Lewis Hamilton has stormed to pole position for Sunday's French Grand Prix.

The Briton produced another brilliant qualifying performance to smash the lap record at Paul Ricard, posting a 1m28.319s, and claim his third pole of the season and 60th with Mercedes.

Valtteri Bottas had to settle for second, three-tenths behind the Briton, as Mercedes once again emerged as the dominant force well ahead of their rivals.

In fact, Charles Leclerc would be the only other driver within a second of Hamilton in third for Ferrari.

While teammate Sebastian Vettel endured a miserable Q3, only managing seventh fastest after having to abort his first run.

Max Verstappen claimed fourth for Red Bull but would finish just 0.009s ahead of Lando Norris as McLaren emerged as the stars of Saturday.

Carlos Sainz would consolidate the pace of the British team in sixth as the midfield continues to close the gap on the Milton Keynes outfit.

Renault's high hopes were slightly dented with Daniel Ricciardo in eighth, with the Australian also facing an investigation for impeding Kimi Raikkonen in Q1.

Pierre Gasly fell to a lowly ninth in the second RB15 with Antonio Giovinazzi set to start in the top 10 for the first time in F1 from P10.

Q2 saw a very unique scenario with many teams joining Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in ditching the soft tyre for medium.

Ironically, in the final attempts to make the top 10, only Giovinazzi and Gasly would use the red-striped tyre putting them at a disadvantage for Sunday's race.

Alex Albon would be the driver to just miss out in P11 but will at least have a free tyre choice for the race start.

Kimi Raikkonen was beaten by his teammate for just the third time in 12th as Nico Hulkenberg's disappointing weekend continued in 13th for Renault.

Sergio Perez produced a great lap to make Q2 but would only take 14th, with Haas' problems continuing with Kevin Magnussen in 15th.

A flurry of late laps in Q1 saw the track improve significantly to the point where even Max Verstappen only finished 14th.

In the end, it was Daniil Kvyat 16th for Toro Rosso, although the Russian will start last due to a 40-place grid penalty for engine parts.

Romain Grosjean's miserable weekend continued as he was knocked out in Q1 at his home race for Haas.

Lance Stroll extended his streak to 12 races with making Q2 and will start 17th in the Racing Point.

Finally, the two Williams again brought up the field with George Russell overcoming engine issues in final practice to maintain his 100 per cent record vs. Robert Kubica, beating the pole by 0.4s.

Full results from qualifying can be seen below:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:28.319
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:28.605 0.286
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.965 0.646
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:29.409 1.090
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.418 1.099
6 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:29.522 1.203
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:29.799 1.480
8 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:29.918 1.599
9 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1:30.184 1.865
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:33.420 5.101
11 Alex Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:30.461 2.142
12 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.533 2.214
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:30.544 2.225
14 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:30.738 2.419
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:31.440 3.121
16 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.564 3.245
17 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:31.626 3.307
18 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:31.726 3.407
19 George Russell Williams 1:32.789 4.470
20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:33.205 4.886