WATCH: Mick Schumacher has made it to the second qualifying session in France after crashing and causing a Red Flag, will start P15 tomorrow as it stands.
In a season of Red Flags, the first qualifying session of the ongoing French Grand Prix has seen not one, but two Red Flags.
First, it was Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri who wiggled his way out of the track right at the start of his session out lap. This adds to his already difficult rookie season so far and will start right at the back tomorrow.
The second Red Flag happened right towards the dying seconds of the session, caused by Mick Schumacher, another rookie. The German was P14 when he spun and crashed into the barriers, causing a Red Flag, and an end to the session. This ensured he made it to P2, but will only start P15, also adding to the money-saving Haas expense bill in the process.
Mick Schumacher does a Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc had crashed in the Monaco GP Q3 to take pole position, and Schumacher has done something similar. This had led to many suggesting FIA bring in a rule where the fastest driver to miss out on the session due to the Red Flag is allowed to make it to the next session, in place of the driver who made the crash and subsequent Red Flag happen.
In this case, Nicholas Latifi was the unfortunate one, as he was in P16 in his Williams when Mick crashed. Nevertheless, he finished ahead of the veteran Kimi Raikkonen and would be content with his day.
Meanwhile, a brilliant Q3 saw a see-saw battle between Red Bull and Mercedes, with Max Verstappen securing the pole position. Arch-rival Lewis Hamilton will start alongside him in P2, with their teammates Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in P3 and P4, respectively.
Also read F1 French GP 2021 Live Stream & Telecast: When and where to watch the Grand Prix in France?
