• Briton takes 75th career pole ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas• Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third on grid as F1 returns to FranceLewis Hamilton took pole for the French Grand Prix, the first driver to claim the top spot at the race on its return after a 10-year absence. He was pushed to the limit by his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas but the British driver nailed an exceptional final lap to deny the Finn. Both were well clear of Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari who was in third place, in front of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.Hamilton had looked in fine form throughout the session and pulled it together during Q3 with some clinical finishing. He had gone quickest on his first hot run in Q3, a tenth up on Bottas and two-tenths clear of Vettel. When they ran again, however, Bottas threw down the gauntlet with an exceptionally sharp lap on his final run. Hamilton responded, nailed the final sector and finished with a time of 1min 30.029sec, one-tenth up on the Finn and with Vettel floundering four-tenths back. Related: Losing F1 ‘a huge mistake’ says man behind French Grand Prix’s revival | Giles Richards Continue reading
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Source: TheGuardian
