htaccess redirection to default language to reduce load time

[Eutanasio]

Hi,

I've done a GTmetrix test and found that the website wastes 1.4s only on redirections until the website starts loading the default language version of the website.

When you access the website through www.web.com it then redirects to web.com and then finally arrives to web.com/fr/

Would it be possible to force a shortcut using htaccess? with something like this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mywebsite\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/fr/.*$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /fr/$1 [R=301,L]

Thanks!

Edited July 6, 2023 by Eutanasio (see edit history)