| 09:50:30
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the first free practice session of the French Grand Prix weekend. The 90 minute session begins shortly. |
| 09:52:21
| Following the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Robert Kubica has been busy following his and BMW Sauber’s first Grand Prix win. The Pole tested for two day in Barcelona while many of his rivals handed testing duties over to the test drivers. |
| 09:54:25
| Nelson Piquet actually set the Barcelona test pace for Renault but admitted afterwards that the time was recorded whilst completing a qualifying simulation run. Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer set the pace on two of the three test days. |
| 09:56:24
| Also following the chequered flag in Montreal, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were handed a ten position grid penalty position for this Grand Prix after failing to observe the red lights and stationary cars in the pits lane during the Canadian Grand Prix. Therefore should Hamilton claim the pole position, he will start 11th. |
| 09:58:22
| Once again we are in Magny Cours for what is being dubbed the ‘last time.’ However, with no alternate French venue up and running, one suspects we will be back again for the ‘last time’ in 2009. |
| 10:00:06
| The 90 minute free practice session is now underway. It is a sunny morning with some cloud and a breeze. |
| 10:00:29
| Most will head out, complete an installation lap, and return to the pits for checks. Ferrari tends however not to do this, but wait for a good 30 minutes before heading out. |
| 10:00:55
| Fisichella is the first driver on track followed by Vettel. |
| 10:01:37
| Others are now heading out for the installtion lap. |
| 10:02:37
| Half of the field are straight out with the early runners returning to the pits. |
| 10:03:32
| Montreal winner Robert Kubica is on his installation lap. |
| 10:04:07
| Now Kovalainen is heading out. He needs a good result this weekend. |
| 10:05:24
| Kubica pits. We have yet to see Ferrari, Toyota, Barrichello and Hamilton. |
| 10:06:24
| Hamilton is now on his installation lap. |
| 10:07:38
| Glock and Barrichello now on track. |
| 10:09:32
| Trulli, Massa and Raikkonen yet to go out. No one has set a time as yet. |
| 10:12:06
| Jarno Trulli is on his installation lap. |
| 10:12:22
| Nakajima is sitting in his Williams and waiting to go back out. |
| 10:13:27
| Trulli has now pitted. |
| 10:15:52
| Raikkonen is about to climb aboard his Ferrari. He has dropped to fourth in the championship following no points in Monaco and Montreal. |
| 10:18:36
| Nothing happening on track but a figher plane has just gone over... |
| 10:19:29
| 20 minutes complete. Raikkonen and Massa yet to go out. |
| 10:23:37
| Nick Heidfeld is busy posing for the cameras and displaying his Germany football views. Rosberg heads out. |
| 10:24:17
| So we finally have a car on track. Hopefully Rosberg will put in a number of laps to give us a base time. |
| 10:24:36
| Now Bourdais heads out in his STR. |
| 10:25:39
| Rosberg is on a timed lap. |
| 10:26:01
| Piquet heads out. |
| 10:26:30
| Rosberg records a lap in the low 1:19s in the Williams Toyota. |
| 10:27:27
| Rosberg is on the medium tyre. Bridgestone have the medium and soft tyre available this weekend which we'll refer to as hard and soft for simplicity. |
| 10:27:44
| Rosberg improves his own best as Bourdais moves second. |
| 10:29:19
| Nakajima and Glock now on track as Rosberg continues on his first stint. Piquet moves third. |
| 10:30:39
| Piquet and Nakajima trade times for third fastest. |
| 10:30:58
| Nakajima really clobbered the kerbing at the end of the lap in his Williams. |
| 10:31:32
| Vettel moves fastest for STR, a second ahead of Rosberg. |
| 10:32:34
| Piquet has improved and is second fastest. Trulli and Coulthard join those on track. |
| 10:33:23
| Bourdais moves third fastest ahead of Rosberg who has pitted. |
| 10:33:39
| Trulli moves second for Toyota. |
| 10:34:13
| Now Coulthard is fourth fastest. Kovalainen is heading out. |
| 10:35:11
| Glock moves fourth fastest. |
| 10:35:27
| Coulthard moves second. |
| 10:36:14
| Vettel remains fastest and has pitted. |
| 10:36:48
| Kovalainen is on his first hot lap of the weekend. |
| 10:37:00
| Massa, Raikkonen head out. |
| 10:37:46
| Kovalainen moves fourth fastest on his first timed lap. |
| 10:39:01
| Kovalainen moves fastest on a 1:16.5, three-tenths up on Vettel. |
| 10:39:36
| A slow first lap from Raikkonen. Hamilton is now out. |
| 10:40:03
| Massa moves fastest a fraction ahead of Kovalainen. |
| 10:41:03
| Raikkonen moves third fastest behind Kovalainen and Massa. |
| 10:41:56
| Sutil runs wide in the Force India. He is able to continue. |
| 10:42:32
| Now Kovalainen has regained the fastest time. Alonso is now out in his Renault. |
| 10:42:41
| Hamilton moves fourth. |
| 10:43:12
| A gain for Raikkonen who is now second. |
| 10:43:36
| All change as Hamilton is now fastest from Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Massa. |
| 10:45:00
| Alonso has moved sixth in his Renault. |
| 10:46:21
| Alonso improves and is now P5 ahead of Vettel who is back out for his second stint in the STR. |
| 10:46:47
| Kubica vaults fifth fastest in his BMW Sauber. Heidfeld is just starting his first run. |
| 10:47:53
| A slow first lap from Heidfeld who remains 20th. |
| 10:48:58
| The fastest four have returned to the pits. |
| 10:49:50
| Heidfeld has moved into the top ten. |
| 10:50:54
| Rosberg is 14th and back out in his Williams. |
| 10:52:05
| Piquet runs wide and is able to continue. |
| 10:52:30
| Rosberg is not improving on this stint at the moment. |
| 10:52:49
| It is clouding over. |
| 10:54:17
| The front-runners are in the pits. Heidfeld remains on track. |
| 10:55:02
| Force India are now slowest with Button 18th in the second Honda. |
| 10:55:38
| Glock improves and is now tenth in his Toyota. |
| 10:57:00
| A gain for Button who moves P15. |
| 10:58:17
| Alonso and Massa head back out. |
| 10:58:39
| Piquet moves ahead of Glock. |
| 11:00:10
| Hamilton and Kovalainen rejoin the action. |
| 11:01:02
| Piquet and Glock continue to trade time for P10. |
| 11:01:27
| Massa moves fastest for Ferrari by a tenth from Hamilton. |
| 11:02:43
| Raikkonen is back out so we have most of the front runners on track now as Hamilton locks up his front right wheel again. |
| 11:03:01
| Massa improves his own best and is now three-tenths ahead of Hamilton. |
| 11:03:47
| Another gain from Massa who is now half a second clear. |
| 11:04:57
| Adrian Sutil seems to have stopped on track. Not sure why. He is 20th. |
| 11:05:50
| Kovalainen runs wide - but is able to continue. |
| 11:06:32
| Massa is going faster by the lap and now has the gap out to almost six-tenths. |
| 11:07:38
| Massa now pits his Ferrari. |
| 11:09:31
| Hamilton pits his McLaren. He joins Massa and Kovalainen in the pits. |
| 11:10:07
| Very worn tyres on Hamilton's McLaren from locking up many times. |
| 11:11:44
| Vettel remains in the top ten. Bourdais is down in 18th in the second STR. |
| 11:12:05
| Sutil's Force India has somehow made it back to the pits. |
| 11:13:17
| Only a few drivers on track now with 17 minutes remaining. |
| 11:14:32
| Barrichello is 13th and back on track. |
| 11:16:05
| Piquet, P10, is back out with 14 minutes remaining. |
| 11:19:03
| Trulli is seventh and is back out in his Toyota. |
| 11:20:07
| Hamilton heads back out with ten minutes remaining. |
| 11:21:10
| Trulli spins his Toyota and is able to continue. |
| 11:21:41
| Trulli just lost the rear end exiting the Adelaide hairpin. |
| 11:21:55
| Raikkonen back out. |
| 11:22:17
| Massa and others now heading out for a final stint. |
| 11:23:18
| The circuit is now busy in the final minutes. |
| 11:23:46
| Hamilton is still locking up his front wheels. |
| 11:25:15
| Massa improves his own best once again. He is now seven-tenths clear of Hamilton. |
| 11:26:26
| Hamilton seems to be on the same old set of tyres so will probably not improve his time. This may be the case for all of the front-runners. |
| 11:27:43
| All on track but Sutil who has a problem. |
| 11:28:32
| Alonso has pulled a smoking R28 off track. That almost certainly is an engine failure. |
| 11:28:53
| Alonso was sixth fastest in his Renault. |
| 11:30:02
| Kovalainen runs very wide. The chequered flag is out. |
| 11:30:53
| That was a lucky escape from Kovalainen who ran wide through Estoril. |
| 11:31:04
| So the session is over. |
| 11:31:44
| Massa is fastest from Hamilton, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Kuvica, Alonso, Trulli, Vettel, Heidfeld and Glock. |
