoda is in an uncomfortable position at AlphaTauri this weekend. The 2022 F1 French GP is Pierre Gasly's home race. Nigel Mansell had this famous quote that the home race gave him an extra five-tenths in the car. As it turns out, Gasly is going through the Nigel Mansell phenomenon as the Frenchman was flying in the AlphaTauri.

Yuki Tsunoda, on the other hand, struggled to keep up with his teammate, and in qualifying, we expect the Japanese driver to be comfortably outqualified by his teammate.

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Surprise of the session (Team)

The free practice sessions were a bit inconclusive to judge the kind of race pace Haas had, but if there was one thing that was quite obvious, it was the one-lap pace of the car. Kevin Magnussen's soft tire run on low fuel was extremely impressive and definitely put the other teams on notice. There is quite a cluster of teams that forms behind the top-three teams in the timing sheets and for the F1 French GP Qualifying, we're picking Haas to be at the forefront of that cluster.

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Surprise of the session (Driver)

The F1 French GP appears to be a race where French driver Pierre Gasly is looking to stamp his authority. He's completely demolished whatever times his teammate Yuki Tsunoda set early in the sessions, and more or less, led the midfield on Friday.

Gasly appears to be the leading light of the midfield around Paul Ricard and by the looks of it, this is not because of the car but the driver. Gasly is putting AlphaTauri in places where the car does not necessarily belong and a Q3 result should be the minimum for the AlphaTauri driver.

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Top 3 in 2022 F1 French GP qualifying

At least for now, it appears as though the Ferraris have everything under control over a single lap. Having said that, the Italian team will be slightly concerned with its race pace as it appeared to struggle with tire wear in the long runs. Could the team dial things back a bit, just like it did in Barcelona when the Friday times were alarmingly slow on the long runs?

It's hard to speculate, but for now, it appears that Ferrari holds a significant advantage over Red Bull over a single lap. When it comes to predicting the top three in qualifying at the French GP, we're predicting P3 for Max Verstappen while the top-two slots will be occupied by the Ferraris.

In terms of pole position, it's hard to look beyond Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver is arguably the best qualifier in F1 right now and when push comes to shove, he always has something in reserve against Carlos Sainz.

Hence, when it comes to predicting our top three for the F1 French GP Qualifying, we're going with Max Verstappen in P3, Carlos Sainz in P2 (before the 10-place penalty), and Charles Leclerc for pole position.