#FrenchGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Leclerc French GP FP1 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the opening FP1 session at the French GP ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a narrow 0.091 seconds with team-mate Carlos Sainz a further 0.338 seconds adrift in third.

 

 

Leclerc flew to the head of the order in the final quarter of the hour-long Free Practice 1 session to pip his championship rival by a small 0.091 seconds as team-mate Sainz completed the top three.

 

Mercedes’ George Russell took his F1 W13 racer to fourth – with the Silver Arrows this weekend debuting a revised nose cooling duct – as track temperatures rose to a scorching 60 degrees.

 

His team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton, watched the session alongside Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff from the garage to give Formula E World Champion Nyck De Vries a run in the F1 W13.

 

Verstappen posted the benchmark during the first round of flyers, as the Red Bull driver sat half-a-second clear of team-mate Sergio Perez with an effort of a 1:34.991.

 

It had been Sainz who lead Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica (who replaced regular Valtteri Bottas for FP1) and Zhou Guanyu out onto the Circuit Paul Ricard with the Ferrari driver initially setting a 1:39.577.

 

But this was quickly beaten by Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and then McLaren’s Lando Norris, who set a 1:37.604 despite complaining that his throttle pedal had a spongey feeling.

 

Leclerc improved his time to a 1:37.420 before reigning champion Verstappen, who then on his initial attempt blew away the Ferrari with a 1:35.727 effort and was 1.6 seconds clear on the time-sheets.

 

Perez also jumped to 0.4 seconds adrift of his Red Bull team-mate, as both Red Bull RB18 entries ran the C4 red side-walled softer compounds, whilst the updated Mercedes-powered McLaren MCL36 racer’s enjoyed third and fourth in the order with Daniel Ricciardo leading Norris.

 

Verstappen then improved once more with a 1:34.991 to end the opening proceedings on top, at first being 1.1 seconds over Perez to allow Leclerc to rapidly split the Red Bull duo.

 

Leclerc who sits 38 points behind Verstappen in the Driver’s Championship, was then immediately demoted by Perez, the Mexican responding to the threat of the Prancing Horse by closing with 0.5 of his Red Bull team-mate.

 

But Perez will then suffer a spin at the high-speed turn three when he took too much inside kerb to unsettle the RB18, locking all four tyres as he slowed to just miss the wall.

 

After a brief lull period halfway through the session, Verstappen came out with a fresh set of the C4 Pirelli softer rubber to lower his benchmark to a 1:34.346 thanks to a strong sector one.

 

But Ferrari soon found an improvement as Sainz crossed the line with a 1:34.268 to find eight-hundredths over the Dutchman, with the F1-75 entry solid in the final sector.

 

Verstappen reacted with 21 minutes left on the clock, putting in 1:34.021, but lost time after running wide over the exit kerb of turn 12 after suffering under-steer on turn-in.

 

The points leader would also encounter slow gearshifts, however this appeared to be the Dutchman jumping over the kerbs out of the turn eight-nine chicane.

 

Those brief moments left Leclerc to hit a 1:33.930 – which pipped title-rival Verstappen by 0.091 seconds and stood as the session’s best time.

 

Sainz was a further 0.338 seconds off his pace-setting Ferrari team-mate in third, however, the Spaniard will now be hit with a 10-grid placed penalty after taking on a third Control-Electronics unit of the season.

 

Passing the set limit of two as a legacy of his horrific Austrian Grand Prix engine fire, like Leclerc in Canada, another hit could come his way should Ferrari change more power-unit components as the weekend continues on.

 

Russell was the best of the rest in fourth for Mercedes, as the Briton ran a huge 0.951 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark effort with the F1 W13 lifting it’s inside wheel due to running a stiff setup to counter it’s porpoising issue.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly used the Faenza-based squad’s major upgrade to good use to take fifth in-front of the aforementioned Perez who was sixth.

 

It continued to be a scruffy session for the Mexican, who went straight through the chicane and had to momentarily stop in-front of the Red Bull garage after his visor tear-off got caught in the RB18’s rear-right suspension.

 

The RB18 also featured upgraded parts for the French GP weekend, thanks to a revised floor – with Adrian Newey having a closer look to inspect Verstappen’s bargeboard in the closing stages.

 

Norris ran his tweaked MCL36 racer to seventh in the classification and ahead of Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who was eighth whilst De Vries filling in for the seven-time world champion Hamilton took ninth.

 

McLaren’s Ricciardo rounded out the top then ahead of Alfa’s Zhou who finished 11th on the time-sheets.

 

Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel ended FP1 in 12th and 14th respectively as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon split the two AMR22 entries in 12th.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso was 15th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Magnussen who were 16th and 17th respectively.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished opening practice in a low-18th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Kubica who was 19th and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1116/france/practice-1.html

 

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#Formula1 @Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 Preview. #F1 #FrenchGP