Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean qualified 15th and 17th, respectively, for Sunday’s French Grand Prix, the eighth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. Grosjean will start Sunday’s race from 16th as Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso moved to the back of the grid after a power unit change.
Magnussen executed a relatively clean Q1 session and laid down a lap of 1:31.166 around the 5.842-kilometer (3.630-mile), 15-turn circuit to take the 12th spot on the timesheet, advancing him to Q2 along with the rest of the top-15. Grosjean encountered traffic issues while attempting to lay down his best lap of the session and had to settle for the 17th-quick time of 1:31.626.
Q2 proved to be more challenging with traffic for Magnussen, whose best lap of 1:31.440 claimed the 15th position on the grid. Only the top-10 drivers advance to Q3.
Both Magnussen and Grosjean ran exclusively on the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tire throughout qualifying.
Taking the pole for the French Grand Prix was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, whose fast Q3 lap of 1:28.319 shattered his track record of 1:30.029 set last year. It was his 86th career pole and fourth this season. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas was .286 of a second behind to take the second position on the grid.
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team PR
