Teammate Charles Leclerc was fastest in FP1, but Sainz set the fastest lap of the day in FP2, with Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen third.
French Grand Prix FP1 results: Leclerc faster than Verstappen
What happened in free practice 1 of the French GP?
Verstappen set the bar in 1m34.991s, on soft tires from the start of the session, half a second ahead of teammate Sergio Perez (who suffered a big spin at Turn 3 early on and then a chicane in a straight line) and 0.83s advantage. from Leclerc halfway.
Verstappen dropped his time to 1m34.346s but was almost immediately overtaken by Sainz, who will receive a grid penalty after an engine failure at the Austrian GP, with 1m34.256s.
First place became a straight fight between Verstappen and Leclerc. Verstappen clocked 1m34.021s, despite a big moment when he understeered over the curbs at the Beausset exit and damaged the curb.
But Leclerc beat it by 0.091 seconds with a 1m33.930, despite a poor middle sector where he lost two tenths of a second. Sainz was third, more than three tenths off the pace, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes, Pierre Gasly’s updated AlphaTauri and Pérez.
Nyck de Vries replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in this session and was ninth fastest, half a second behind Russell. Robert Kubica also replaced Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, and was 0.656s behind team-mate Zhou Guanyu in 19th.
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French Grand Prix FP2 results: Sainz faster than Leclerc
What happened in free practice 2 of the French GP?
Leclerc set the pace after 15 minutes at 1m34.182s as all teams used the medium tires from the start of the session. Verstappen beat that by 0.01s with a 1m34.172s, before Sainz was the first of the favorites to switch to softs, posting a 1m33.322s, highlighting a 0.85s delta between the compounds in conditions similar track
Leclerc edged his P1 team-mate by 0.186s with a 1m33.136s just before the halfway mark, but Sainz responded in a second lap with a 1m32.527s. It turned out to be the fastest lap of the day.
Verstappen came within half a second of that, complaining of excessive understeer that had sent him into gear before his long run, before Leclerc produced 1m32.628s to claw back a Ferrari 1-2, 0.101s to in front of Sainz.
Russell was best of the rest in fourth, more than a quarter of a second off the pace, ahead of team-mate Hamilton.
Mick Schumacher suffered a wild high-speed spin at Beausset early on but just kept his Haas off the wall.
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