Official 2019 French Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Piginapoke]

It’s France, and a return to Paul Ricard for the second time after a 10-year hiatus. The track has two high speed straights, and Signes may be the fastest corner of the year. So who knows, maybe Ferrari will stop making mistakes, maybe Lewis will actually make a mistake.

I’m thinking that this is one for the highlights, and I will find something more enlivening to do on Sunday afternoon. For those of you still somehow engaged with this season, knock yourselves out.


Date(s): Friday 21 June 2019 - Sunday 23 June 2019

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1; only highlights are shown on Channel 4:





Live timing for all sessions available here:

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Weather forecast:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/spsn...

Tyre Choices:



2018 Qualifying Result:



2018 Race Result:



2018 race highlights:

https://youtu.be/ccFaUJXB0KU


Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the world championship lead with a dominant victory in the French Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver led from start to finish other than one lap around his pit stop to move 14 points ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished fifth. Vettel made life difficult for himself with a collision at the first corner with Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

The German fought back through the field impressively but earned a five-second penalty for causing the crash, which put both to the back of the field.

[TheDeuce]

I dislike this track.

Although, I see a high chance of rain on Friday.. maybe with a wet enough track someone could finally make use of the obscenely large run-offs.

[paua]

Am really happy there's a new thread, Canada is about 50 pages too long ( & still going).

[sparta6]

TheDeuce said:

I dislike this track.

Although, I see a high chance of rain on Friday.. maybe with a wet enough track someone could finally make use of the obscenely large run-offs.

I agree.
We're attending again, but the run-offs are so Mickey Mouse the track should be relocated just outside of Paris

[DanielSan]

I predict Toto Wolff to say how fast Ferrari are, how much Mercedes are struggling, Hamilton to also say how much they're struggling, Mercedes to then qualify 1-2 and also finish 1-2 while Verstappen finishes 3rd and the Ferrari's yet again to end up not being fast....

And because I've now predicted this Vettel will win.

[paua]

DanielSan said:

I predict Vettel will win.

Snowflake's chance in a hot place,

[NoAdverseDevelopments]

Just watched the highlights from last year, forgot how the insanely bland and large run-offs make the cars look slow and small. Just no sense of scale from the pictures at all.

I predict Ferrari will cock their weekend up somehow, the question is whether their engine advantage will keep RedBull behind them.

[Mr Pointy]

It's the first time I've seen Mercedes not split the allocation of hard & medium tyres between the drivers. I guess they really don't expect to go anywhere near the hard tyre.

[sparta6]

DanielSan said:

I predict Toto Wolff to say how fast Ferrari are, how much Mercedes are struggling, Hamilton to also say how much they're struggling, Mercedes to then qualify 1-2 and also finish 1-2 while Verstappen finishes 3rd and the Ferrari's yet again to end up not being fast....

And because I've now predicted this Vettel will win.

[TheDeuce]

paua said:

Am really happy there's a new thread, Canada is about 50 pages too long ( & still going).

Speaking of that - does anyone else think Vettel didn't deserve that penalty?

[DanielSan]

As it's in France also, just watching the start if LM24, so far better racing than most GP's.

[The Vambo]

Paul Ricard is just 2 hours of...

Edited by The Vambo on Saturday 15th June 14:46

[The Vambo]

Piginapoke said:

I’m thinking that this is one for the highlights, and I will find something more enlivening to do on Sunday afternoon. For those of you still somehow engaged with this season, knock yourselves out.

At some point, everyone had a teacher who you just knew really fking hated teaching, hated kids, hated the lot of it. I always wondered why they continued to do it.

A sense of duty? To be a martyr? Just to get the respect of being a teacher?

I never did find out...

[TheDeuce]

The Vambo said:

Paul Ricard is just 2 hours of...

Edited by The Vambo on Saturday 15th June 14:46

Blue and red stripes, so accurate!

[HustleRussell]

I am wondering when reliability is going to become a factor for the Red and Silver teams.

This was a good one for Leclerc last season

Renault are supposedly bringing a significant package, can it cement the positions which they held in Canada?

The track layout doesn’t look conducive to energising the tyres so I’m expecting Mercedes to hold their usual margin with everyone else scratching their heads again.

[zebra]

TheDeuce said:

paua said:

Am really happy there's a new thread, Canada is about 50 pages too long ( & still going).

Speaking of that - does anyone else think Vettel didn't deserve that penalty?

When did Vettel get a penalty? I must have missed that.

I’d be very surprised if he deserved it as I don’t think there is a cleaner racer or someone else who better epitomises skill under pressure.

Edited by zebra on Saturday 15th June 17:44

[Mr Pointy]

Didn't the drivers want the chicane taken out after last year's race? It seems it's still there.

[Jasandjules]

This track is awful to drive on the PS4 so wonder how the drivers find it in reality.... The run off areas are disorientating on TV as well, really does impact on the viewing pleasure.

[TheDeuce]

zebra said:

When did Vettel get a penalty? I must have missed that.

I’d be very surprised if he deserved it as I don’t think there is a cleaner racer or someone else who better epitomises skill under pressure.

Edited by zebra on Saturday 15th June 17:44

Straight from the horses mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BA45QunfvY&fe...

[The Moose]

I’m hoping Mercedes can continue their winning streak here (hope that’s not a spoiler Eric?). I’ll probably watch the highlights in the evening. Did that for Canada however and found it hard to keep up with the action.