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Lewis Hamilton on pole in France, Sebastian Vettel only seventh

LE CASTELLET, France — Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for the French Grand Prix in track record time as Mercedes, chasing their 10th successive win, swept the front row of the grid in dominant fashion on Saturday. The Formula One world championship leader was 0.286 seconds quicker than team mate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified third with team mate Sebastian Vettel a distant seventh on a distinctly off day for the German. The pole, in a time of one minute 28.319 seconds, was a record-extending 86th of Hamilton's career and his third of the season. "I'm happy that I got the potential out of the car, the team did a fantastic job," said five-times world champion Hamilton, last year's winner from pole at Le Castellet's Paul Ricard circuit. "We've just been chipping away at improving the set-up of the car," added the Briton, who is 29 points clear of Bottas after seven races — all won by the pair. Hamilton also triumphed in the last two of 2018. Bottas was fastest in the second phase of qualifying but could not match Hamilton's sizzling pace when it mattered in the final shoot-out. "The wind changed direction and there was a couple of corners my line didn't work and I had to work it out but Lewis had a better lap," said the Finn. Mercedes have looked to be in a class of their own all weekend, with Hamilton or Bottas fastest in every practice session with Leclerc, rather than Vettel, consistently the best of the rest. Vettel struggled, backing out of his first hot lap and then failing to string together all the sectors smoothly on his second attempt. "I don't know what happened, I lost so much momentum there was no point to finish that lap," said the German, who starts behind the Renault-powered McLarens of British rookie Lando Norris (fifth) and Spaniard Carlos Sainz (sixth). "Some laps it felt good and others it didn't. I didn't get the best out of the car but it was difficult for me, but some laps I didn't have he grip I had before." Vettel's time of 1:29.799 was eighth tenths of a second slower than Leclerc's best. Leclerc, who starts with Red Bull's Max Verstappen alongside, asked the team over the radio to get Vettel to speed up but the Monegasque said his lap had not been compromised. Australian Daniel Ricciardo starts eighth for Renault and Red Bull's Pierre Gasly lines up ninth for his home race with Italian Antonio Giovinazzi 10th for Alfa Romeo.

Ferrari revealed the LaFerrari Aperta, and yeah, it's already sold out

We saw this one coming as far away as the mid-engine Corvette: The LaFerrari is getting a convertible version. Publically revealed Thursday at the Paris Motor Show, the LaFerrari Aperta promises the same performance as the regular LaFerrari – with an open-air design. We had seen it already, actually, but today brought confirmation that it will be called Aperta, not Spider. It's already sold out (duh) and will be limited to 209 copies. Two hundred of those go to regular people, or Ferrari customers anyway, and nine will be held back by the company to show off at events in 2017 as the automaker celebrates its 70th anniversary. Ferrari says the LaFerrari Aperta maintains the torsional rigidity and aerodynamics of the hardtop. The powertrain is the same: a V12 paired with an electric motor and KERS technology to generate 949 total horsepower. Meanwhile, Ferrari revealed details on five liveries to celebrate its 70th anniversary based on its current product line with a total of 350 units set to be produced. They are: The Steve McQueen, which takes inspiration from SMQ's iconic 1960s 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso. The Green Jewel, a green scheme based on the 365 P2 from Le Mans competition. The Stirling, which evokes a 250 GT Berlinetta SWB from 1961 driven to victory by Stirling Moss. The Schumacher, a red color scheme based on Ferrari's 2003 Formula One car piloted to seven victories by Michael Schumacher. The White Spider, a tribute to the 375 MM Pinin Farina Spider. The company also showed the rear-wheel-drive, turbo V8-powered GTC4 Lusso T for the first time at an auto show. As you can tell, the Paris show is a busy one for Ferrari. That's fine with us. Related Video: Featured Gallery Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta: Paris 2016 View 21 Photos Related Gallery Ferrari LaFerrari Spider Related Gallery Ferrari 488 Spider 70th Anniversary Edition: Paris 2016 View 10 Photos Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Design/Style Paris Motor Show Ferrari Convertible Performance ferrari laferrari 2016 paris motor show ferrari laferrari spider ferrari laferrari aperta

Race Recap: Monaco Grand Prix makes the kettle boil [spoilers]

It's not hard to believe that 80 percent of the action at the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix happened didn't have to do with straight-up racing. Mercedes AMG Petronas wasn't expected to maintain its obscene advantage over the field with Monaco being a short track that rewards corner speed over top speed, but they still ruled two of the three Free Practice sessions.
Off the track, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said he thought it should be easier to beat his teammate and that he was hungrier than his teammate. Then came qualifying and Mirabeau, when Nico Rosberg had set the pole lap in the dying moments of Q3, and as the final few drivers tried to best it on their last chance - including Hamilton, who said he was on the lap that would have got him pole position - Rosberg overcooked it into Mirabeau and brought out a local yellow, killing everyone's chance to better his time. Although the sun was shining in Monaco, the paddock got cold as ice; Rosberg and Hamilton didn't look at one another, speak to one another or touch one another. Rosberg said, "It was an honest mistake." After the race, a disbelieving Hamilton said to the press, "I wish you could have seen the data."
They still lined up first on the grid, though, Rosberg ahead of Hamilton, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen for Ferrari, Jean-Eric Vergne in the first Toro Rosso and Daniel Kvyat in the second in ninth, split by McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen in eighth, and Sergio Perez in the Force India in tenth.