Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton secured the 75th pole position of his career with a blistering lap at the French Grand Prix in Saturday’s qualifying.

Hamilton stormed to pole on Formula One’s first visit to France in a decade with a dominant display at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Hamilton saw off Mercedes teammate Valterri Bottas by more than one-tenth of a second, while Sebastian Vettel – whom he trails by a single championship point – finished third, four-tenths back.

On Saturday, armed with a new engine, Hamilton made no mistake in settling the challenge from Bottas as Mercedes secured an ominous front-row lockout.

Championship leader, Sebastian Vettel, could not match any of the two Mercedes drivers, but his Ferrari’s race pace might just be something to look out for.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull will start from fourth and fifth respectively, while Kimi Raikkonen’s struggles continued as he could only qualify in sixth place.

Former champion Fernando Alonso could only make it to 16th place as McLaren’s struggles continued.

Hamilton will be the favourite to win tomorrow’s race and regain the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, but as previous races have shown, nothing is ever certain when it comes to Formula One.

Qualifying results:

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