LE CASTELLET, France – Max Verstappen narrowly edged Valtteri Bottas to set the pace on the opening day of practice for the French Grand Prix at Circuit de Paul Ricard on Friday.
Verstappen topped the charts during the second practice with a fast lap of 1:32.872, which put him .008 seconds ahead of Bottas at the top of the combined practice charts.
“I think overall it’s been a good end to the day and we improved quite well,” said Verstappen, who was third fastest in the first practice behind the Mercedes entries. “I wasn’t entirely happy in FP1 and even at the start of FP2 but on the second set of tyres this afternoon the car felt a lot better and a lot more connected. It’s still really difficult around here as the track is so open and it’s quite windy which means it isn’t always easy to nail the lap. The wind is also quite gusty so one lap it feels alright and the next lap it can increase, which means it’s not always easy to judge your mid-corner speeds, but everyone has to deal with the same thing. It’s difficult to say where we will be tomorrow and you never know what people will find overnight but the long runs also seemed decent so for sure I expect it to be very tight and it definitely won’t be easy.”
Lewis Hamilton ended the day third fastest, .253 seconds shy of the pace set by Verstappen.
Fernando Alonso turned in a strong Friday performance by going fourth fastest for Alpine, followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.