Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in French GP FP1
Lewis Hamilton headed up a one-two finish for Mercedes in opening practice for the French Grand Prix on Friday as Formula 1 made its long-awaited official return to Paul Ricard.
Ahead of the first French Grand Prix since 2008, and the first to be held at Paul Ricard since 1990, F1 kicked off its track running with FP1 as Hamilton charged to the top of the timesheets, leading home Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis Hamilton headed up a one-two finish for Mercedes in opening practice for the French Grand Prix on Friday as Formula 1 made its long-awaited official return to Paul Ricard.
Ahead of the first French Grand Prix since 2008, and the first to be held at Paul Ricard since 1990, F1 kicked off its track running with FP1 as Hamilton charged to the top of the timesheets, leading home Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton recorded a fastest lap time of 1m32.231s around the full Paul Ricard layout, finishing 0.140 seconds clear of Bottas in second place as a number of drivers got caught out by windy track conditions.
Hamilton himself had a brief scare early in the session when he came across a slow-moving Stoffel Vandoorne heading into the chicane on the Mistral Straight, but took late evasive action by going to the run-off area in order to avoid a crash.
Daniel Ricciardo was able to take third for Red Bull, finishing less than three-tenths of a second back from Hamilton, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen recovered from an early spin to end the session in fourth ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Romain Grosjean impressed for Haas, finishing the session sixth-fastest ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with Pierre Gasly taking eighth for Toro Rosso, with Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10 for Force India and Haas respectively.
The session was brought to an early end when Marcus Ericsson spun off the track at high speed at Turn 11, spinning into the barrier before a hefty impact. Ericsson's car caught fire soon after the shunt, prompting officials to throw a red flag with three minutes remaining in the session. Ericsson himself was able to get out of the car unharmed, but his charred car will require repairs ahead of second practice later today.
