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Formula 1
French GP
F1 French GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Updates from the Friday F1 sessions at Paul Ricard
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Ferrari heads into the race at the Le Castellet circuit on the back of two victories: Carlos Sainz took his maiden win at Silverstone, while Charles Leclerc claimed the spoils last time out in Austria.
Max Verstappen still leads the title battle, but now 38 points clear of Leclerc as the Monegasque displaced Sergio Perez from second in the standings.
Sainz's power unit fire meant he left the Red Bull Ring without any points.
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FP2 begins at 4pm BST, or 5pm local. We'll catch you a little bit before then.
Breaking news
Here's the report from FP1: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-french-gp-leclerc-edges-verstappen-in-paul-ricard-fp1/10341525/
That Norris incident is now officially under investigation. Most likely a slap on the wrist.
An incident involving Norris noted for "failing to follow race director's instructions" - presumably related to bollard avoidance.
Checkered flag
And there's the chequered flag - and Leclerc ends the session on top from Verstappen, with Sainz third.
Nobody's really improving as we enter the final minute of the session. The order may well be set.
De Vries isn't the only Formula E driver in attendance - Antonio Giovinazzi is perched on the Ferrari pitwall, sporting a shorter barnet.
Quote
"Check everything is good with the car, because I bottomed out," Gasly says. We could also hear Schumacher's Haas scraping the ground earlier on.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m33.930s for Leclerc, who now goes fastest with less than quarter of an hour on the clock. Fastest final sector time for the Ferrari driver.
Albon moves up to sixth to wreck that run-down of the order. Gasly then moves up to P4, before Norris goes seventh to shuffle Albon down a further spot.
We've got a bit under 20 minutes left, so here's your order: it's Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Perez, de Vries, Albon, Alonso, Vettel and Magnussen.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m34.021s for Verstappen to move past Sainz onto top spot, despite going too wide on the exit of Le Beausset. Leclerc does a 1m34.104s to get close.
Albon moves up to sixth with a good lap in the 1m35s, and sits above Leclerc for now. Verstappen's on a quick one, as is Leclerc.
P3 for de Vries on that previous lap, setting a 1m35.426s, but Russell leapfrogs him with a 1m35.256s to now move into the top three.
Stopwatch
It's now a 1m34.268s for Sainz, going top on the soft tyres to match Verstappen on compounds.
Stopwatch
Ocon moves up to eighth, at his and Alpine's home race. Verstappen does a 1m34.346s to continue to set the pace.
Zhou breaks into the top 10, as eighth-placed Ricciardo had a wide moment on his previous lap. The Aussie has the new, sloped sidepods on the McLaren, as Norris has the older-spec model. Back to back tests innit.
Sainz, meanwhile, moves up to P5 - going between Russell and Gasly. About half of the field is out on track at the moment.
Breaking news
Some news: Carlos Sainz has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race after taking new powertrain components. More on that as we have it.
With 20 minutes gone, the order is Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Russell, Gasly, de Vries, Ricciardo, Alonso, Latifi and Norris.
Russell and Gasly move up to fourth and fifth, shuffling de Vries down to sixth.
Perez has a spin in Turn 4, and rejoins the circuit. We assume it's Turn 4, it's not exactly an easy circuit to pinpoint the corner.
Leclerc complains that the throttle is "inconsistent" - more issues with the loud pedal for the Monegasque.
Or maybe not, the Dutchman appears to have backed off a bit. His countryman de Vries goes up to P4 with a 1m36.322s.
Leclerc posts a 1m35.821s to sit P2, but Perez then usurps him. Verstappen's about to go quicker.
Stopwatch
Ricciardo goes 0.4s faster than Norris, as Verstappen extends his advantage with a 1m34.991s.
Quote
"I can't drive like this, engine problem!" Gasly reports, rolling back to the pits.
Perez posts a 1m36.162s to go P2, as Norris improves his time to go P3. He's not running the new parts in this session so far - but Ricciardo is.
Quote
"The feeling of the throttle pedal is not right," Norris says, as the TV camera switches to the camera behind the pedals. He thinks it's a bit spongy.
De Vries kicks his day off with a 1m39.583s, currently ahead of Vettel, Schumacher and Tsunoda of those who have timed laps.
Stopwatch
Norris and Magnussen surpass Sainz's time, but Leclerc then goes top with a 1m37.420s...before Verstappen slaps down a 1m35.727s.
Stopwatch
Sainz kicks us off with a 1m39.577s, on the soft tyre for a first run.
Sainz and Kubica are first on the road, followed by Zhou and Albon. De Vries pulls out of the pitlane to get his second practice session of the year started.
Green flag
FP1 hath begun. Let's go.
But who was Paul Ricard? He was a French pastis industrialist who funded the build of the circuit himself, his company merging with Pernod - which makes, erm, Pernod. Both beverages are truly disgusting.
Not long now until we can watch some cars around the headache-inducing Le Castellet circuit in the south of France. I'll leave my personal vendetta against Paul Ricard at the door...
Updates a-plenty for this race - with AlphaTauri and McLaren bringing much-upgraded cars for France. There's a few updates among the top three teams as well.
De Vries has been a busy chap of late - he was in New York for Formula E, and he's on practice duties in France before flying out to London for more FE fun.
We've got a couple of driver changes for this session alone - Nyck de Vries is taking over Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes seat for FP1, while Robert Kubica is in for Bottas at Alfa Romeo.
Breaking news
By: autosport.com
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