The Mercedes drivers made a fine start to the 2018 Formula 1’s French GP weekend with Lewis Hamilton leading teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo in FP1 at Paul Ricard.
First 40 minutes:
It was quite difficult for drivers in the first part of the practice session upon French GP’s return to the F1 calendar at Paul Ricard as many suffered spins, particularly at Turn 6 due to the wind direction. Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley was the first victim.
He was followed by McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne with the Belgian also involved in a near-hit with Hamilton. The British driver had to take an evasive action going over the kerbs to avoid hitting the back of a slow moving Vandoorne.
Among the big runners, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen also had a Turn 6 spin but remained unscathed while Sauber paid of Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc had spins as well. Meanwhile, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly could be fined for using the first set of tyres for more than the given time after a radio miscommunication.
At the front through, it was Red Bull’s Ricciardo leading with a time of 1m32.576s ahead of Mercedes’ Bottas (1m33.139s) and Ferrari’s Raikkonen (1m33.623s).
Rest of the session:
The second part was relatively sedate with few mishaps as Hamilton (1m32.231s) improved to the top of the timings ahead of teammate Bottas (1m32.371s) and Ricciardo (1m32.527s). It is worth to note that Pirelli has brought the thinner tread for this weekend’s French GP like Barcelona.
Behind, Raikkonen (1m33.003s) led his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel (1m33.172s) with Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m33.318s) in a good sixth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m33.331s) – the Dutchman missing some track time due to floor change.
Toro Rosso Honda’s Pierre Gasly (1m33.685s) had another good time to be seventh from Force India’s Sergio Perez (1m33.719s) and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m34.108s) completing the Top 10. Carlos Sainz (1m34.258s) was the leading Renault in 11th.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon (1m34.484s) finished 12th after he also had a spin at Turn 6 ahead of Leclerc (1m34.513s) – the Monegasque having another high moment on the Mistral Straight. His teammate Ericsson in 14th had a dramatic end to his session.
The Swede lost his Sauber at Beausset, going onto the run-off with his rear hitting the barrier. It soon caught fire with Ericsson having to jump off as the marshals reached the scene to douse the flames.
The session was red-flagged with the FIA deciding to end it with barely few minutes remaining. Meanwhile, Ericsson was followed by Hartley (1m34.664s) in 15th, who finished ahead of 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours winner McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (1m34.862s).
In a lowly session for McLaren, Vandoorne (1m35.021s) was only 19th behind Williams’ Lance Stroll (1m34.881s) and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m34.993s), while ahead of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin (1m35.105s).