GP3 drivers’ championship leader Anthoine Hubert has gone fastest in practice ahead of racing at Circuit Paul Ricard, leading an ART GP 1-2-3-4 at his home track.
Hubert, who never finished outside of the top five in testing there in February, set a time of 1m51.091s with around three of 45 minutes remaining to top the timesheets by 0.449 seconds.
The Renault-affiliated Frenchman led ahead of Jake Hughes, who was separated from Ferrari academy driver – Callum Ilott and Force India F1 tester Nikita Mazepin by just 0.037s.
MP’s Dorian Boccolacci finished fifth above Ferrari academy racer Giuliano Alesi.
Campos’s Leonardo Pulcini was seventh with Joey Mawson and Niko Kari eighth and ninth.
Pedro Piquet completed the top 10 above Renault protege and MP debutant Christian Lundgaard.
Sauber F1 test driver Tatiana Calderon was 13th as the fastest of the Jenzer-Dallara competitors.
Gabriel Aubry, Alessio Lorandi and Juan Manuel Correa were placed at the bottom after having their sessions curtailed by various issues.
Aubry stopped on track and Correa had hydraulic problems while Lorandi suffered a broken rear wing.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Anthoine Hubert | ART GP | 1m51.091s | 17 |
| 2 | Jake Hughes | ART GP | 1m51.540s | 17 |
| 3 | Callum Ilott | ART GP | 1m51.587s | 18 |
| 4 | Nikita Mazepin | ART GP | 1m51.577s | 18 |
| 5 | Dorian Boccolacci | MP | 1m51.607s | 19 |
| 6 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 1m51.794s | 18 |
| 7 | Leonardo Pulcini | Campos | 1m51.819s | 16 |
| 8 | Joey Mawson | Arden | 1m51.868s | 20 |
| 9 | Niko Kari | MP | 1m51.872s | 19 |
| 10 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 1m52.024s | 18 |
| 11 | Christian Lundgaard | MP | 1m52.179s | 20 |
| 12 | Simo Laaksonen | Campos | 1m52.195s | 17 |
| 13 | Tatiana Calderon | Jenzer | 1m52.221s | 17 |
| 14 | Ryan Tveter | Trident | 1m52.276s | 19 |
| 15 | David Beckmann | Jenzer | 1m52.581s | 17 |
| 16 | Julien Falchero | Arden | 1m53.364s | 18 |
| 17 | Diego Menchaca | Campos | 1m54.143s | 18 |
| 18 | Gabriel Aubry | Arden | 1m54.204s | 7 |
| 19 | Alessio Lorandi | Trident | 1m54.559s | 10 |
| 20 | Juan Manuel Correa | Jenzer | 1m56.244s | 10 |
