F1 LIVE | The first free practice for the 2022 French Grand Prix

The first free practice session for the French Grand Prix is about to begin. Nyck de Vries makes his appearance for Mercedes in Lewis Hamilton's seat during this session and Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc will want to see immediately how good their car is in Le Castellet. You can follow the entire first free practice with this liveblog from GPblog.

LIVEBLOG | First free practice for the French Grand Prix

During FP1 in France, De Vries will make his appearance for Mercedes. The Dutchman will be deployed as a young driver that F1 teams must offer at least two chances this year. As Mercedes' reserve driver, De Vries is eligible for this test role and already drove a free practice session for Williams during the Spanish GP weekend.

Testing at Paul Ricard

At Paul Ricard it will most likely be a duel between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. The two teams have been fighting for every race win this year and it will be no different in France. The new updates of both teams will also be checked extensively at this circuit, which has often served as a test track.

The first free practice session for the French GP will start at 13:00 UK time. However, an hour before the start of the first session of this race weekend, you will find the very latest updates from the circuit and thus miss nothing of the latest news. So tune in now with the liveblog.

Formula 1 in 2022

While Verstappen was the long-time victor in the series, Ferrari struck back at Silverstone and in Austria. With victories for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc respectively, the Italian team managed to further reduce the gap in the Constructors' Championship.

Mattia Binotto's team also proved in Austria that they have their act together again, although the reliability of the car still leaves something to be desired. It even means that Sainz will probably have to start from the back of the grid in France.

The difference between Verstappen and Leclerc may still be 38 points despite the win for the Monegasque, but Red Bull will realise that it should not have its rival any closer. Therefore, it is important to increase the gap further just before the summer break.