After we found two Mercedes drivers on top during the first practice session for the French GP, it was Max Verstappen who set the fastest time during the second practice session. The Dutchman is clearly putting pressure on Mercedes and it looks like we will have an intense battle between Red Bull and Mercedes during the rest of the race weekend.
On the ‘colorful’ circuit of Paul Ricard, the drivers quickly reached the limits of the track during the second practice session. Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin went a little too far and spun on the exit of the last corner. With that, Mick Schumacher’s Russian teammate once again lived up to his nickname: ‘Mazespin’.
However, we also saw Max Verstappen go a little too far, the Dutchman damaged his front wing. A colleague narrowly avoided the detached piece of Verstappen’s F1 car, but luckily a track marshall was then able to quickly remove the debris from the circuit.
Also during the race weekend in France there is again a lot to do about respecting the much-discussed ‘track limits’. If that fails, there are clear instructions on how to get a rider back on the track.
With twenty minutes to go into the session, Max Verstappen set the fastest time in his Red Bull F1 car.
In the end, the Dutchman was also the driver with the fastest time at the end of the session. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second and third respectively. However, the difference between Verstappen and Bottas was only 0.008 seconds.
01 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.872 21
02 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1: 32.880 27
03 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.125 23
04 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:33.340 25
05 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1: 33.550 23
06 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.685 23
07 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:33.696 25
08 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1: 33.698 24
09 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo 1: 33.786 26
10 Lando Norris McLaren 1: 33.822 24
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1: 33.831 23
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1: 33.921 24
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1: 33.955 25
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1: 34.079 24
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:34.447 25
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.632 24
17 George Russell Williams 1:35.266 25
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:35.331 25
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:35.512 24
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:35.551 23
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