16:53
The weather
There is still hardly a cloud to be seen in the sky. The air temperature in Le Castellet is currently a good 29 degrees. The track has warmed up to 56 degrees. It’s going to be difficult again to get the tires up to temperature.
16:44
Hamilton back in action
Lewis Hamilton will be back in the cockpit in practice two. The Brit sat out the first practice session and left his car to Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries. Mercedes has thus completed the first of the two mandatory Friday tests with a young driver. At Alfa Romeo, Robert Kubica was also a test driver in one of the cars, even though the Pole is not part of the junior program. He was driving Valtteri Bottas’ car.
16:36
Vettel and Schumacher miss top ten
For Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher, the weekend in France begins with positions outside the top ten. Vettel, who first rode the hard compound and then the soft, finished in 14th place. Mick Schumacher was 16th. The German youngster was at least ahead of his teammate Magnussen.
4:30 p.m
Leclerc wins 1st practice session
In the first practice, the best time went to Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver clocked a 1:33.930 and placed just 0.091 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. However, the Dutchman didn’t put in a clean lap, so he could have driven even faster. Carlos Sainz was third. In his case, it became known during the session that there will be a ten-place penalty on Sunday because drive parts will be swapped. George Russell and Pierre Gasly follow behind.
Warm welcome!
At the Formula 1 Grand Prix in France, the second item on the program is scheduled for Friday. From 5:00 p.m., the teams and drivers have another 60 minutes to work on their cars and familiarize themselves with the track.