Hamilton: Red Bull, Ferrari in 'own league' | Wolff: It's not good enough

Lewis Hamilton has admitted Ferrari and Red Bull remain in their "own league" after Mercedes were once more unable to keep pace with their rivals in French GP qualifying.

The seven-time world champion continued his strong recent form to qualify fourth as he comfortably outperformed team-mate George Russell, but was unable to challenge pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Hamilton almost certainly would have found himself a place further back if it weren't for the fact the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz opted not to set a lap time in Q3 as he was facing a demotion to the back of the grid for taking new engine parts.

Mercedes' performance in the south of France has been particularly disappointing, given many had expected the Paul Ricard Circuit to suit the Silver Arrows and present them with an opportunity to challenge for a first race victory of their hugely challenging 2022 campaign.

"I'm really happy with my qualifying session if I'm honest," Hamilton said. "My last lap was great, I finished it and was like 'that's an awesome lap' but, you know, still nine tenths off the guys at the front.

"I'm not really sure why that gap has got bigger between these two races. But yeah, they're [Ferrari and Red Bull] kind of in their own league."

Mercedes had shown recent signs of improvement with Hamilton finishing third at each of the last three races, and further upgrades for this weekend had increased expectations around the paddock.

"When we say we had updates we brought like the tiniest thing. It could be half a tenth, maybe a tenth if it worked perfect," added Hamilton, who is sixth in the world championship - 99 points adrift of leader Max Verstappen.

"It's difficult to really see