Jake Hughes ended the first day of testing at Paul Ricard on top of the timesheets with a 1:49.456, ahead of ART Grand Prix team-mate Nikita Mazepin and MP Motorsport driver Niko Kari.
The teams were greeted with wintery conditions to start the day; new entrant MP Motorsport, replacing DAMS, was first out on circuit to get acquainted with the GP16 chassis for the first time.
As the weather cleared up and the track dried, drivers began to ramp up the pace and just before the lunch break Anthoine Hubert managed to break the two-minute barrier, as he and Trident pair Alessio Lorandi and Giuliano Alesi rounded out the top three of the morning session.
Once the lunch was complete, track activity saw a frenzy of drivers hit the asphalt thanks to the ever-improving conditions and the Jenzer of David Beckmann was the first to set a time of the afternoon, but was swiftly topped by Hubert, as he quickly got back on the pace from the morning session.
Just after the hour mark on his first outing in GP3, Arden's newly-announced Joey Mawson was the first to break the 1m50 barrier, before being quickly dispatched by Hubert once more; times continued to tumble with several drivers trading fastest times as the afternoon wore on.
In the final hour, the pace continued to ramp up and it was Dorian Boccalaci (MP Motorsport) who was the first to break into the 1m49s, before being dispatched by Hubert and the Campos of Leonardo Pulcini.
With just 15 minutes left in the session, Hughes jumped to the top of the timesheets ahead of Mazepin, while Kari beat Pulcini into third, while Hubert fell to fifth.
Boccolacci was sixth fastest, ahead of the Arden's Gabriel Aubry, and they were followed by the Trident trio of Lorandi, Ryan Tveter and Pedro Piquet.
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