Mercedes recovers after disappointing performances in Monaco and Baku. Valtteri Bottas and record champion Lewis Hamilton finished second and third in Friday’s practice for the French Grand Prix. Only World Cup leader Max Verstappen was slightly faster.
Sebastian Vettel suffered a blow, with the Aston Martin driver finishing only 15th.
Mercedes stronger in the long run
Red Bull star Verstappen set the fastest time of the day at 1:32.872 minutes at Le Castellet. Bottas, fighting for his future at Mercedes, finished just 0.008 seconds behind in the best summer season in southern France. However, at his best, the Finn had a harder and therefore slower tire compound than the Dutchman.
Hamilton (Eng) was 0.253 seconds slower than the top, but Mercedes made a particularly strong impression in racing simulations and looked better than Red Bull. Behind the top trio, former world champion Fernando Alonso (Spain / +0.468) came somewhat surprisingly in his home sport Alpine Racing Team.
Vettel first flies in training and the P15 . gets down twice
Vettel, who was still a strong runner-up in Baku two weeks earlier, took off in the first session in the afternoon. In the second training session, Heppenheimer did not finish 15th and was 1.575 seconds behind the leaders. Haas driver Mick Schumacher came in 19th (+2,640).
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Verstappen is four points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers’ championship after missing out on two of the scene’s top stars at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In the Constructors’ Championship, Bull Racing Stable has 26 more points than champions Mercedes of the past seven years.
Results of the first and second free exercises
1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull-Honda 1: 32.872, 2. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes 1: 32.880, 3. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) Mercedes 1: 33.125, 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Alpine- Renault 1: 33.340, 5th Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari 1: 33.550, 6th Esteban Ocon (France) Alpine-Renault 1: 33.685, 7th Pierre Gasly (France) Alfatouri-Honda 1: 33.696, 8th Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Ferrari 1:33.698, 9th km Raikkonen (Finland) Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1:33.786, 10th Lando Norris (Great Britain) McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.822, 11th Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy) Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1:33.831, 12th Sergio Perez ( Mexico) Red Bull-Honda 1: 33.921, 13th Yuki Tsunoda (Japan) Alphatauri-Honda 1: 33.955, 14th Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) McLaren-Mercedes 1: 34.079, 15th Sebastian Vettel (Hepenheim) Aston Martin-Mercedes 1: 34.447, 16th Lance Stroll (Canada) Aston Martin-Mercedes 1:34.632, 17th George Russell (Great Britain) Williams-Mercedes 1:35.266, 18th Nicholas Latifi (Canada) Williams-Mercedes 1: 35.331, 19th Mick Schumacher (Gland/Switzerland) Haas-Ferrari 1: 35.512, 20th Nikita Masepin (Russia) Haas-Ferrari 1: 35.551, 21st Roy Nissani (Israel) Williams-Mercedes 1: 37.881
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