FORMULA 1 Live

10:33 The times are on the left-hand side of the screen for you to check out - Massa quickest by some margin. And a bit of drama at the end to spice things up. Alonso did not look too happy as he trudged off.

10:30 And now Kovalainen is off at Estoril, the long right-hand turn three! He corrects the car a few times in the gravel to avoid the tyre wall and get it back on to the track, good work - but that is not what you want with only seconds remaining of the practice session.

10:28 Hamilton cannot improve as the clocks ticks down... Alonso pulls over in a run-off area after smoke starts billowing from the back of his Renault. An engine problem - and the yellow flags are out. The car is well away from the track.

10:22 Raikkonen slower than Massa again in the first sector. The conditions are overcast. He cannot improve - but Massa has done: 1:15.306 his time now, some way ahead of Hamilton.

10:14 Hamilton having the odd issue with braking; and now advised to use gear seven at turn three instead of sixth. That indicates that he's extracting good speed from the McLaren. He comes into the pits with 15 minutes left of the session.

10:04 Massa on top with 1:15.450 now - half-a-second better off than Lewis. Button is only faster than Mark Webber at present while David Coulthard, the Aussie's team-mate at Red Bull, is 10th.

09:52 Raikkonen nips ahead of Massa, third fastest behind the McLaren pair. Piquet brakes late around one bend and runs down the wrong route. The pressure is on him at Renault's home GP.

09:46 Hamilton pulls a quick one out - 1:16.002 - to top the timesheets. Go Lewis, go Lewis, go Lewis...

09:44 The times flooding in thick and fast. As you would know if you scrolled down the page as I suggested before, the pole record is an amazing 1:13.698 - set by Alonso in 2004 for Renault - while last year Brazilian Massa went around in 1:15.034.

09:41 McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen takes top spot with 1:16.055, nearly half-a-second quicker than Ferrari man Felipe Massa. The latter always seems to qualify well at this track, but not live up to expectations in the race itself. A bit like his general form, really - or is that a bit harsh?

09:33 We have action now as Vettel goes quickest with 1:16.838. Nelson Piquet Jr slips in behind him with Sebastien Bourdais third. All the times are on the left-hand side of the screen for you.

09:21 Nothing happening out on track - apart from a change in its temperature, up three degrees to 21. And the humidity is now 78 percent.

09:16 Scroll down the page for a layout of this track - which has returned against the odds after supposedly saying goodbye to the calendar last year - past winners of the French GP and more info about it.

09:14 The track temperature is 18 degrees, as is the air temp. 0.9 m/s the wind speed and 82 percent the humidity. So now you know.

09:12 Robert Kubica - the championship leader, of course - got into his BMW for an out lap but some gremlin or other has put paid to that for now. He gets back out again and looks quizzically at the car, as if he can stare it down into doing what he wants.

09:07 A few others, including our very own British hero Lewis Hamilton, have an early whiz around before returning to the pits to alter their set-up. There is thought to be no chance of rain for this session.

09:00 The 90-minute session is under way with Sebastien Vettel out first on the track. Honda's Jenson Button follows the Toro Rosso man.

- Welcome to live text commentary of the first free practice from the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.