Lando Norris concedes he was frustrated to miss out on beating Max Verstappen to fourth place in qualifying by 0.009s for the French Grand Prix, and duly see his McLaren qualify ahead of both Red Bulls, as the team enjoyed its best qualifying result for almost three years.
Lewis Hamilton says he “knew where to find the time” to beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to pole position at the French Grand Prix having felt the Finn had been producing “some epic laps” during practice and qualifying.
Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean will all see the FIA race stewards following an incident at the start of qualifying for the French Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton says “it was kind of cool” saving his FP2 slide from the barriers as he escaped a penalty following an FIA investigation for his run-in with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of the French Grand Prix.
While Valtteri Bottas remains upbeat with his qualifying performances compared to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton he still feels work needs to be done on his race pace to match the five-time Formula 1 world champion in the title race.
Charles Leclerc says he wouldn’t have been able to improve his finishing position at the Canadian Grand Prix despite being unaware of Sebastian Vettel’s time penalty as he was “pushing hard” and unable to make up the deficit.
Kimi Raikkonen believes the push to allow Formula 1 drivers to fight on track was only through the understanding of “smart, fair” racing and feels while the drivers are united in meetings the incidents can divide them on track.
Jorge Navarro stormed through Q1 and dominated Q2, with not even a late tumble preventing him from securing pole for the second race in a row ahead of the French Moto2 Grand Prix at Le Mans.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has urged Formula 1 to assess the benefits of hosting triple-headers and feels they should be avoided in the future if there are no outstanding gains in terms of revenue or fan interest.
Formula 1 Managing Director of Motorsports Ross Brawn says assurances have been made that French Grand Prix organisers will learn from its traffic chaos at Paul Ricard for next year’s race to avoid similar problems.
Kimi Raikkonen has backed the Formula 1 race stewards’ decision on his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel’s penalty for colliding with Valtteri Bottas as he powered his way up the order to the podium at the French Grand Prix.
FIA race director Charlie Whiting says Formula 1 race stewards' decisions are made without weighing up the impact of each incident and Sebastian Vettel’s five-second time penalty for clashing with Valtteri Bottas was in line with previous decisions.
Lewis Hamilton feels Sebastian Vettel’s penalty for colliding with Valtteri Bottas didn’t fit the result from the incident and denied Mercedes a 1-2 finish after its “constructive and critical” look into its recent performances boosted by its engine update.
Sebastian Vettel has held his hands up for his part in the first corner crash with Valtteri Bottas and feels he had “nowhere to go” after his strong start off the line.
Current Formula 1 world championship standings after the French Grand Prix, the eighth round of the 2018 F1 season at Circuit Paul Ricard, France. 1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 145 points
Full race results for the French Grand Prix, the eighth round of the 2018 F1 season at the Circuit Paul Ricard, France. Formula 1 French Grand Prix – Full race classification 1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 53 laps
Charles Leclerc says he has no interest in focusing on his Formula 1 future and a potential move to Ferrari after recent reports linked him to a ‘dream’ move to the Italian manufacturer in 2019.
Charles Leclerc has admitted he thought a maiden pole position shootout entry for Alfa Romeo Sauber looked near-impossible after his Friday practice was “a disaster” at Paul Ricard.
Kimi Raikkonen has acknowledged a repeat issue is occurring during his qualifying performances this season for Ferrari as he suffered another drop off in Q3 to qualify down in sixth place for the French Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton hopes Ferrari “maybe made a mistake” with its qualifying tyre tactics which sees both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen start on the softest option tyres for the French Grand Prix after the British driver grabbed pole position.