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Lewis Hamilton has topped the opening practice session of the weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard, as drivers struggled for grip during the 90 minutes.
Hamilton's fastest lap read a 1:32.738 was less than a tenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas, as Mercedes set the early pace ahead of the weekend.
There were a number of spins and off-track excursions for drivers, with both Red Bulls ending up facing the wrong way at some point during the session. Pierre Gasly, who spun around in the final minutes of the session, narrowly avoided hitting the barriers.
Romain Grosjean was another driver who had a spin, and his session ended early when Haas discovered a water leak coming from his car.
Despite his spin at the chicane along the Mistral Straight, Max Verstappen ended the session in fourth, splitting the Ferrari duo who experimented with its new front wing.
Charles Leclerc was fourth for the Maranello squad, while Sebastian Vettel was seven-tenths down on his Monegasque teammate.
McLaren heads midfield fight
McLaren ended the session at the head of the midfield, with both cars following each other on the timesheets. Lando Norris was seventh, only behind Gasly by a tenth of a second.
Carlos Sainz was eighth, leading the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo who is running an upgraded power unit this weekend as well as several chassis upgrades.
Alexander Albon set the tenth fastest lap, edging out Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg for the spot, as all three were separated by just 0.006s.
The second Haas of Kevin Magnussen also ended up outside the top ten, as did the Alfa Romeo duo and the two Racing Points.
Nicholas Latifi was faster than Robert Kubica in the Williams, as the Canadian made his second FP1 appearance of the season following his outing in Montreal two weeks ago.
Paul Ricard - 21 June 2019
Grand Prix of Belgium
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