Max Verstappen had to concede only a tenth to Leclerc in FP1, but a few hours later the difference was more than half a second.
Sergio Perez was completely out of the game. He did just one quick run on the softs, but was only tenth fastest.
George Russell put his Mercedes in fourth place.
McLaren also seem to be in good shape based on the first two free practice sessions in Le Castellet. They have an edge over the Alpines, whose updates don't seem to be working quite right. At AlphaTauri they fortunately do.
Pierre Gasly was again well placed with a seventh time.