Leclerc edges Verstappen as Mercedes lack early pace

Charles Leclerc maintained his momentum in the world championship battle to beat title rival Max Verstappen to the fastest time in Practice One at the French Grand Prix.

Leclerc registered a time of 1:33.930 for Ferrari at Le Castellet's Paul Ricard Circuit to outpace Verstappen's Red Bull by less than a tenth of a second, building on the momentum he created by winning in Austria two weeks ago.

Leclerc's team-mate Carlos Sainz, who is facing a grid penalty in Sunday's race after taking a new Control Electronics following his engine failure in Austria, was third.

Almost a full second back from Leclerc in fourth was George Russell for Mercedes, who were without Lewis Hamilton for the opening session as Nyck de Vries deputised for the seven-time world champion to fulfil the team's young driver testing obligations.

Pierre Gasly took a surprise fifth for AlphaTauri as he impressed at his home race, while the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez was sixth after narrowly avoiding the wall after a dramatic spin at Turn 3.

Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren, with Alex Albon delivering an encouraging eighth for Williams.

Leclerc's performance offered further encouragement to Ferrari after the Monegasque ended a seven-race winless streak last time out in Austria to reduce Verstappen's world championship lead to 38 points.

However, while Ferrari once more displayed impressive pace, there were reminders of the reliability problems that have plagued the Italian team's season.

Leclerc only just hung on for victory in Austria as a throttle issue troubled him in the closing stages, and he was quickly on team radio on Friday to complain of a throttle-related issue.

There was also confirmation midway through Friday's first session that Sainz