Formula Renault 3.5 championship leader Kevin Magnussen set the pace in first practice at Paul Ricard ahead of a weekend in which he can secure the title.
Magnussen’s time of 1m48.392s was 0.176s quicker than the best achieved by second-placed Nico Muller.
Muller’s Draco team-mate Andre Negrao was third, nearly half a second down on Magnussen. Hungaroring race two victor Antonio Felix da Costa was fourth with Magnussen’s chief rival Stoffel Vandoorne in fifth.
Magnussen’s DAMS team-mate Norman Nato took sixth on home soil, with the top ten completed by Daniil Move, Pietro Fantin, Will Stevens and Christopher Zanella.
Zanella’s ISR team-mate Sergey Sirotkin is set to be absent until Sunday morning’s qualifying while he makes his F1 debut with Sauber at a demonstration run in Sochi.
Practice 1 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 1:48.392 | 19 | |
| 2 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | 1:48.568 | 0.176 | 22 |
| 3 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | 1:48.841 | 0.449 | 23 |
| 4 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham | 1:48.884 | 0.492 | 21 |
| 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 1:48.975 | 0.583 | 25 |
| 6 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:48.986 | 0.594 | 22 |
| 7 | Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:49.019 | 0.627 | 22 |
| 8 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham | 1:49.058 | 0.666 | 23 |
| 9 | Will Stevens | P1 by Strakka Racing | 1:49.188 | 0.796 | 21 |
| 10 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 1:49.304 | 0.912 | 21 |
| 11 | Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:49.388 | 0.996 | 22 |
| 12 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | 1:49.390 | 0.998 | 22 |
| 13 | Matias Laine | P1 by Strakka Racing | 1:49.407 | 1.015 | 20 |
| 14 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | 1:49.420 | 1.028 | 24 |
| 15 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | 1:49.541 | 1.149 | 20 |
| 16 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:49.578 | 1.186 | 18 |
| 17 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | 1:49.614 | 1.222 | 23 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz | Zeta Corse | 1:49.730 | 1.338 | 21 |
| 19 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:49.908 | 1.516 | 15 |
| 20 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | 1:49.914 | 1.522 | 20 |
| 21 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 1:50.290 | 1.898 | 14 |
| 22 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | 1:50.508 | 2.116 | 9 |
| 23 | William Buller | Zeta Corse | 1:50.523 | 2.131 | 13 |
| 24 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | 1:50.649 | 2.257 | 20 |
| 25 | Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | No time | 1 |