Bottas Opens Up French Grand Prix Weekend with Fastest Time in First Practice

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.

Another driver to find himself facing the wrong way was Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr., who lost control at turn two during his first run on the soft tyre.

Verstappen was on course for a quicker lap than he ultimately managed, but a mistake at turn eleven cost him valuable time and meant he was unable to better third, while Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez, who won the Azerbaijan race two weeks ago, was fourth fastest.

A late flying lap from Esteban Ocon moved the Alpine F1 Team up to fifth, with the Frenchman enjoying his first practice since his long-term future with the team was sorted out earlier this week.  It was a good session all round for Alpine ahead of their home event, with Fernando Alonso ending up seventh.

In between the two Alpine drivers was McLaren F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian looking to get his season back on track after being outperformed so far by team-mate Lando Norris.  Norris himself ended up in ninth, with Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda’s Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda eighth and tenth respectively.

After taking pole position in the past two races, Charles Leclerc was a lowly eleventh in the leading Ferrari, but team-mate Sainz was only sixteenth after his spin.  Antonio Giovinazzi and Räikkönen put their Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN C41-Ferrari’s into twelfth and thirteenth respectively, just ahead of the two Aston Martins, Lance Stroll edging out Vettel.

Nicholas Latifi was seventeenth in the leading Williams Racing machine, while his team-mate for the session, Roy Nissany, ended twentieth and last as he took the place of George Russell.  In the battle of the Haas drivers, eighteenth-placed Nikita Mazepin was six-tenths of a second faster than team-mate Schumacher in nineteenth.

Free Practice 1 Result