Ferrari trails once again.
LE CASTELLET, France—June 21st—Valtteri Botas and Lewis Hamilton made it clear during Friday practice at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet that the previous race in Canada was a one-off. The Finn and his British world-champion driving partner took the top two best times in preparation for this weekend’s French Grand Prix.
In this two-person competition, Hamilton tried as he might to best Botas, but running on soft tires did him no good.
Hamilton had a challenging afternoon run, too, with a close collision at one point by spinning off the track and nearly collecting Max Verstappen, who was attempting to pass him. The Dutchman took evasive action by going off the track. The action caught the stewards’ eyes, and both drivers had to see them afterward, but no further action was taken.
Both Ferrari’s–still looking to win their first race of the year–trailed again on Friday. Charles LeClerc and Sebastian Vettel placed third and fourth, respectively.
There was a big surprise of the day, though. By placing fifth and seventh, respectively, the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. are beginning to prove that the Renault engine does work on their entry. Verstappen was sandwiched in between them in his Red Bull, while Dutch teammate, Pierre Gasly, took eighth in the second Red Bull.
Kimi Raikkonen improved on his performance in Canada, placing his Alfa Romeo ninth quickest on the day. Kevin Magnussen gave the American Haas F1 Team some hope by placing tenth. As for the second Haas–a car driven by home-standing Romain Grosjean–the French driver could do no better than 17th place.
