Carlos Sainz clocked the fastest time in FP2 at the French Grand Prix but it might yet be the highlight of his weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Ferrari retained their recent edge over Red Bull and Max Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc completing a one-two alongside Sainz ahead of the reigning world champion.
However, Sainz will have to swallow a 10-place grid penalty in Sunday’s race after having new control electronics installed.
On the track, the Ferraris looked impressive, particularly when switching down to soft tyres, and Verstappen was 0.5 seconds shy of their efforts.
It was even more of a struggle for teammate Sergio Perez, who concluded the session down in 10th. Red Bull chief Christian Horner suggested that was partly as a result of Perez being on a different race strategy to Verstappen but the driver cut a disgruntled future when he spoke to Sky Sports.
“I’m not very comfortable with the car. There is some good work and understanding to be done overnight for tomorrow and the race,” he said. “Hopefully tomorrow we are able to pull it all together and be in the fight.”
The improving Mercedes team will certainly expect to be in the conversation, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton clocking the fourth and fifth fastest times.
Hamilton did not take part in the first session as he opted to give reserve driver Nyck de Vries a runout.
A new rule for the 2022 season stipulates each team must run a rookie driver in two practice sessions across the year to give race weekend experience to the next generation.
Whether the 27-year-old De Vries fits the latter description is up for debate and he came in ninth in FP1, where Leclerc led the timesheets ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.
BREAKING: Ferrari's Carlos Sainz is set to take a grid penalty
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22, 2022
He'll currently take a 10-place grid drop after he exceeded his allocation of control electronics#FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aafjRgy04u
French Grand Prix 2022: FP1 top 10
| Position | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:32:527 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.101s |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.550s |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.764s |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.990s |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +1.080s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +1.379s |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +1.401s |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +1.457s |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +1.533s |
French Grand Prix 2022: Weekend schedule
Saturday, July 23
| Event | Start time (BST) | Start time (ET) |
| Third practice session | 12 p.m. | 7 a.m. |
| Qualifying session | 3 p.m. | 10 a.m. |
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Sunday, July 24
| Event | Start time (BST) | Start time (ET) |
| Grand Prix | 2 p.m. | 9 a.m. |