from pole position after Mercedes dominated the qualifying sessions.
The current world champion will be joined by team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the front row, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took third place on Saturday. Kimi Raikkonen only managed sixth place, behind the two Red Bulls.
Earlier in the day, Bottas topped final practice in a session disrupted by rain.
The Mercedes man was one of only 15 drivers to set a time early in the day, as the rain came tumbling down within 10 minutes of the session starting. Bottas' mark of one minute, 33.666 seconds put him comfortably clear of Carlos Sainz Jr. in second.
Qualifying began on a dry track but with weather forecasts predicting more rain, so a good start was pivotal. Haas put down the quickest laps early, but Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all wasted little time in getting on the timesheets.
Vettel was off the pace in Q1, but all eyes were toward the back of the grid, where both McLaren and Williams failed to push a single one of their cars into Q2.
It was a development that would have been met with disbelief just a few years ago:
A light rain started to fall before Q2, with Mercedes and Red Bull opting for the supersoft tyres and Ferrari going with the ultrasofts. The quicker tyre didn't make much of a difference for the Italian team, although the tricky wet conditions led to several interrupted laps, and it wasn't easy to nail down the real pace of each car.
Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo both strategically gave up on their final laps on the ultrasofts, ensuring they could start the race on the soft tyres, but Bottas completed his lap to set his strategy for Sunday.
Charles Leclerc impressed once again, sending his Sauber into Q3:
Hamilton had already taken the top spot when the red flags went up, and Mercedes took their time sending their drivers out again, with Red Bull following suit. It made for a hectic ending to the session, with Bottas impressing but Hamilton going even faster. Vettel held on for third place, ahead of the Red Bull duo.
Leclerc continued his excellent work with an eighth-placed finish, putting his Sauber on the fourth row for the race.
FP3 Recap
The running was limited on Saturday in FP3 as teams opted against any risk in the tough conditions:
Dark clouds gathered over the Le Castellet circuit as the drivers lined up for the start of final practice, with rain seemingly inevitable for those involved.
The Haas F1 team weren't feeling confident about the prospects of getting some practice in the bank:
Some did venture out, though, with Bottas one of the few to show some early pace. The Finn was the closest to Hamilton early in the day on Friday and is expected to be a big contender in qualifying.
Still, there was even a tentativeness in him as he tried to make his way around this circuit, with an initial mark of 1:33.666 more than a second down on his time from FP1.
The heavens then opened and the rain continued to tip down at the halfway point in the session:
Some, including Fernando Alonso, did venture on to the circuit late on, perhaps with a view to getting accustomed to the conditions.
But the majority of the drivers will have to make do from the experience they accrued on Friday, as they head into qualifying in what will be changeable conditions. Given this is the first time F1 is back in France for 10 years, that should make for a qualifying packed with thrills and spills.
