2018 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE

[Big Kev]

2018 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE



Circuit Paul Ricard
Lap data
tbc

UK Times
Friday 22nd June 2018
French Grand Prix Free Practice 1: 12:00-13:30 (UK time: 11:00-12:30)
French Grand Prix Free Practice 2: 16:00-17:30 (UK time: 15:00-16:30)
Saturday 23rd June 2018
French Grand Prix Free Practice 3: 13:00-14:00 (UK time: 12:00-13:00)
French Grand Prix Qualifying: 16:00 (UK time: 14:00)
Sunday 24th June 2018
French Grand Prix: 16:10 (UK time: 15:10)

Previous Winners
2008 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari Magny-Cours
2007 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
2006 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2005 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
2004 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2003 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW
2002 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2001 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2000 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes
1999 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda
1998 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
1997 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
1996 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault

Videos

Pirelli tyre test on board (not the whole track)


Patrese 1990 onboard


Facts from the last race
Celebrity guest Canadian Grand Prix flag-waver Winnie Harlow can claim she was in good company when she hung out the chequer too early under instruction from an official.

The first occasion this happened in F1 was 40 years ago at the Argentinian Grand Prix. The culprit on that occasion was none other than local hero and five-times Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, who mistook Ronnie Peterson’s fifth-place Lotus for that of his race-leading team mate Mario Andretti.

Two other races have been brought to an early end due to hasty flag-waving since then. Alain Prost was shown the chequered flag a lap early when he won the British Grand Prix in 1985 and the same happened to Lewis Hamilton in China four years ago.

Last weekend it was Sebastian Vettel who won, scoring the 50th victory of his F1 career in Canada. That made him the fourth driver in F1 history to score a half-century of victories, joining Michael Schumacher, Prost and Hamilton.

Vettel’s victory was the 232nd for Ferrari. They now have 50 more than the next most successful team, McLaren, which has gone more than five years without winning a race. Williams, who are third on the list with 114, have been waiting even longer.

It was Ferrari’s first win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 2004. They’d waited even longer for a pole position, but Vettel’s 54th career pole on Saturday ended their 17-year drought in Canada. Vettel also ended Hamilton’s run of three consecutive pole positions at this track.

It was a processional race to say the least. The top two places were occupied by the same two drivers all race long: Vettel and Valtteri Bottas. The last time this happened, in Mexico last year, Bottas also finished second.

Bottas took his fourth podium finish of the year in Canada, all of which have been second places. It’s worth reflecting again on how much that puncture in Azerbaijan cost him: without it he’d be only two points behind Hamilton and would have finished ahead of his team mate more often than not so far this year.

Although Hamilton could only manage fifth, his worst finishing position at this track, it was his 32nd consecutive points finish, which puts him five ahead of the previous record.

There were no points for Fernando Alonso in his 300th appearance in a round of the world championship. He has only started 297 races, having not officially started the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, 2005 United States Grand Prix and 2017 Russian Grand Prix. He should therefore reach his 300th F1 race start at Silverstone. That will also be his fifth race on consecutive weekends.

We are now one-third of the way through this 21-race season. All of the seven races so far have had the following things in common: Alonso has out-qualified Vandoorne, the pole sitter has kept the lead on lap one, Ericsson has not made it into Q2 and Grosjean and Sirotkin haven’t scored any points.

Drivers’ Chosen Tyres


Championship Standings

[w00dsy]

Oh dear

[Big Kev]

I guess that was a thriller then

I must admit I didn't enjoy watching it that much. The track is so open and bland you have no feeling for where anyone is on the track at any one time. And the place looked deserted.

Max makes a good point here
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13700 ... ttel-crash

[Sarsippius]

I only watched the highlights on youtube but all those blue and red stripes are really off putting, maybe it's just me but it makes it hard to follow the on track action.

[DarrenM]

I thought the race was ok and the director did a good job of catching action. I also had a hard time with the track even though we did it in Assetto so I knew where it went. Every corner is a similar looking bunch of swirling blue lines in an expanse of tarmac that gave very little sense of speed. Would be good if some of them had a unique feel but I don't see how they can do that when all the track side features/grandstands are so far from the track.

The grandstands looked full, but they're all so far back. Maybe they could fix it by making the temporary grandstands closer to the circuit next time. They might have been conservative with the number of seats they put in as well.

Highlight of the event was during the rain in FP3. People were holding folding chairs etc above their heads for cover. Then they cut to a fat dude with a tiny little camping stool on his head that wasn't even big enough to keep his head dry let alone his soaked body

Nice to see more push back against the tabloid muckraking style reporting that seems to have taken over. I get the impression Toto has had enough of Sky's shit as well. He doesn't seem to talk to them much any more. Part of the problem might be that there are so many media teams now asking the same questions over and over. It must be mind numbing.

[Dr. Pain]

I thought it was good. The track does look very different to anything else but it worked well. Even the chicane was working for overtaking.

[Big Kev]

I get the impression Toto has had enough of Sky's shit as well. He doesn't seem to talk to them much any more.

Yes you definitely feel there are certain presenters and pundits that certain drivers and team personnel aren't fussed about talking to. I've always felt Lewis is happier to talk to Channel 4 than Sky. Certainly the main Sky guy Lazenby seems to have rubbed a few up the wrong way. Some drivers clearly don't enjoy being asked silly trivia questions or be interviewed whilst playing darts. If I was a driver I'd have that stuff written as a no-go in the contract from day one! Plus if I want to see a driver interview I want to learn something useful, not find out what their favourite breed of cat is.