Honda satisfied with new engine: 'No major problems'

Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri drivers Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly have received a new Honda engine this weekend. Yuki Tsunoda already received a second engine after his crash in Imola and will have to make do with that for a while. The Japanese engine manufacturer is satisfied with Friday in France.

For the first time since Spain, Formula 1 is racing on a permanent circuit again, after the street circuits in Monaco and Baku. "We had nice weather with relatively high air and track temperatures during the sessions, especially in the afternoon," Toyoharu Tanabe recalled in a press release. "We had no major problems throughout the day going through the basic program and function tests for the new engine, in addition to the usual work of collecting data."

Verstappen ended up setting the fastest time in the second free practice session. Perez was fourth in FP1 but had to make do with 12th in FP2. Gasly was seventh and Tsunoda 13th. "It looks like the competition will be very close again. In this situation, small differences can make a big difference to the final result, so we will be paying close attention to the smallest details with both our teams to optimise our engine performance for qualifying and the race."