It takes to the track again a Le Castellet is preferably used for second free practice session of the French GP, the first for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. The Englishman from Mercedes, who will play his race on Sunday 300th Grand Prix, Was replaced in the FP1 by Nyck DeVries, as well as Robert Kubica took the place of the Finn from Alfa Romeo. The changes were not caused by unforeseen circumstances but are part of the plan"young pilots” which obliges teams to have non-registered drivers drive in two free practice sessions at will during the season.
After just over ten minutes from the start, while everyone is still familiar with the track, Mick Schumacher goes out in turn 11 and his Haas almost hits the barriers. The blue and red abrasive strips, characteristic of the French track, allow the German from Haas to save the car.
It's a Red France, Red Bull instead struggles
Half an hour from the end, the Ferrari e Verstappen they simulate the qualifying pace. Sainz, with a more powerful engine, precedes its companion Leclerc by a tenth. The Dutchman from Red Bull, on the other hand, takes half a second from the Reds, who with the updates wearers seem to be comfortable with the trail.
The 2021 world champion, then, complains a lot about the understeer in the first sector and insists on continuing the qualifying simulation. In fact, the Red Bull wall was ready to start simulating the race pace but Verstappen explained that, if the situation doesn't improve, the front row tomorrow will remain a mirage.
Red Bull, in general, seems to be struggling a lot, losing a lot of time to the Ferraris in the first and third sectors, the two most driven. However, if Verstappen loses half a second from the leading duo, Perez is tenth, one second behind his teammate.
In France the hierarchies are reversed on the race pace
In the final minutes, as always, each team focuses on simulating the race pace. Times, therefore, did not improve and the two Ferraris finished in front of everyone. Unlike the flying lap, Verstappen seems very fast over the long distance, in a race that promises to be two stops. Leclerc, on the other hand, seems to be struggling more than his rival and partner Sainz.
Behind the top three, Russell e Hamilton they finished respectively in fourth and fifth position, two and four tenths behind Verstappen. The silver arrows they look like they could have a very solid weekend, with a great race pace and a good pace in qualifying. The Brackley team hoped to bring home some excellent performances in France and the start doesn't seem to be bad at all.
The point on the "others": improvements for McLaren and Alpha Tauri
After Norris in sixth position we find a good gasly, Followed by Magnussen, Ricciardo and a disappointing one Perez. The Frenchman from Alpha Tauri hopes to be able to count on a substantial package of updates to turn around a season up to here below expectations.
Even at home McLaren hopefully you have a good weekend thanks to so many updates. Norris does its thing as always and maintains its status best of the rest, while Ricciardo is called to continue a weekend so far better than usual to demonstrate to the team that they have made the right choice to confirm it for 2023.
The first day of the weekend in France ends here. The appointment is tomorrow at 13pm, for free practice 3.
