The 2018 French GP Thread

Discuss all the aspects of the Formula 1 sport here

Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic

Post Reply

France '18 - Driver of the Day

Lewis Hamilton
0
No votes
Max Verstappen
0
No votes
Kimi Raikkonen
0
No votes
Daniel Ricciardo
0
No votes
Sebastian Vettel
1
100%
Other
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:47 pm

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 8th round of the 2018 season taking place at the Paul Ricard circuit between the 22nd and 24th of June.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for France click here, to register in the competition click here

Picks for France close at the start of Saturday practice.

The event timetable for the French Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 12:00 local time - 10:00 GMT
2nd Practice 16:00 local time - 14:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 13:00 local time - 11:00 GMT
Qualifying 16:00 local time - 14:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 16:00 local time - 14:00 GMT

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:23 pm

This weekend sees the return of the French Grand Prix after an absence of 10 years and the return to the Paul Ricard circuit for the first time since 1990.

Many drivers may have driven at Paul Ricard in their early years but this will be a new experience for all in their respective machines.

So, what to expect?
Mercedes should turn up with their new power units. They were complaining of the lack of power in Canada after being forced to run their existing units due to possible reliability issues with the next evolution.
Ferrari had their update in Canada so theirs will be mainly aero updates.
Red Bull also had their power unit updates. Ricciardo managed to recover his MGU-K for the Canada race. Will it still be usable in France? Time will tell.
The Renaults and McLarens also had their engine updates in Canada.
Force India and Williams should also all have their power unit updates so we will see what effect it will have.
Haas and Sauber have both been on the improve.
Toro Rosso are also on the improve with the Honda power unit steadily putting out more power combined with reliability.

So, my thoughts on the race.
It will again be a race between the two Mercedes and one Ferrari. I'm still not convinced that Kimi really has his heart in it.
Max again will be somewhere near the pointy end. Daniel will change his MGU-K and take the grid penalty associated with it.
Kimi will finish around 5th.
Probably a couple of factory Renaults, the other Red Bull, a Force India and a Sauber to round out the 10.

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:24 pm

FP1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:32.231	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:32.371	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	1:32.527	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
4	1:33.003	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:33.172	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	1:33.318	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
7	1:33.331	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
8	1:33.685	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
9	1:33.719	Sergio Perez	  Force India
10	1:34.108	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
11	1:34.258	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
12	1:34.484	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
13	1:34.513	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
14	1:34.592	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
15	1:34.664	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
16	1:34.862	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
17	1:34.881	Lance Stroll	  Williams
18	1:34.993	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
19	1:35.021	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
20	1:35.105	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
A few spins throughout the session, mainly around the turn 5/6 area. Ericsson then lost the rear of his Sauber in turn 11 and stuffed into the barrier bringing out the red flags and a premature end to the the session. Fire also did some serious damage to the engine cowling. His crew have a lot of work to do to get this chassis out for FP2.

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:13 am

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:32.539	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:33.243	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
3	1:33.271	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
4	1:33.426	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:33.689	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	1:33.699	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
7	1:34.156	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
8	1:34.400	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
9	1:34.457	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
10	1:34.535	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
11	1:35.067	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
12	1:35.086	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
13	1:35.172	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
14	1:35.583	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
15	1:35.697	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
16	1:35.705	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
17	1:35.936	Lance Stroll	  Williams
18	1:35.970	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
19	1:36.080	Sergio Perez	  Force India
The damage to Ericsson's Sauber proved impossible to repair for this session. It looks like a new power unit, gearbox and possibly a new chassis are required.
Perez lost his left rear wheel coming onto the back straight bringing out a red flag for the second time today.
The Bottas Mercedes had a water leak mid session which forced an end to his FP2 program.

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:11 am

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:33.666	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
2	1:34.953	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
3	1:35.012	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
4	1:36.365	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
5	1:36.756	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	1:37.547	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 
7	1:38.317	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
8	1:38.450	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
9	1:39.641	Sergio Perez	  Force India
10	1:39.738	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
11	1:40.087	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
12	1:40.743	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
13	1:49.711	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
14	2:02.399	Lance Stroll	  Williams
15	2:04.093	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
16	No Time		Kevin Magnussen	  Haas 
17	No Time		Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
18	No Time		Romain Grosjean	  Haas
19	No Time		Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
20	No Time		Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
Most teams did a couple of laps and then the heavens opened.

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:31 am

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:30.029	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:30.147	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	1:30.400	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	1:30.705	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
5	1:30.895	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
6	1:31.057	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
7	1:32.126	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
8	1:32.635	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
9	1:32.930	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
10	No Time		Romain Grosjean	  Haas
_________________________________________________________
11	1:32.075	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
12	1:32.115	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
13	1:32.454	Sergio Perez	  Force India
14	1:32.460	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
15	1:32.820	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
16	1:32.976	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
__________________________________________________________
17	1:33.025	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
18	1:33.162	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
19	1:33.636	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
20	1:33.729	Lance Stroll	  Williams
Romain Grosjean eased his Haas into the fence around turn 3 bringing out the red flags in Q3.
Brendon Hartley to start at the rear of grid after penalties for multiple power unit component replacements.

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Jun 25, 2018 7:17 am

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
4	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
5	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	Kevin Magnussen   Haas
7	Valtteri Bottas   Mercedes
8	Carlos Sainz 	  Renault
9	Nico Hulkenberg   Renault
10	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
11	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
12	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
13	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
14	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
15	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
16	Fernando Alonso   McLaren
DNF	Lance Stroll	  Williams
DNF	Sergio Perez 	  Force India
DNF	Esteban Ocon 	  Force India
DNF	Pierre Gasly 	  Toro Rosso

cmlean
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3217
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:19 am
Location: Upside of Down Under
Contact:

Re: The 2018 French GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:12 am

Well, that was some race.
With the first corner carnage that commenced with Vettel taking out Bottas and then Gasly taking out Ocon in turn 3, the race was turned on its head.
This then created interest with both Vettel and Bottas coming back through the field at the conclusion of the safety car period. The chicane in the back straight proved the most used passing zone with many utilizing the DRS before hitting the braking markers to complete their passes.
Hamilton controlled the race from the front with Verstappen staying within 5 seconds or so. Raikkonen drove an excellent final stint to take the final podium position from Ricciardo who was suffering with a damaged front wing from debris.
Vettel drove magnificently to, at one stage, be in 4th position before ultimately his tyres said enough and another pit stop was required.
Carlos Sainz was unlucky with power issues late in the race which dropped him down a couple of positions.

The next event is in Austria next weekend as the second of 3 events in successive weekends culminating with the British Grand Prix.

Post Reply