This weekend’s French Grand Prix marks the fourth to be held at Paul Ricard since Formulation 1 returned to the Le Castellet monitor in 2018.
Nevertheless, it could show to be the final F1 race held within the nice motorsport nation because the circuit’s contract to host the race is because of expire on the finish of this season.
Heading into what could possibly be the fourth and closing race at Paul Ricard, right here on the six speaking factors for the French Grand Prix weekend.
The ultimate French Grand Prix… for now?
Final yr Paul Ricard noticed by far its most attention-grabbing race because it returned to the schedule, with Max Verstappen chasing down and passing Lewis Hamilton for victory within the closing laps.
Nevertheless the monitor, which F1 first visited in 1971, has usually struggled to supply a lot in the way in which of leisure over its three races since returning to the Formulation 1 calendar. Regrettably the choice of bypassing the awkward Mistral chicane, which might properly have improved the spectacle, was by no means taken up.
With the circuit’s contract to host the French Grand Prix as a result of expire on the finish of this season and competitors over which venues will earn the fitting to host Formulation 1 occasions larger than it maybe ever has been, Paul Ricard seems to be to be in direction of the highest of the record of circuits more than likely to make means for different tracks on the calendar.
That would imply that this weekend might properly show to be the ultimate French Grand Prix for the foreseeable future. However whereas many might not miss the monitor if it does certainly drop off the schedule, the lack of a race in one in every of Europe’s most vital motorsport nations will likely be keenly felt. Significantly when there are two race-winning French drivers on the grid for the primary time in many years, and Francophone championship contender Charles Leclerc hails from Monaco, much less the 200 kilometres up the highway.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali just lately mentioned the thought of probably transferring the French Grand Prix to a brand new avenue circuit in Good, however there’s little to counsel this quantities to greater than a tactic to use strain to the Monaco race promoter. If Formulation 1 is to lose its race in France, hopefully it is not going to be lengthy till a brand new and extra attention-grabbing host venue may be discovered. However the nation’s solely different F1-grade monitor, Magny-Cours in rural Nevers, hardly suits Liberty Medias’s goal for races in ‘vacation spot cities’.
Ferrari’s reliability woes
Pink Bull have been broadly thought to be fast-but-fragile following the opening rounds of the season. Neither Verstappen nor Sergio Perez completed the primary race in Bahrain, earlier than Verstappen retired from the Australian Grand Prix with a gasoline system failure, leaving Ferrari as clear leaders within the constructors’ championship.
Nevertheless, over the second quarter of the yr, the narrative has flipped fully. With 4 mechanical-related retirements equally shared between Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr for the reason that Spanish Grand Prix, it’s now Ferrari who look like on the largest threat of breaking down throughout races – one thing the workforce can’t afford because the workforce continues to compete for wins towards Pink Bull.
Monitor knowledge: Paul Ricard
| Lap size | 5.842km (3.63 miles) |
| Grand prix distance | 309.626km (192.393 miles) |
| Lap file (race) | 1’32.740 (Sebastian Vettel, 2019) |
| Quickest lap (any session) | 1’28.319 (Lewis Hamilton, 2019, qualifying three) |
| Tyre compounds | C2, C3, C4 |
| 2021 Rate the Race | 8.23 out of 10 |
| 2021 Driver of the Weekend | Max Verstappen |
Leclerc might even be thought-about lucky to have received final day trip in Austria, after driving with {a partially} caught throttle to maintain forward of Verstappen during the last 10 laps. Sainz, nonetheless, was denied a possible second place after his energy unit expired so dramatically in pursuit of Verstappen. It’s little shock Ferrari are apprehensive about their reliability over the remainder of the season.
“It’s actually a priority,” admitted workforce principal Mattia Binotto after the race in Austria. “However the folks again at Maranello are working very laborious making an attempt to repair them.
“We’ll have new components and I understand how robust they’re working, how good they’re, and that I can depend on them that it will likely be addressed very quickly, hopefully as quickly as attainable.”
However they and their rivals will face a further problem from the situations this weekend.
Beating the warmth
Reaching the peak of summer season within the northern hemisphere, it’s solely pure that this weekend’s French Grand Prix could be a heat one. However with the present heatwave throughout Europe, the affect of the excessive temperatures has already been felt throughout the sporting world.
Final Sunday skilled biking’s governing physique, the Union Cycliste Internationale, activated its excessive climate protocols for the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France, held within the south of the nation not removed from the Le Castellet circuit. Early forecasts predict temperatures across the low thirties Celsius – not at all excessive by F1 requirements – however with the potential to pose a further pressure to human and machine over three days of monitor motion.
If these forecasts do change into correct, that may make this weekend simply the most popular French Grand Prix since Formulation 1 returned to the circuit in 2018. What that would imply for tyre temperatures over a monitor floor that would breach 60C will not be insignificant both, with some vehicles extra prone to overheating their tyres and others having extra challenges with getting their rubber as much as optimum temperatures.
Mercedes’s greatest monitor of the season?
Mercedes’ reliability has been one of many workforce’s few brilliant spots this yr, and this weekend’s race guarantees to be one of many strongest but for the resurgent world champions. They’re presently having fun with their greatest three-race stretch of the season, even with George Russell’s first-lap retirement on the British Grand Prix.
The most important upgrades launched to the W13 on the Spanish Grand Prix again in late Might have been targeted on enhancing the automotive’s efficiency within the medium-to-high-speed corners and appeared to work properly. However whereas two back-to-back races at avenue circuits appeared to show difficult for Mercedes, Russell nonetheless managed to safe a podium in third. Since then, Hamilton has achieved a podium in all three races.
Heading to the super-smooth testing facility of Paul Ricard – that Formulation 1 determined years in the past ought to play host to a grand prix – Mercedes know this will likely be a circuit the place the affect of their automotive’s weaknesses will likely be minimised. They’ve had issue getting warmth into their tyres this yr, however the punishing situations ought to assist with that.
As one of many quickest circuits of the season by common lap pace, and with solely a small variety of really sluggish corners, Mercedes can anticipate to profit from the Paul Ricard circuit and hopefully get even nearer to Pink Bull than they did in Austria, the place each Hamilton and Russell seemed to be amongst their rivals in qualifying earlier than separate errors noticed each crash out.
However whereas single-lap tempo has seemed markedly improved at Mercedes in latest rounds, race tempo is one other matter. There’s nonetheless work to do if Mercedes are going to catch up sufficient to start preventing for race wins as soon as once more.
Can Haas hold the streak going?
With seventh on the grid for Kevin Magnussen turning right into a fifth place end, the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix was pretty much as good a begin to Haas’ 2022 marketing campaign that the workforce might have realistically hoped for. However after a handful of factors over the following three rounds, Haas suffered by means of a irritating 5 race pointless run, dropping to ninth within the constructors’ championship, one level behind Aston Martin.
Then got here Silverstone and the British Grand Prix. A serious breakthrough for Mick Schumacher noticed the workforce’s second-year driver lastly declare his first profession factors in Formulation 1 with eighth place, simply behind Verstappen following some notably sturdy defending from the world champion. Magnussen additionally took tenth to safe the workforce’s first double factors end for the reason that 2019 German Grand Prix.
Then the next weekend in Austria, the workforce fared even higher. A powerful qualifying session on Friday noticed Magnussen and Schumacher safe sixth and seventh on the dash race grid, which grew to become seventh and ninth, respectively, for Sunday’s grand prix. Within the race, Schumacher drove probably his greatest race of his profession to this point to take his best-ever end in sixth, whereas Magnussen held onto eighth regardless of struggling a misfire from the early phases.
After two double factors finishes in succession, morale at Haas is larger than it has been all season. And with a major improve package deal as a result of arrive subsequent week on the Hungarian Grand Prix, the workforce will likely be seeking to hold their run of factors finishes going earlier than each Magnussen and Schumacher acquire the good thing about a hopefully improved automotive for the following race.
Monitor restrict troubles
The brand new zero-tolerance strategy to trace limits in Formulation 1 launched in the beginning of the 2022 season with the arrival of two new race administrators had its largest affect but in the course of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. A complete of 90 monitor limits infringements over the three aggressive periods of the weekend noticed 4 drivers handed time penalties for breaching the confines of the course one too many occasions within the race.
The generosity of the monitor limits on the Pink Bull Ring has been an issue for the reason that venue was reworked by Hermann Tilke 25 years in the past. Paul Ricard is one other monitor to expertise a makeover the upshot of which was to make staying throughout the circuit’s confines largely non-obligatory. There’s barely a single blade of grass, nor a spit of gravel to be discovered round its 5.8 kilometres.
With nothing however asphalt sitting on the perimeter of the circuit, the temptation to run as near the white traces as attainable to maximise exit pace is as excessive as it’s anyplace on the calendar. Additionally, because of the distinctive nature of Paul Ricard, drivers are compelled to observe very direct directions about how they need to rejoin the circuit ought to they miss flip two, flip 4 or the chicane on the lengthy Mistral Straight.
The principles over monitor limits is not going to solely have an effect on whether or not drivers have occasions deleted, however may even doubtless come into play throughout shut racing conditions. With Alexander Albon receiving a penalty within the Austrian dash race for forcing Lando Norris off the circuit, sparking debates over whether or not different drivers ought to have obtained comparable penalties in latest rounds, it’s doubtless that there could possibly be extra penalties handed down this weekend and virtually actually extra debates.
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