French Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin qualified 15th and 18th, respectively, for Sunday’s French Grand Prix, Round 7 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Mazepin and Schumacher had to abandon their opening Q1 runs with Yuki Tsunoda’s stricken AlphaTauri bringing out the red flags at Turn 2 just four minutes into proceedings. When the session resumed Schumacher subsequently banked a 1:32.942 lap with Mazepin clocking a best effort of 1:33.554. A late crash for Schumacher at Turn 7 brought a premature end to Q1 and the German’s participation in qualifying. 

Sitting 14th on the timesheets, and with the field forced to abort their final flying runs due to the red flag – including that of his teammate, Schumacher’s best lap time was good enough to advance to Q2 – with the fastest 15 in Q1 progressing. However, the German was unable to participate in Q2 due to the damage sustained on his VF-21. Mazepin was out in Q1 with the Russian classified 18th ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and fellow rookie Tsunoda.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed his second pole position of the season and the fifth of his Formula 1 career. Verstappen’s fastest Q3 lap of 1:29.990 beat Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by .258 of a second.

 

Nikita Mazepin, Driver No. 9, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“I wasn’t entirely happy with the car. We have FP1, FP2 and FP3 giving you time to get into the groove and set your time but Q1 sometimes can be very different. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my lap time done when it needed to be done and as fast as it needed to be. If you have two red flags in a session and it’s that short, that’s what happens. If you look at the statistics, things like this don’t happen often but obviously when they do happen, Saturday night’s sleep gets a bit interrupted, shall we say. It’s just one of those things. The race is so long that you finish where your speed is, so let’s see.”


Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“I pushed too hard going into the corner and that kicked out the rear. The car is very wind affected – I don’t know if that would have triggered some extra oversteer. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to get into our first Q2 session of the year, so things brighten up and hopefully we can get more of those days in the future. There is damage to the car, how great we don’t know yet. If everything is ok we’ll start from there and obviously it is on paper, and that’s what matters to me. If something happens, I’ve got 53 laps to catch-up. I’m optimistic that we see the light at the end of the tunnel. The team is getting more motivated every day, I am more motivated every day and those results prove that our hard work is growing.”

 

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“It would’ve been a good day if we hadn’t crashed on Mick’s last run. We’re still investigating the gearbox and if we need to change it or not. At the moment it seems we don’t, so let’s hope it stays like this as this would be the first time this year that we’ve got into Q2. Otherwise, nothing big to report as we just went on. Let’s hope we can start from where we are now.”

 

Saturday Data

Event: Qualifying for the French Grand Prix – Saturday June 19
Location: Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet
Layout: 5.842-kilometer (3.630-mile), 15-turn circuit
Weather: Sunny
Air Temps: 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 degrees Fahrenheit)
Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:29.990) 
Result: Mick Schumacher qualified 15th, Nikita Mazepin qualified 18th 

Free Practice No. 3 Rundown

Schumacher: 19th overall (1:34.143), 14 laps completed
Mazepin: 20th overall (1:34.642), 13 laps completed
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:31.300)

Q1 Rundown: 

18-minute session with all 20 drivers – Top 15 advance to Q2

Schumacher: 14th overall (1:32.942), Advances to Q2
Mazepin: 18th overall (1:33.554)
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:31.001) 

Q2 Rundown: 

15-minute session featuring the Top 15 from Q1 – Top 10 advance to Q3

Schumacher: 15th overall (No Time Set) 
Fastest: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:30.735) 

Q3 Rundown: 

12-minute session featuring the Top 10 from Q2

Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:29.990)
Second: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:30.248)