French GP: Lando Norris wants to attack Max Verstappen from fifth

Lando Norris lines up a career-best fifth for the French GP - and has set his sights on an initial challenge of Red Bull's Max Verstappen when the race starts at 2.10pm.

Norris, whose promising F1 career is just eight races old, joined Sky F1's Anthony Davidson at the SkyPad after qualifying at Paul Ricard to talk through his impressive run to the head of the third row.

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• French GP schedule on Sky F1

"The whole weekend has been very good - not just qualifying, but the whole lead up," Norris told Anthony in the video above.

"I managed to do a pretty good job. Didn't quite nail the lap [completely] but managed to put pretty much all of it together and improve in a lot of areas.

"If I just nailed that last corner I probably could have been ahead of Verstappen."

And, lining up one place behind the lead Red Bull and two places ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, Norris and sixth-placed team-mate Carlos Sainz are in prime position for today's race, with build-up from 12.30pm on Sky F1.

"It looked pretty promising [on the long runs], as did our general pace, so we'll see what we can do," Norris added.

"I want to nail the start and want to be ahead of Verstappen if I can, that would be the ideal world, and I've got Vettel behind me who is in a definite faster car and is quick on the straights.

"So I'll see what I can do. I want to go forwards, but I also want to keep the quicker guys behind me."

French GP, Provisional starting grid
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5) Lando Norris, McLaren
6) Carlos Sainz, McLaren
7) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
8) Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
9) Pierre Gasly, Red Bull
10) Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo
11) Alex Albon, Toro Rosso
12) Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo
13) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
14) Sergio Perez, Racing Point
15) Kevin Magnussen, Haas
16) Romain Grosjean, Haas
17) Lance Stroll, Racing Point
18) Robert Kubica, Williams
19) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso*
20) George Russell, Williams*

*required to start from the back of the starting grid after using additional power unit elements