De Vries to take Hamilton’s place in first France GP practice

dpaMunich Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will sit out first practice on Friday for the French Grand Formula One Grand Prix as his place at Mercedes is taken by reserve driver Nyck de Vries."Nyck is replacing Lewis in first practice this weekend, as part of the allocated sessions for young drivers this year. So, we’re looking forward to seeing how he gets on,” Mercedes motor sport chief Toto Wolff said in a statement Wednesday.Each team have allow young and inexperienced drivers two F1 practice sessions during a season. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell will then sit out one session later in the season.De Vries, 27, is a 2019 Formula Two champion and last year won the Formula E world title for Mercedes. He made his F1 practice debut earlier this season at the Spanish GP, taking the place of Alex Albon at Williams.Hamilton will be competing in his 300th career GP in France and Wolff is upbeat that Mercedes can fight for the podium again after finishing third in the last four races and closing the gap on Red Bull and Ferrari."We scored three podiums in the first seven races, and we have now achieved four in the last four. I’m pleased with the momentum we are building, and it reflects the mammoth effort of the team,” Wolff said."We need to keep chasing those final few tenths and bringing new developments to the cars, including this weekend in France ... The aim will be to make further inroads on the gap to the front and hopefully be back on the podium.”