F1: Leclerc nips Verstappen in opening French GP practice

Ferrari maintained their slight recent advantage over Red Bull in opening practice for the French GP F1 race at Paul Ricard, the 12th round of the 2022 championship.

Charles Leclerc turned a lap of 1m33.930s in his #16 Ferrari to nip the #1 Red Bull of Max Verstappen by just 0.091s, but Verstappen let off in the 3rd sector, so he is likely not showing if full hand.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was third in the #55 Ferrari, but 0.338s slower than his teammate and set for a grid penalty on Sunday.

Can Red Bull turn the tables on Charles Leclerc and Ferrari?

George Russell was 4th quick for Mercedes, almost 1-second behind but still sandbagging.

Pierre Gasly rounded out the top-5 for AlphaTauri, ahead of the 2nd Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

Nyck De Vries did well to place 9th subbing for Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton will be back in the cockpit for FP2, and so will Valtteri Bottas, who sat out for Robert Kubica.

Nyck De Vries
Nyck De Vries

A clean session no huge issues and plenty of laps completed. Sergio Perez spun but hit nothing. Now the focus switches from initial set-ups and getting a feel for the tires on longer runs in FP2.

Part Two of the Leclerc – Verstappen show is coming up in just under two hours’ time, with advantage to the Ferrari man so far. But while those two will provide some of the fireworks, the fans will want to see far more from their home team Alpine, while Mercedes will be looking to close the gap to the front-runners.
It’s all to play for.

Practice 1 Times

POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME BEHIND
1 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari 1m33.930s +0.000s
2 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m34.021s +0.091
3 Carlos Sainz Jr. ESP Scuderia Ferrari 1m34.268s +0.338
4 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas 1m34.881s +0.951
5 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m34.979s +1.049
6 Sergio Perez MEX Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m35.174s +1.244
7 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m35.232s +1.302
8 Alexander Albon THA Williams Racing 1m35.414s +1.484
9 Nyck de Vries NED Mercedes AMG Petronas 1m35.426s +1.496
10 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m35.660s +1.730
11 Guanyu Zhou CHN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen 1m35.676s +1.746
12 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m35.810s +1.880
13 Esteban Ocon FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m35.828s +1.898
14 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m35.851s +1.921
15 Fernando Alonso ESP BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m35.875s +1.945
16 Mick Schumacher GER Haas F1 Team 1m36.022s +2.092
17 Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas F1 Team 1m36.104s +2.174
18 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m36.127s +2.197
19 Robert Kubica POL Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen 1m36.332s +2.402
20 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m37.043s +3.113