Following a session that opened track activity at the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix, the world’s fastest single-seaters returned to tarmac a few hours later for final practice on Friday.
In the 60 minutes of free practice in the afternoon, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari led the classification table thanks to a time of 1:32.527 with the soft tire, which helped him to be one tenth faster than his teammate Prancing Horse , Charles Leclerc, who was second.
Immediately behind, the other candidate for this year’s title and reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, was third, half a second behind the Maranello cars, while the Mercedes benefited from Sergio Pérez’s poor record and were fourth and fifth, with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
The Mexican, who was the last to do his qualifying simulation with the soft rubber, could not go beyond 10th position, although it earned him a place above Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, who was falling positions as their rivals marked laps.
The McLarens had a good session with their renewed car, and with Lando Norris they finished in sixth place, although Daniel Ricciardo could not go beyond ninth, four tenths behind his teammate in Woking.
Finishing the rest of the top 10 were Pierre Gasly, who happily tested the AlphaTauri upgrades at home and moved up to seventh place, just ahead of Kevin Magnussen, albeit only a few thousandths faster.
Results of Free Practice 2 of the French Grand Prix 2022 Formula 1
| Cla | Pilot | Chassis | laps | Weather | Difference | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
 |
ferrari | 22 | 1,32,527 | 227,297 | |
| 2 |  |
 |
Ferrari | 22 | 1’32.628 | 0.101 | 227.050 |
| 3 |  |
 |
Red Bull | 17 | 1’33.077 | 0.550 | 225.954 |
| 4 |  |
 |
Mercedes | 20 | 1’33.291 | 0.764 | 225.436 |
| 5 | |
 |
Mercedes | 23 | 1’33.517 | 0.990 | 224.891 |
| 6 | |
 |
McLaren | 21 | 1’33.607 | 1.080 | 224.675 |
| 7 |  |
 |
AlphaTauri | 24 | 1’33,906 | 1,379 | 223,960 |
| 8 |  |
 |
Haas | 24 | 1’33,928 | 1,401 | 223,907 |
| 9 |  |
 |
McLaren | 23 | 1’33.984 | 1.457 | 223.774 |
| 10 |  |
|
Red Bull | 16 | 1’34.060 | 1.533 | 223.593 |
| see results | |||||||
Summary of Free Practice 2 of the 2022 Formula 1 French Grand Prix
The teams enjoyed a hot first free practice session at the Paul Ricard circuit, although it was perhaps not the best of ideas to have such a late practice session, as it caused the mechanics to have a little more difficulty due to the high temperatures. However, that was not a reason for the teams to stop testing the new parts, as happened at Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and Alpine, among others.
The one who was in the most hurry to shoot was Lewis Hamilton, who left his seat to Nyck de Vries in Free Practice 1 to comply with the FIA regulations of putting rookie drivers twice a year, and from the first moment he was hardworking , although far from the pace, as he was several tenths off the Alpine time.
At home, the French single-seaters led in the first 10 minutes of the session, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Esteban Ocon, but the favorites were yet to come out. However, it was Kevin Magnussen who dethroned them with a 1m35.386s on the medium tyre, which was beaten a few seconds later by George Russell.
Precisely, the Dane’s partner was the one who gave the big scare so far, since he lost control of his Haas after the Mistral curve, although he did not hit the protections thanks to the gigantic but scorching escape.
At the same time, Charles Leclerc gave the first blow on the table by taking the lead with six tenths of an advantage over Russell with the same average rubber. Max Verstappen tried to respond on his track start at Paul Ricard, and with his RB18 he was placed at the top of the qualifying table by just 10 thousandths , but the other Ferrari, Carlos Sainz’s, prevailed over the struggling couple for the title by eight tenths with the softer compound.
The work of the drivers continued until the halfway point of the session, which was just the moment in which the qualifying simulations began with the red rubber, the one with the most grip in the Pirelli range. Thanks to this, Leclerc set a 1:33.136 that helped him climb back to the top of the standings, while Alonso improved to be the fastest of the rest in fourth place, although more than a second behind the Monegasque.
It seems Sainz was envious of his teammate’s time, since he stopped the time at 1:32.527 to be first in these Free Practice 2s, waiting to find out what the Red Bulls could do. He did not have to watch the screens for too many minutes, since the Dutchman was half a second behind the Spaniard just a few moments later, while Hamilton rose to fourth position to be the only one in the middle zone to get off the barrier of the second compared to the big ones.
Behind, the Alpines began to drop positions in favor of a surprising Magnussen and Pierre Gasly, who benefited from updates to his AlphaTauri, as did Daniel Ricciardo, who was seventh after the middle of FP2. Australian driver Lando Norris also enjoyed a facelifted MCL36, helping him to sixth as the Mercedes moved up to fourth and fifth.
With just under 20 minutes to go, Sergio Pérez was the only favorite not to have done a fast lap on the softs, but on his eighth lap of the session he embarked on that task. When it seemed that he was going to climb to at least the height of his main rivals, he failed to make a good attempt and fell more than a second and a half behind Sainz.
After that, the vast majority returned to the garage to set up a set of medium tires and dedicate themselves to doing long runs with the medium tires, with which they did not improve any time, but which was useful to obtain data on the degradation of the Pirelli and be better prepared.
Gallery: the best images from Friday of the 2022 Formula 1 French GP
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Photo de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
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