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2005 French Formula 1 Grand Prix
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French Formula 1 Grand Prix Seasons
'05  '04  '03  '02  '01  '00  '99  '98  '97

Team and Driver race preview

Renault - McLaren - Ferrari - Williams - Toyota  
Red Bull - Sauber - Jordan - Minardi - BAR

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver preview click on the team name)

Renault ( Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella )

Fernando Alonso
It will be a close fight – McLaren will be fast, like they are everywhere, but Magny-Cours has been a good circuit for Renault. Last year, I got pole and had a strong battle with Ferrari for the win. This year, we are going there with a better car, and we will expect to be competitive. Will it be enough to win? I don't know. It definitely won't be easy – I think the battle at the front will be much tougher this year than in 2004.

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

McLaren ( Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya )

MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA ONE, TEAM McLAREN MERCEDES
"The Team McLaren Mercedes team is fully focused on challenging for our fourth race win of the season at the French Grand Prix this weekend. Development and preparatory work has continued apace back at base and on the test track in Jerez and we are looking forward to getting back to the racing in France. In the main we have seen an exciting first half to the season, with close and intense battles on track, which we are looking to continue over the remaining nine races."

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello )

Not yet available

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Williams BMW ( Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
"We return to Europe next week for the start of the second half of the season, which begins in Magny-Cours. The team has been testing at Jerez, in Spain, last week with Antonio Pizzonia and Nick Heidfeld in an effort to further improve the FW27 and continue tyre testing for Michelin. For Magny-Cours, we will have some aerodynamic improvements that are part of our on-going development programme to bring performance to the car. Some parts are more obvious, some not.
Magny-Cours has three high speed areas, the first section of the lap and the two chicanes, as well as some slow and medium speed corners. It is traditionally a very smooth circuit which has an interesting end to the lap because the track creates a good line into the pit lane. This means that time lost in the pit lane is low. The tarmac at Magny-Cours is more dependent on temperature than normal which means lap times vary significantly during the day. Strategy will be interesting in Magny-Cours because of the pit lane time and typically high tyre degradation that we see at Magny-Cours."

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Toyota ( Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher )

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis:
"This is the start of the most intense month we have seen in F1, with events in France, Britain, Germany and Hungary throughout July. Such time constraints add extra pressure on to the entire team. The race personnel barely have time to find their feet as they move around Europe, and of course the staff at the factory in Cologne must work at quadruple the rate to develop our TF105. We are prepared for this challenge, though, and will not get complacent about our level of performance. We have a car that is capable of finishing every race on the podium, so we have to head to the French Grand Prix with that in mind. Magny-Cours will see us revert back to a standard set-up with fairly high levels of downforce. There are two medium-high speed chicanes which demand a good change of direction from the car. We have to balance the wing level to make that possible while retaining good straightline speed into the Adelaide hairpin. It's not easy to pass at Magny-Cours, so we have to again look at qualifying in the top 6 or 8 and then implement a strong race strategy to make up further positions during the pit stops. Podiums are by no means out of the question and they should be our target as we head into the second half of this gruelling 19-race season."

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Red Bull ( David Coulthard, Christian Klein )

Not yet available

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Sauber ( Jacques Villeneuve, Felipe Massa )

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
"After the two North American races with medium downforce levels, Magny-Cours brings us back to the high downforce tracks. Overall it is an interesting circuit from a technical point of view. It offers a combination of low speed corners, where traction and rear tyre degradation are the main issues to consider, and high speed corners where car balance can make the difference. The track temperatures can change a lot during the day and exert an influence on grip and balance. The evaluation of the tyre degradation will be crucial to define the best race strategy. To find, in a handful of laps, on Friday a good set-up that minimises the tyre degradation is challenging for both the drivers and engineers. As for the public, one interesting overtaking spot to watch is the Adelaide hairpin at the end of the back straight, where the drivers are braking from 320 kmh to 50 kmh in about 3 seconds."

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro, Narain Karthikeyan )

Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director
“We have been working really hard in between the last two fly-aways and the next pair of doubleheaders. We tested the new car last week at Barcelona for 2 days. Most the signs were very favourable. However, we do have some issues we would like to resolve before we race the car. Therefore, in Magny-Cours, we will stay with the EJ15 and we will decide after France if we want to race the new car at Silverstone or not. One of our objectives is to keep our very good reliability record and this is why we will not introduce the new car until we are satisfied with its reliability.”

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Minardi ( Christijan Albers, Patrick Freisacher )

Not yet available

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BAR Honda ( Jenson Button, Takuma Sato )

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR
"We came back from F1's North American tour quite encouraged by the performance of our car. This past week we have been testing in Jerez for three days evaluating tyres, aerodynamic developments and mechanical changes in view of the coming races in France and England. Given the fact that our last race in high downforce configuration was at the Nürburgring, and our performance there left something to be desired, much of our efforts in testing were concentrated on improving the aero specification in this configuration. We are hopeful that we will be fighting at the sharp end of the field again in Magny Cours."

Full Team and Driver Preview  Back to Top

Bridgestone

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport, said: “It will be good to get to France this weekend and, for the sake of the sport and the fans, have a great race. From our point of view, Bridgestone and its teams had a successful trip across the Atlantic but we do need to maintain our momentum and keep the results coming now that we have returned to Europe. Our technical personnel have been busy both on and off track working on our latest developments and I look forward to seeing their efforts in action this weekend.”

Full Bridgestone Preview  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
"The track surface at Magny-Cours tends to be more abrasive than many on which we race during the course of the season. The layout might be fairly conventional, but the ultra- quick right-hander at Estoril and the Adelaide hairpin provide a couple of significant talking points.
“For a tyre manufacturer, the biggest challenge is to produce a compound capable of coping with the high loads generated through Estoril. It might only account for five per cent of the lap, but it dictates our range of options for the weekend. If it wasn't there, we would be able to run softer tyres."

Full Michelin Preview  Back to Top

Race Preview

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1st Friday Practice - 11:00ResultsReportResults
2nd Friday Practice - 14:00ResultsReportResults
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Race - 14:00ResultsReportResults

What the teams and drivers said
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