Lewis Hamilton neared perfection at today's qualifying for the French Grand Prix, seemingly improving lap after lap to take pole with a new lap record. Valtteri Bottas finished second, leaving Mercedes' competition easily behind. For the top teams, the first part of qualifying was about saving tyres, given that the softs wear down so quickly. Everybody tried to get through with two hot laps on the same set of tyres, mixing a cool down lap in between the quick ones. That initially seemed to work out well, but as the session progressed, it became clear the track was evolving quite rapidly. Times tumbled quickly, especially in the final few minutes. Both Mercedes and Lerclec retained their...
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