FP1 report: Hamilton and Bottas lead Mercedes 1-2!

F1 News

21 June 2019 at 11:34
Last update 21 June 2019 at 12:00

Lewis Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas in yet another Mercedes 1-2 in FP1 at Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc was third, with Max Verstappen ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly.

McLaren looked to be the best of the rest, with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in seventh and eighth.

Despite their decent pace, there were struggles for Red Bull, with both of their drivers suffering a spin each.

Graining was a problem for most teams, with Vettel saying over the radio: “I can’t do more than two laps on these tyres,” so that could be something to look out for ahead of the rest of the weekend.

Experimenting

Home favourite Romain Grosjean had a tough session, suffering a water leak and was only able to complete nine laps in front of his home fans.

Ferrari had an experimental session, chopping and changing front wings as they went, with Vettel changing wings multiple times.

Renault tested out their new upgrades and it seemed to go fairly well for them, with Daniel Ricciardo slotting in just behind the McLaren pair. Ricciardo and his team will be looking for a solid haul of points this weekend, not just to please their home fans, but also to leapfrog their British rivals in the standings.

The main thing to take away from the session was how fast the tyres degraded. This could open up a possibility of a two-stop being the better strategy.