Ferrari sets the pace in Friday practice ahead of the 2022 French Grand Prix

F1

Several F1 teams tested upgrades in Friday practice for the 2022 French Grand Prix, but it was the same names at the front with Ferrari going fastest in both sessions following a close fight with Max Verstappen

Ferrari of Charles Leclerc between the blue and white stripes at Paul Ricard ahea dof the 2022 French Grand Prix

Joe Portlock/F1 via Getty Images

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Carlos Sainz was fastest in second practice for the French Grand Prix, leading a Ferrari one-two, after his team-mate Charles Leclerc topped the first session earlier in the day.

The Spaniard — who will have a grid penalty on Sunday — was quickest by 0.101sec with Max Verstappen half a second behind in third, while Mercedes was fourth and fifth, with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

As one of nine teams to bring upgrades this weekend, the Silver Arrows has spoken about its confidence for this weekend but its cars still appeared to be short on pace, compared to the two front-running teams.

Nonetheless, both Mercedes finished FP2 ahead of Sergio Perez, who was not having the best of days after a spin in FP1. He ended FP2 in tenth.

Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo were the drivers splitting Hamilton and Perez.

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Leclerc was fastest in the first practice session with his 1min 33.930sec lap putting him 0.091sec ahead of championship rival Verstappen, with Sainz three-tenths slower in third.

There was then a significant gap of six-tenths of a second to Russell in fourth, driving a Mercedes with a revised nose. He spoke of earlier of the team’s increasing competitiveness and his hopes of fighting for victory.

AlphaTauri, who alongside McLaren has brought the most upgrades this weekend, had a strong session with Gasly in fifth ahead of Perez in sixth, who had a spin in the opening stages.

Norris, Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries – who replaced Lewis Hamilton for this session – and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.

Most of the grid had left their garages within the opening five minutes of the session, with all three tyre compounds on display..

Verstappen’s 1min 35.727sec lap which set the pace early on in a Red Bull one-two on the soft compound.

Red Bull of Max Verstappen at Paul Ricard in practice for the 2022 French Grand Prix

Red Bull has fitted a revised upper wing cascade for this weekend

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

As the session progressed, Leclerc was next fastest and de Vries’s name was also high up the timesheet.

The reigning Formula E champion was in Hamilton’s seat to fulfil F1’s new sporting regulations, which stipulate that  teams must run a rookie in a practice session this season.

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After 20 minutes, de Vries was fourth, just over a second behind Verstappen. At this point, the yellow flags were waved briefly as Perez spun into the run-off area at Turn 4.

Verstappen improved on his own lap time with a 1min 34.346sec lap midway through the session and at that point was over a second quicker than anybody.

The times soon started tumbling as Sainz went fastest by 0.078sec. The Spaniard is already resigned to starting in the midfield after Ferrari confirmed that new parts fitted to his power unit, following the fiery end to his Austrian Grand Prix, will result in a ten-place grid penalty.

More drivers were fitting the soft tyre and picking up the pace, but Verstappen was still at the sharp end, going fastest again with a 1min 34.021 sec lap with 20min remaining. He still had more to deliver too, after understeering off in sector three during the lap.

But as the session approached its end, Leclerc went one better setting a 1min 33.930sec lap on soft tyres.

No driver was able to beat that time in the following 10min, although Russell had the satisfaction of being the fastest on medium tyres, with a 1min 34.881sec effort. Albon was the fastest hard-tyred runner after setting a  1min 35.414sec lap.

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Carlos Sainz in practice for the 2022 French Grand Prix

It was a very positive day for Ferrari, who has won the past two grands prix

Antonin Vincent/DPPI

Most drivers began the second session on the medium tyre and with Ferrari and Red Bull yet to set a lap time 10 minutes in, Fernando Alonso led an Alpine one-two, setting a 1min 35.531sec lap.

This followed an underwhelming FP1 where, despite modifications to its car floor, the home team lacked pace.

Haas is the only team not to have brought upgrades to Paul Ricard and its driver Mick Schumacher had a moment to forget early on in FP2. Spinning at Turn 11, he went off-track at pace and can count himself lucky that he did not end up in the barriers.

With 15 minutes of the session gone, Ferrari and Red Bull finally left the garage with Leclerc going straight to the top with a 1min 34.182sec effort. Perez could only manage fourth with a 1min 35.298sec lap while a few minutes later, it was time for his team-mate to take to the track.

Verstappen pipped Leclerc’s time by just 0.010sec showing how tight the battle at the front should be this weekend. A couple of minutes later it was time for Sainz who became the first driver in the session to set a lap on the soft tyre.

On the red-wall rubber, he stormed to the top of the timesheet beating Verstappen by 0.850sec.

Amid all of that action at the top, Gasly was an annoyed figure after being held up by Albon and Magnussen. “Is it his first day racing?” AlphaTauri’s frustrated driver asked over team radio.

Soon afterwards, Gasly, joined the growing number of drivers on the soft tyre. Alonso went fourth, Esteban Ocon was in sixth, the Aston Martin cars split the Alpine team-mates and just three drivers were still on the mediums – Norris, Perez and Russell.

Leclerc went to the top with a 1min 33.136 lap but that was beaten by Sainz again by 0.609sec soon afterwards.

The Ferrari duo and Verstappen appeared a cut above but Mercedes then showed its potential. Hamilton – back in the car after de Vries’ FP1 appearance – went fourth just less than a second slower than Sainz, before Russell then pipped the seven-time world champion by a couple of tenths.

The next big improver was Norris who put his McLaren into sixth just 1.080sec slower than Sainz.

With ten minutes remaining, drivers went back to the harder compounds for high-fuel runs, leaving the timesheets untroubled.

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