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Formula 1 French GP

F1 French GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday's action ahead of the F1 French GP at Paul Ricard

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75

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, and now faces a 10-place grid penalty for a change in control electronics. 

The Spaniard led Friday's timesheets from Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, who was fastest in FP1, while Verstappen led the Ferrari duo in Saturday's FP3.

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Russell has now set his time on the softs and goes fifth, and is 1.4s behind Verstappen, compared to the 1.7s of Hamilton. Fastest of the soft runners, though, is Bottas in the Alfa in third, 1.1s adrift of the Red Bull pacesetter.
Meanwhile, we've got more activity on track now as the Ferraris join the fray - but on differing tyres. Softs for Sainz but hards for Leclerc.
Quote
Hamilton is not impressed by his opening gambit. "1.7s? Jeeze," he says about the deficit to Verstappen!
There's plenty of home support for the French drivers here and there's just a huge cheer as Pierre Gasly passes the Pierre Gasly grandstand.
So, just to recap, it's the two Ferraris, two Williams, Schumacher and Norris who have yet to venture out at this point.
Elsewhere, Magnussen has a very wide moment at Le Beausset but nothing too dramatic.
The Briton has now become the fifth driver to set a time - and is fourth over those five, only ahead of Magnussen.
Hamilton has now left the pits but we've still got nearly half the grid yet to head out almost 10 minutes into the session.
Stopwatch
Verstappen has now obliterated that time from Perez, though! He's set a 1m32.837s, also on the mediums, to go top.
And we should say, there's differing tyre compounds between those two - Perez on the mediums, with Magnussen on the softs.
We do now have some times on the board with Perez leading the way on a 1m33.628s, just over a second quicker than Magnussen's opening effort in the Haas.
We've still only had the seven drivers head out onto the circuit so far in this session, not the most auspicious of starts...
But down at Williams, there's no urgency to head out with Albon giving a smile to the cameras as he's showing no sign of entering the car.
It's worth remembering that Perez had a bit of a messy day yesterday and had a spin, while ended second practice down in 10th. He's hoping to get some more solid running now.
It's Perez who heads the cars out onto the circuit, but so far he's only joined by Magnussen and Stroll.
Green flag
And we're off! Final practice is now under way!
Sun
But, before we worry about an amended grid, let's focus on FP3. At Paul Ricard it's currently 28 degrees with a 10% chance of rain for this session.
Breaking news
And it's worth remembering that Ferrari will only have one Prancing Horse fighting at the front this weekend as Carlos Sainz will have at least a 10-place grid penalty for new engine parts. The Spaniard didn't sound particularly upbeat about his chances of fighting through the field, either: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/sainz-it-will-be-trickier-to-climb-through-f1-french-gp-field-than-expected/10341889/

While Ferrari set the headline times, it was Red Bull that appeared to have the upper hand when it came to long run pace - with a seemingly ominous advantage. If you haven't already read it, here's ALEX KALINAUCKAS' analysis of how Friday panned out:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-familiar-paul-ricard-weakness-that-should-worry-ferrari/10341742/

But, anyway, that's all in the future, let's focus on the present and yesterday's opening two practice sessions created an intriguing picture.
Breaking news

Speaking of 2023, Alpine boss Laurent Rossi was among those speaking earlier today and he said he believes both Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri will be on the F1 grid next year, with Piastri being loaned out. It seems the F1 silly season is about to reach fever pitch...

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-confident-alonso-piastri-will-be-on-23-f1-grid-will-only-loan-piastri/10341978/

Breaking news
Away from the track, much of the talk in the paddock has been about floors. New rules are planned for 2023 - much to the anger of some. Inevitably, there's a range of views but one thing the teams can agree on is they want a final decision from the FIA as soon as possible: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-teams-urge-fia-not-to-delay-finalising-2023-floor-rules/10342027/
We've got qualifying coming up later this afternoon but, before then, there's the small matter of FP3 - which begins in just over 10 minutes' time.
Bonjour and welcome to Autosport's live text coverage of the Saturday of the French Grand Prix!

By: autosport.com

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