After a mixed weekend at Azerbaijan GP, Championship leaders Red Bull and Max Verstappen set early pace during Friday practice session at French Grand Prix.
At the end of the gusty morning session Max Verstappen was P3 with a best time of 1:33.880, down +0.432s on session leader Valtteri Bottas. The Dutchman managed a total of 23 laps.
Sergio Perez brought the RB16B home in P4 setting a 1:34.193, +0.745s down on Vallteri Bottas P1 time. The Mexican managed to complete 25 laps.
Friday afternoon’s Free Practice Two saw Max finish at the top of the timesheets, setting a best time of 1:32.872. He managed 21 laps of the circuit.
Perez came home in P12 with a fast lap of 1:33.921, +1.049s down on his teammate’s session topping time and he managed to add 24 laps to his name.
Max Verstappen
“I think overall it’s been a good end to the day and we improved quite well. 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.”
Sergio Perez
“I got a pretty bad run of traffic today so it probably looks worse than it actually is on the time sheets. We look to be there or thereabouts and Max had a good day on pace. We tried some changes during the sessions and so tonight we’ll look at them to see what worked and hopefully we can find some pace overnight so we are right in the mix tomorrow.
Coming from Baku, obviously this is a very different track but we’re continuing the good momentum, the understanding of the car is getting better and there are plenty of positives to take from today.”
