Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team's Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll began the French Grand Prix weekend with two practice sessions at Circuit Paul Ricard, completing 88 laps.
The first practice session took place in tricky conditions with high winds affecting the balance of the cars on a flat track surface, which led to a series of incidents across the field that disrupted the hour's running.
Both Sebastian and Lance opted to complete the session on the Soft compound tyre, and the former ran with aero rakes early on as the team continued to improve its understanding of the AMR21.
Sebastian returned to the pits ahead of a second run in which a spin at Le Beausset disrupted his programme. He would return the AMR21 to the garage with minor damage but would re-join to complete a total of 16 laps, setting his best time of 1.35.289, too.
Lance was able to set a marginally faster time than his team-mate by posting a 1.35.275 for 14th, one place ahead of Sebastian.
Settled and warmer conditions for the second practice session proved more optimal and it took just one flying lap on the Softs for both drivers to improve their FP1 benchmarks.
After an opening run on the Soft tyres, Sebastian moved to fifth with a lap time of 1.34.985, and Lance slotted sixth with his then-best time of 1.35.019.
Both drivers swapped to Medium tyres after their opening runs as they evaluated the AMR21 on longer runs.
Initially, the duo found further improvements as Sebastian moved to ninth with a 1.34.447 effort, while Lance was 11th after a 1.34.719 lap.
Their best times would result in 15th and 16th respectively at the end of the session, but the focus is on refining set-up ahead of tomorrow's qualifying.
Sebastian
“The track conditions were hot and very windy, which caught me out this morning when I had a small off. It cost us some track time, but we recovered well in the afternoon.
"The long run was clean and we managed to get some consecutive laps together, which was important. My performance run was not the best and I made a mistake, but today is about getting a feel for the car to make sure we perform in qualifying.
"I think we know where we can find gains and there are some things we can do better, which is where we will focus our energy tonight.”
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Lance
“It was really hot out there today, and very gusty at times, which made for some tricky conditions because it is a low-grip track surface.
"It was particularly windy early in the day, but we were able to get into a rhythm and work through our programme. We have learned some useful things about the car balance and done some important homework.
"However, I think we are leaving some pace out there, so we will go away tonight, look over everything and try to come back stronger tomorrow.
"The midfield is already looking very close this weekend, so small gains can certainly make a difference; that is what we will be aiming to find for qualifying.”
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