With help from teammate, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took the pole for the 2022 French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet, France on Saturday.

Sainz, who will be starting from the rear of the field due to a power unit change, gave Leclerc a tow on the final lap to help the Monégasque driver, Leclerc, secure his 16th F1 pole of his career, edging out Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen, by 0.304 seconds.

"Leading up to this afternoon, it had been quite a difficult weekend for me. I struggled with the balance and knew that in this kind of heat, you pay the price for the smallest mistake because your tyres overheat," said Leclerc.

"Today, I felt good building up to that last lap in Q3. Carlos gave me a nice tow, which helped me to have a bigger margin and seal pole position. It was a good qualifying with great teamwork behind it," added Leclerc.

"For the Ferrari's to be on pole again shows that they have a great car and I expect them to be very quick again. It's good to have [Sergio Perez] alongside though and we are quick on the straights so let's see what we can do," said Verstappen.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez qualified P3 for Sunday's French Grand Prix.

Behind Perez was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton's teammate, George Russell, qualified sixth.

"I was quite happy with my lap and my performance at the end of Q3, it was a nice lap. But for whatever reason, we seem to be a lot further off this weekend, and so is the whole chasing pack. The two top teams are just in their own league performance-wise," said Hamilton who will start his 300th F1 Grand Prix on Sunday

Splitting the two Silver Arrows of Mercedes was McLaren driver Lando Norris.

"I'm very happy. P5 is a great result for us today. The car has been working very well, especially in the low fuel conditions. I feel like we did a very good job, extracted everything we could out of the car and I'm very happy with that," said Norris.

Verstappen was quickest in the morning practice session followed by Ferrari drivers Sainz and Leclerc.

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QUALFYING
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Pos	Driver		Team		Laps		Gap

1	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:30.872	143.811 mph
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:31.176	0.304
3	Perez		Red Bull	1:31.335	0.463
4	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:31.765	0.893
5	Norris		McLaren		1:32.032	1.160
6	Russell		Mercedes	1:32.131	1.259
7	Alonso		Alpine		1:32.552	1.680
8	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:32.780	1.908
9	Sainz		Ferrari		No Time	
10	Magnussen	Haas		No Time	
11	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:32.922	
12	Ocon		Alpine		1:33.048	
13	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:33.052	
14	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:33.276	
15	Albon		Williams	1:33.307	
16	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:33.439	
17	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:33.439	
18	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:33.674	
19	Schumacher	Haas		1:33.701	
20	Latifi		Williams	1:33.794


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FP3 
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Pos	Driver		Team		Laps		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:32.272	141.629 mph
2	Sainz		Ferrari		1:32.626	0.354
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:32.909	0.637
4	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.255	0.983
5	Perez		Red Bull	1:33.293	1.021
6	Russell		Mercedes	1:33.376	1.104
7	Alonso		Alpine		1:33.505	1.233
8	Albon		Williams	1:33.558	1.286
9	Norris		McLaren		1:33.669	1.397
10	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:33.751	1.479
11	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:33.788	1.516
12	Latifi		Williams	1:33.841	1.569
13	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:33.869	1.597
14	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:33.872	1.600
15	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:33.911	1.639
16	Magnussen	Haas		1:34.031	1.759
17	Ocon		Alpine		1:34.122	1.850
18	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:34.177	1.905
19	Schumacher	Haas		1:34.222	1.950
20	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:34.536	2.264