The Official 2018 French Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Dr Z]

I know, I know, you are all eagerly anticipating Le Mans this weekend. Let’s get this going in the meantime.

Date(s): Friday 22 June 2018 - Sunday 24 June 2018

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1 with highlights on Channel 4.

Session	Day	Sky F1	Channel 4	Session Start	Local Time
Practice 1	Fri	1030	-	1100	1200
Practice 2	Fri	1445	-	1500	1600
Practice 3	Sat	1145	-	1200	1300
Qualifying	Sat	1400	1830	1500	1600
Race	Sun	1330	2215	1510	1610

Circuit Paul Ricard



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:

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/France/Paul...

The tyre choices:

---

The French Grand Prix returns after a nine year hiatus, and this time at Paul Ricard (after 27 years). It’s a fresh challenge for the teams, with little or no previous data to work with. You can bet all the simulation engineers at the teams will have been particularly busy figuring out ways to tackle the weekend with regards to car setup.

The track resembles Montreal in the presence of a number of low and medium speed corners, so mechanical grip will again be at a premium, but the corners do go on longer here. Also in contrast to Montreal, there are no walls next to the corners, so the drivers have a lot more margin to play with. Full throttle % per lap is similar to Montreal. Pirelli are bringing the different spec tyres they brought for Spain, which adds to the challenge for the teams.

The track has a couple of long straights in which DRS is available: the pit straight (~0.9 km) and the back straight before the chicane (~1 km), suggesting cars with good aero efficiency will perform well. It will be interesting to see the wing levels teams run on their cars as there is a high speed corner in sector 3 (T7) which would most likely be taken flat, and all of sector 3 also rewarding a higher downforce setup. Gut feeling says China levels, but we shall see.

The layout also seems a good test for the deployment capacity of the different ERS systems. Mercedes are said to be the leaders in this regard, but it remains to be seen if Ferrari have matched or surpassed them, especially since the Phase 2 Mercedes engines are expected here.

The DRS zones seem reasonably long, so overtaking should be possible, and there are other spots at the track where a brave dive up the inside should be possible too. No promises though, it’s a new track for the cars, let’s see how they go. If I were to pick holes in the system, the pit straight is preceded by a low speed corner which makes DRS less effective in the distance available, however, the effect on the back straight should be more powerful.

Mercedes did some tyre testing for Pirelli here only a few weeks ago, so expect them to be quick out of the box. Ferrari almost always seem to find some speed come Saturday after some number crunching and sim work back at the factory overnight, so Saturday form has tended to give a better read on things this year. Ultimately, this weekend has a lot of variables that are new to the teams, so the experienced teams and teams that have a good understanding of their car should come to the fore.

Get your predictions in. Winner? Best of the rest (i.e. 4th best!)? Dead last?

Edited by Dr Z on Wednesday 20th June 13:23

[Dr Z]

stevesingo said:

We like Dr Z and his f1 GP posts :-)

Aw, thanks!

LivingTheDream said:

Can anyone explain why the corner numbering system differs here?

Elsewhere what is shown as turn 1 would be 1 and 2, same with 6. and surely that kink after 4 would have a number?

.....actually, looking at it more, the whole diagram annoys me (I know it not yours Dr Z). Why is the Mistral straight shown in the list of turns (virages) as number 5?

Yeah, it's not the most accurate track map. It's Paul Ricard's own map, and it's the one I could find with some speeds on it, that's why I chose it. I very much doubt these cars will be doing 344 km/h down the Mistral straight!

Here's a map by FOM with the correct corner numbers and sectors:

Eric Mc said:

How much of the Mistral Straight is left?

All of it, with a chicane in the middle.

[Dr Z]

Lewis Hamilton takes us through a lap of Paul Ricard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-v9OKpm2t0

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Is some of the jazzy run off specifically designed to knacker the tyres?

Yes, the red bit is a very abrasive surface, the blue bit less aggressive but also designed to slow the car down.

zombeh said:

Norfolkit said:

Sort of right and wrong. Judging what Martin Brundle wrote in "Working The Wheel" the shortened track used just the part of the track shown on the right of Dr Z's map with a cut through from somewhere before La Verrerie and joined the Mistral straight about half way down for the run up to Signes but the original track itself wasn't shortened in any way. Tickets are available for all of the grandstands around Sainte Baume so I guess that means we're back on the long track.

It cut through from immediately after the pit exit to about where the start of the chicane is now.

The 1.8 km straight is still there in the track and can be used as one of the configurations. The Blancpain GT series a few weeks ago used the full length without the chicane.

[Dr Z]

Time for some pics.

We appear to have an angry gorilla on the podium!



Engine cover ready for the Spec 2?



Interesting pitlane...perhaps a picnic could be had here between serious stretegy calls.



Renault front suspension bits...pretty amazing how much stuff there is to fit in that space.




Nice! Two different front wings to be evaluated in FP.


First glimpse of a RW...looks pretty substantial. Interested to see what other teams run.




Things are starting to make sense now...


Find it interesting how Renault have moved to RBR style FW this year while RBR themselves have moved away from it...the bottom element that flicks up was unique to RB last year.


Looking at it from the top the area of the FW is huge!


Williams gills


What hides inside the neutral section of the front wings: sensors and ballast


Renault S-duct


McLaren exhaust


Romain 'Le Chef' Grosjean's home race lid



Sources: Twitter/AMuS/Motorsport.com

Edited by Dr Z on Thursday 21st June 12:22

[Dr Z]

Not bad this Phase 2 unit...

[Dr Z]

FP1



Some teams struggling with the tyres I think...RB/Ricciardo looked fast on the soft but not so fast on the ultrasoft.

The Frenchmen are looking quick.

[Dr Z]

FP2



Haas a couple of tenths off the works Ferrari. Sandbags firmly in place then?

[Dr Z]

Long run pace

Ferrari & Merc - starting off in the high 37s coming down to low 37s

RBR & Haas - mid 38s

TR - high 38s

Renault/McLaren/Sauber/Force India - low 39s

Williams - a bit slower

Little to no degradation to speak of but fresh tyres are quicker so undercut would be possible.

The Frenchmen are quicker than their teammates in the long runs too, makes the interpretation a bit complicated.

Also teams except Merc runners will have used their spec 1 PUs today.

[Dr Z]

Only caught the 2nd half of the GP3 race. Didn't have a huge amount of action at the front...some passes in the midfield. Sounds like a typical F1 race!

[Dr Z]

Weather forecast says we could have our first wet qualifying of the year.

[Dr Z]

tux said:

Dr Z said:

Weather forecast says we could have our first wet qualifying of the year.

They dont run in the wet anymore.

Not even in a qualifying session?

[Dr Z]

Well, it's brightening up now. Dry/green track qualifying ahead then.

The track has water sprinklers doesn't it? May be they should turn them on for qualifying...

[Dr Z]

Good spot by Ted there. Nice to see RBR doing something different with a low-er downforce setup.

[Dr Z]

Poor from McLaren.

[Dr Z]

Leclerc!

[Dr Z]

Leclerc out qualifies the remaining Haas too!

Good pole position.

[Dr Z]

F2 cars spitting flames a lot unusually?

[Dr Z]

Atleast now we will see some passing.

[Dr Z]

Vettel is making good progress here and could shortly be inside the leading cars' pit window...

[Dr Z]

Derek Smith said:

Hamilton and Verstappen possibly cruising in case of rain. Making the tyres last to give them a better gap.

They are pushing as they wouldn't want to be stuck behind Vettel who doesn't have to pit again.