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For the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, it was a Friday to forget at the French Grand Prix, with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll ending the day fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.

For Vettel, who is coming into the weekend on the back of his unbelievable podium in Azerbaijan, it was the worst possible start to the day. The German span off during Free Practice One after being caught out in the windy conditions, the German was unable to keep his car out of the wall and suffered damage to the rear of his car.

The off resulted in Vettel missing valuable track time, leaving lots to do in the afternoon session. The team have a lot of time to find, with Vettel ending the day 1.6 seconds off the fastest lap. The German will be hoping to find something positive in Free Practice Three ahead of qualifying.

“The track conditions were hot and very windy, which caught me out this morning when I had a small off. It cost us some track time, but we recovered well in the afternoon. The long run was clean and we managed to get some consecutive laps together, which was important.”

“My performance run was not the best and I made a mistake, but today is about getting a feel for the car to make sure we perform in qualifying. I think we know where we can find gains and there are some things we can do better, which is where we will focus our energy tonight.”

It was a surprisingly promising opening day to the French Grand Prix for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, Kimi Räikkönen in a shock to some ended the day in ninth spot, just inside the top ten heading into Saturday.

The veteran driver looked strong in challenging breezy conditions, despite running across the kerb at turn two like the majority of the field. Unlike those who went wide at turn two, Räikkönen managed to escape with his car not damaged, a lucky escape for the 2007 world champion.

The aim for the Finnish driver going into qualifying will of course be to make qualifying three, a target that could be reached come qualifying.

“It wasn’t too bad out there, I even feel I could have been a few places higher with a better lap.

“The hope, of course, is that we can be somewhere around this region, in the top ten, when we get into qualifying: as always, we can try to find something more tonight, with the engineers, and squeeze some more performance out of the car, but it’s not a bad start.”

Lando Norris says the McLaren F1 Team have a lot they can improve on after a difficult opening day of the French Grand Prix on Friday.

The British racer, the only driver to have scored points in every race so far in 2021, ended ninth fastest in the morning session at the Circuit Paul Ricard, and was only tenth in the afternoon, although he was under a second away from top placed Max Verstappen.

Norris says the temperatures in France made it difficult to keep the tyres in a good operating window, so it will be up to everyone within the team to get around this issue and come back stronger across the rest of the weekend.

“Tough first day, tricky conditions playing the biggest part,” said Norris.  “The temperature made it difficult to keep the tyres in a good window. So, driving the car became a bit of a challenge especially with the wind.

“I think we’ve got a few bits we can definitely improve upon, but we still have quite a bit of work to do. It’s very close with the rest of the field so every little bit is going to help – but it’s also going to make qualifying tough going into tomorrow.

On the back of their podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team began the French Grand Prix with relative success. Yuki Tsunoda ended the opening day in thirteenth, whereas home-boy Pierre Gasly impressed in seventh during blustery conditions.

Overall it was a good opening day for both drivers, Gasly who is racing in front of his home crowd for the first time since 2019 looked strong, ending the day eight-tenths of a second off the fastest time.

Rookie Yuki Tsunoda also had a solid opening day at the Circuit Paul Ricard, a circuit which he has actually raced at before! The Japanese driver ended the day in thirteenth, but only three-tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

The windy conditions did catch both drivers out, Tsunoda had a slow spin out of the final corner during the morning session and Gasly ran over the kerbs on the exit of turn two, damaging his floor slightly.

Nevertheless Chief Race Engineer Jonathan Eddolls is hoping that based on the team’s opening day performance, that they can challenge for a qualifying three spot on Saturday.

After taking pole position in the previous two events in Monaco and Azerbaijan, Scuderia Ferrari go into the French Grand Prix weekend cautious about their chances of a three-peat, but Charles Leclerc enjoyed a positive afternoon at the Circuit Paul Ricard to place inside the top five.

The morning session in France seemed to suggest that Ferrari would not be a contender at the front compared to the last couple of rounds, but once they got on track in the afternoon, the pace reappeared and Leclerc was able to end fifth fastest, just behind Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso.

Leclerc admitted that with the strong winds and high temperatures, it was important to find a good car balance, but once they found a set-up that worked, he was able to extract the kind of pace that could see him become a threat at the front, at least on Saturday.

“The main focus today was on car balance,” said Leclerc.  “The wind was very strong, which made it tricky to drive, but that was the same for everyone so we just had to try and find a good way to manage in these conditions.

“In general, here things are looking more in line with what we expected compared to the last two race weekends, where we had pleasant surprises.

It was a good opening day for the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team, Frenchman Pierre Gasly looked strong in front of his home fans ending the day in seventh place, ahead of thirteenth place team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

At a windy Circuit Paul Ricard, the French flags flew high with 15,000 fans allowed in every day this weekend, giving home-boy Gasly a special feeling after now also being a race winner.

Like the majority of the field Gasly found the conditions tricky, nevertheless he improved by a whole second in Free Practice Two to end the day in seventh, after being eighth after Free Practice One. The Frenchman was 0.824 seconds off the fastest time.

Gasly will be hoping to keep the impressive start to the weekend going, and do all he can to make qualifying three on Saturday.

“Today was an ok day, however it’s been quite difficult with the wind which has made the car very tricky to drive. In terms of performance, I think it’s good that we’ve ended both sessions within the top 10, but it’s definitely been more difficult than the last two weekends. We’ve been working on the balance of the car today, so we’ll analyse all the data tonight and make some improvements to the set-up of the car to be more confident out on track tomorrow.”

Joel Eriksson says this weekend’s Puebla E-Prix represents a ‘dream coming true’, as the Swede makes his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship debut for Dragon/Penske Autosport.

The twenty-two-year-old is stepping into the seat of Nico Müller for this weekend’s double header in Mexico as the Swiss racer competes in the DTM Series. 

And for Eriksson, it is the realisation of a dream that he has been wanting for several years.

“This is a dream coming true,” said Eriksson. “Formula E has been on my wish list for several years, and I’ve been working to get myself to this very point, about to contest my first couple of races.

“To do so in a season where the series has received official world championship status makes it even sweeter.  I’m incredibly happy to be back in a race mode and I will give it everything I’ve got to pay back the team’s faith in me.”

Fernando Alonso feels the Alpine F1 Team are looking ‘quite competitive’ this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard, with the Spaniard ending the opening day of practice fourth fastest overall.

Alonso placed seventh fastest in the morning session but was less than half a second down on the outright pace when practice continued in the afternoon, with his time of 1:33.340 putting him inside the top four.

And the two-time World Champion says they’ll be doing everything they can to convert their Friday pace into a strong performance across Saturday’s Qualifying session and Sunday’s race in France.

“We faced quite tricky conditions today with some strong winds and high track temperatures, but I think we can be quite pleased with what we managed to achieve from Friday practice,” said Alonso.

“We tested a few items in FP1 and then we followed our programme for the afternoon in FP2 with some decent mileage clocked. We’ll analyse all of our data now and this evening, but so far I think we look quite competitive here so let’s see how we go tomorrow.”

Valtteri Bottas says there is plenty more to come from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team as the Finn began the French Grand Prix weekend by finishing inside the top two in both Friday practice sessions.

The Finn endured a nightmare Azerbaijan Grand Prix two weeks ago, with Bottas failing to score points on what was a very under par and lacklustre weekend around the Baku City Circuit.

But it appears Bottas has returned to form this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard as he topped the morning session before taking second place to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in the afternoon, with the gap at the top just 0.008 seconds.

“I have a lot better feeling than a couple of weeks ago, that’s for sure,” said Bottas.  “We started the weekend on the front foot, everything felt OK and the car has been pretty fast so far.

“The balance is good, the tyres are working well, I’m confident with the car and I can trust the car – I think that’s the biggest difference from Baku.

Max Verstappen felt Red Bull Racing improved the feeling of his RB16 throughout the day at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Friday, and they were rewarded by the Dutchman topping the timesheets in the afternoon.

The championship leader had finished behind the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers in the morning session, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton showing that the German marque appeared to be back on the pace after difficult weekends in Monaco and Azerbaijan.

But Verstappen ensured he ended the day on top with a lap of 1:32.872 on the soft Pirelli tyre to edge out Bottas in the afternoon and give Red Bull confidence of a strong weekend around a track Mercedes have been unbeaten on since it returned to the Formula 1 calendar.

“I think overall it’s been a good end to the day and we improved quite well,” said Verstappen.  “I wasn’t entirely happy in FP1 and even at the start of FP2 but on the second set of tyres this afternoon the car felt a lot better and a lot more connected.

“It’s still really difficult around here as the track is so open and it’s quite windy which means it isn’t always easy to nail the lap. The wind is also quite gusty so one lap it feels alright and the next lap it can increase, which means it’s not always easy to judge your mid-corner speeds, but everyone has to deal with the same thing.

Juan Manuel Correa has re-joined the Sauber Academy for the rest of the 2021 season, with the young American coming back into the programme that guided his career prior to his horror crash in a FIA Formula 2 race at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019.

Correa is currently racing in FIA Formula 3 with ART Grand Prix, his first competitive action since the crash at Spa in 2019 that put his career on hold due to horrific leg injuries, with the accident also costing the life of Anthoine Hubert.

After intensive programme to get back to fitness, against all odds, Correa has made a dramatic return to racing in 2021 and has been brought back into the young driver programme that gave him a chance to test a Formula 1 car just weeks before the accident at Spa.

“It’s very special to be back with the Sauber Academy: they’re the junior programme of the team I was with in 2019, when I had my first and only F1 test, and it’s a great feeling to be working with them again,” said Correa.

“I am very excited to show the Academy’s branding on my car and my helmet already from this weekend in France and I am looking forward to helping the team whenever needed, be it in the sim or elsewhere.

Max Verstappen showed that Red Bull Racing are in the hunt this weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard as he displaced the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team duo to top second practice on Friday afternoon.

Valtteri Bottas had earlier topped the morning session in a Mercedes one-two ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but Verstappen took top spot in the afternoon’s running, albeit by just 0.008 seconds. The Dutchman did trigger a brief Virtual Safety Car midway through the session however, as he ran wide at the exit of turn two and left debris from his front wing on the circuit.

For a long time, Bottas looked as though he was heading to finishing top in both sessions, but a late run by the championship leader relegated him to second place, while Hamilton was two-tenths of a second back in third.

Ironically, Bottas’ best lap was set on the medium compound, and when he switched to the softs, he found good pace in sector one before fading in the final two sectors to set a slower lap than he had already achieved earlier in the session.  Verstappen, however, was able to find time on the soft compound to jump to the top of the time sheets. 

On the other side of the garage, however, Sergio Pérez was more than a second down on his team-mate and ended outside the top ten in twelfth.  The Mexican, the winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix two weeks ago, will need to find some pace if Red Bull are to fight at the front with both cars this weekend in France.

From almost absolutely nowhere, Frederik Vesti plucked a stunning lap out of the bag to claim pole position in FIA Formula 3.

The Danish driver, part of the Mercedes F1 junior programme, didn’t set any purple sectors on his pole position lap but he was able to keep the tyres in good condition to piece together the whole lap for his second pole in the series.

He was the only driver to go below the 1:51 barrier in his ART as he beat Championship leader and practice pace-setter Dennis Hauger to top spot. The Norwegian won’t be unhappy with second however as he managed to set up his weekend well, just as he did for round one in Barcelona.

The second row of the grid for Sunday’s race will see home hero Victor Martins start from third for MP Motorsport who have found something since last season with Caio Collet fifth behind Trident’s Jack Doohan who couldn’t find an improvement on his final lap.

Clément Novalak, Doohan’s teammate, is another Frenchman on home tarmac this weekend and he qualified sixth ahead of Aleksandr Smolyar who already has a win to his name this season.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team returned to the front of the pack in opening practice for the French Grand Prix on Friday, with Valtteri Bottas outpacing team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes have scored only six points across the past two races, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last time out seeing them fail to score a top ten finish for either driver.

But in an eventful first session at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Bottas took top spot with a best lap of 1:33.448, which was more than a third of second clear of his seven-time World Champion team-mate, while the current championship leader, Max Verstappen, was a further tenth back in third.

Bottas survived a moment at the exit of turn two, with the Finn running wide and damaging his front wing over kerbing.  He would not be the only driver to test the track limits at this turn, with Kimi Räikkönen and Pierre Gasly also having moments there.

Mick Schumacher spun within seconds of the session starting at turn three, with the Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver clipping the wall as he lost the car under braking, while Sebastian Vettel, fresh off his first podium finish with the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team in Azerbaijan, was another driver to suffer an off, this time at turn eleven.  Both drivers were able to get back to the pits and resume their sessions.

FIA Formula 3 returned to the track after a long month away with Dennis Hauger continuing his strong start to the year by topping the only practice session at Paul Ricard in France.

The Norwegian leads fellow PREMA teammate Olli Caldwell by just two points in the standings after a chaotic weekend in Barcelona but he doubled down on his impressive speed to go a quarter of a second faster than anyone.

Those nearest challengers were led by MP Motorsport’s Alpine junior Caio Collet who was in the top five throughout the session showing good speed at all stages of the 45 minutes. Even a brief red flag for Reshad De Gerus, who ended up in the wall at turn six, couldn’t deter the Brazilian who impressed as a rookie in Spain.

Jack Doohan was third fastest for Trident with Frederik Vesti fourth, both of whom were hoping for better results in Barcelona and are looking to rectify that this weekend.

Collet’s teammate Victor Martins was the best of the home-race drivers in fifth as the Frenchman races at his home Grand Prix for the first time.