Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll recorded the 12th fastest time in the first free practice session of the French Formula 1 Grand Prix on Friday at Le Castellet.
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The Quebecer completed 19 laps of the Paul-Ricard circuit, the lowest total of training, tied with some competitors. His best time was 1 min 35.810 s, just under two seconds behind the fastest single-seater, that of Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
The latter is already delivering a fierce fight to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who has only conceded 91 hundredths of a second to him.
Stroll’s teammate at Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, set the 14th fastest time.
The Mercedes and Alfa Romeo teams took advantage of the first practice session to run their third driver. Replacing Lewis Hamilton, Nyck de Vries finished ninth, while veteran Robert Kubica, who took the place of Valtteri Bottas, finished 19th.
In addition, the FIA imposed a 10-position grid penalty on Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) for using new electronic components.
