Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in 1st French GP practice
 |
| The superior handling Mercedes will not be beaten two races in a row |
After winning easily in 2018, the Mercedes team picked up where they left off last year at Paul Ricard and ran 1-2 in opening practice for the French GP at Paul Ricard.
Lewis Hamilton's lap of 1m32.738s was just 0.069s faster than his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Charles Leclerc was 3rd quick for Ferrari while Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top-5.
Practice 1 Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.738 | +0.000s | 21 |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:32.807 | +0.069s | 20 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:33.111 | +0.373s | 21 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:33.618 | +0.880s | 20 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:33.790 | +1.052s | 22 |
| 6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:34.091 | +1.353s | 20 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:34.110 | +1.372s | 23 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 1:34.261 | +1.523s | 26 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:34.540 | +1.802s | 18 |
| 10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:34.804 | +2.066s | 25 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 1:34.809 | +2.071s | 21 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:34.810 | +2.072s | 25 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 1:35.063 | +2.325s | 22 |
| 14 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:35.326 | +2.588s | 24 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:35.410 | +2.672s | 19 |
| 16 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:35.522 | +2.784s | 22 |
| 17 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:36.102 | +3.364s | 22 |
| 18 | 40 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:37.147 | +4.409s | 25 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams Mercedes | 1:37.172 | +4.434s | 27 |
| 20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:37.620 | +4.882s | 9 |