Charles Leclerc’s French Grand Prix weekend got off to a strong start as he beat championship rival Max Verstappen with the fastest time in opening practice at Circuit Paul Ricard.
The Ferrari driver clocked 1m 33.930s on the soft tire to finish just 0.091s ahead of Red Bull, but Verstappen lost around two-tenths of a second running into Turn 11 on his best lap.
Carlos Sainz was more than 0.3s off the pace in third, the Spaniard facing a tricky weekend after Ferrari fitted new control electronics to his F1-75 triggering a penalty of 10 places on the grid.
READ MORE: Sainz set for 10-place grid penalty in France after taking new engine component
All three tire compounds were on display in the weekend’s opening 60-minute session as teams assessed how the Pirelli rubber coped with the heatwave currently sweeping through Europe. Track temperatures reached 58 degrees Celsius.
1 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari 1:33.930 2 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing +0.091s 3 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari +0.338s 4 George Russell RUS Mercedes +0.951s 5 Pierre Gasly GAS AlphaTauri +1.049s
Mercedes, which has brought updates to France, was just one second off the best time courtesy of George Russell, with team reserve Nyck de Vries taking Lewis Hamilton’s car for FP1 to finish ninth, half second behind
This was the first time in the career of Hamilton, who reaches 300 Grand Prix weekends in France, that he leaves his car for an FP1 session. The rules require every driver to do it at least once this season and the seven-time world champion, who watched the action from the Mercedes garage alongside Toto Wolff’s boss, opted this weekend to sit out next to.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from first practice for the French Grand Prix
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda have been calling for upgrades, having last received new parts in race four at Imola, and they have been rewarded at Paul Ricard.
Early signs are positive, with Pierre Gasly just one second off the pace in fifth in his home run, but Tsunoda dropped to 18th, more than two seconds off the final pace.
Sergio Perez took a short dip at Turn 4 before continuing, the Mexican sixth, ahead of the leading McLaren of Lando Norris, whose team has brought in more new parts than any other this weekend.
French GP FP1 2022: Perez detects his tires in a big turn 4
The Brit didn’t run them in FP1, however, as McLaren ran some back-to-back tests with Daniel Ricciardo, who finished 10th, getting the chance to test them.
Alex Albon was a good eighth for Williams, more than 1.5s ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi, who was running the new upgrade package for the first time, but finished 20th overall.
Zhou Guanyu was the leading Alfa Romeo in 11th, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and local favorite Esteban Ocon at Alpine, with Sebastian Vettel lapping a 100-year-old Aston Martin by the Paul Ricard circuit on Thursday 14. .
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was 15th, ahead of the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen, who are still awaiting their first updates of the season, with Robert Kubica, who borrowed Valtteri Bottas’ car for FP1, 19th.
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