We're back to France!
Our next round in the 2021 Formula One world championship takes place in the beautiful Le Castellet commune in France at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Often touted as the safest racing circuit in the world, due to its very colourful stripy run off areas, this track certainly looks very visually unique, (or looking at the runoff areas make you dizzy, whichever you prefer!).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we couldn’t take our trip to France last year - so in the turbo-hybrid era, we have only been to Paul Ricard twice, once in 2018 and again in 2019. Although those races weren’t much to behold, this racetrack may yet surprise us.
After no change to the top two in the championship and a rather embarrassing performance in Baku for Mercedes, all is to play for. Max Verstappen still leads despite a hefty crash 5 laps from the chequered flag in Azerbaijan. Lewis Hamilton comes to France hungry for points as his 54-race scoring tally came to an end in a bizarre brake balance change after the red flag restart. Sergio Perez arrives after his first win with Red Bull, getting even more to grips with his RB16B.
The championship is certainly hotting up with tensions bubbling between Mercedes and Red bull both on track and in the media (eg. Toto Wolff calling Christian Horner a “windbag”). The midfield is certainly giving plenty of action as well, with a fight emerging between McLaren and Ferrari for 3rd in the constructor’s championship.
A closer look at the circuit...
So apart from its very striking tarmac runoffs, what makes Circuit Paul Ricard?
Well, this 5.8 km circuit has a lot of character, with very interesting corners and has a good combination of high, medium, and low speed corners. It has proved itself to be an okay overtaking circuit given the right conditions. Going into the braking zone of turn one on a fast-qualifying lap, drivers will be carrying speeds of over 310km/h in 8th gear flat out into the corner.
On race day, the sprint down to turn one from pole is 590 m before heading into the blind apex of the turn one / two chicane. Then, you’re onto another long straight regaining enough momentum for some late braking to gain some more time, (if you dare!).
We then head into the right / left swooping section of turns 5 and 6, propelling drivers into the first DRS zone of the lap on the main back straight into another chicane. The straight then continues into Signes corner (the flat-out right hander), carrying plenty of speed into “De Beausset” which former Formula One driver Romain Grosjean describes as “one of the most incredible corners of the year” (although he may have been a bit biased considering its his home Grand Prix). The G forces carried through the double right hander can be over 5g’s, the drivers definitely needing that painful neck training for this circuit! Once drivers have navigated this section, it is the final part of the track (including turn 12) taking you into the long corner of turn 13. Then, drivers finally arrive at the medium speed turn 14, moving into second gear to prepare for turn 15 and exiting to blast down the main straight with the aid of DRS.
The total race distance is 309.69 km over 53 laps, with the middle range of Pirelli tyres being used (C2 hard, C3 medium, C4 soft, intermediates and wets). So, hopefully we can see some differing strategies, especially if a frontrunner has a problem in qualifying.
The current lap record is held by Sebastian Vettel from 2019 with a 1:32.740 and the last winner and pole-sitter was Lewis Hamilton. However, if we’ve learned anything this season, it's that anything can happen - so perhaps we can hope for another mixed up podium? Or will Mercedes claw back some much-needed points in the championship?
The French GP: Best Bits...
I’m not going to lie to you, the previous French Grand Prix haven’t been astounding, but nevertheless, there have certainly been some good moments from the races in the modern era and this year I would definitely watch - especially with the championship still being all the play for.
The 2018 French Grand Prix saw a return to Paul Ricard for the first time since 1990 and the first lap seemed to be a preview for great racing to come. After the initial start phase of the Grand Prix with everyone getting through the first straight cleanly, contact between Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel saw Bottas going spinning out of contention for the win and Vettel with a broken front wing (Vettel was later given a 5 second time penalty for causing a collision). Of course, there was action further back in the field, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly making contact which eventually took both Frenchmen out of their home Grand Prix.
Due to the excessive runoff area, many cars took avoiding action to not get tangled up in any incidents ahead. This was quite controversial at the time because some would argue they gained an unfair advantage from the use of the runoff area. However, after the first lap, the racing became very processional - but at least with Vettel and Bottas out of position, it was intriguing to watch them carve their way through the field. Towards the end of the Grand Prix, Lance Stroll was unlucky to have a tyre failure which caused him to eventually retire from the race, but the finishing order remained pretty much the same.
2019 didn’t produce much drama, with the most interesting thing on the opening lap being George Russell being forced off the track and breaking a polystyrene distance marker. Between then and the end of the race, nothing much happened other than Perez receiving a 5 second time penalty for gaining an advantage off the racetrack, (a controversial decision at the time because Perez passed around the bollard and cut turn 4 as he was instructed to do if he went off track). On the final lap, Daniel Ricciardo was being his usual self and doing some daring late breaking overtakes but forced Lando Norris off the track at turn 9 while re-joining the track. That then allowed Kimi Raikkonen through when Ricciardo went off track again, which the stewards looked down upon, handing him two five second penalties (one for failing to re-join the track safely and the other for gaining an advantage of-track)
So overall, not nearly as much action as Baku, but this is Formula One so anything could happen. I’m very excited to see the drivers hit the track again and hopefully see some fantastic racing!
When to watch
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) The first practice session begins at 11:30 local time (10:30 BST, 3:30 EST) and finishes an hour later.
(FRIDAY) The second practice session starts at 15:00 local time (14:00 BST, 19:00 EST) and finishes an hour later
(SATURDAY) The final practice session commences at 12:00 local time (11:00 BST, 16:00 EST) and finishes an hour later.
(SATURDAY) Qualifying commences 15:00 local time (14:00 BST, 19:00 EST). The length of qualifying varies depending on the events of the session, such as crashes that require barrier repair, but is due to finish an hour after starting. This determines the order for the race start.
(SUNDAY) The 2021 French grand prix starts at 15:00 local time (14:00 BST, 19:00 EST), and lasts for 53 laps or 120 minutes, whichever comes first.
Support Series:
Unfortunately, the W series opening round that was set to happen at the French Grand Prix was rescheduled due to calendar reshuffling. The W series will now start on the 26th of June during Austria round one. We look forward to the start of this exciting second season for the pioneering all women’s racing series.
However, we do have some Formula 3 races this weekend!
(FRIDAY) The only practice session for F3 starts 8:05 local time (9:05 - 9:50 BST, 4:05 - 4:50 EST)
(FRIDAY) Qualifying starts at 11:50 local time (12:50 BST, 8:50 EST)
(SATURDAY) Race one begins at 8:10 local time (9:10 BST, 4:50 EST)
(SATURDAY) Race two commences at 14:40 local time (15:40 BST, 10:40 EST)
(SUNDAY) Race three starts at 9:40 local time (10:40 BST, 5:40 EST)
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright infringement intended)
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