#Formula1 @Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 Preview. #F1 #FrenchGP

2022 French GP Preview – After Charles Leclerc survived a throttle-scare to clinch victory on Red Bull’s home track to propel himself back in the title-hunt against points leader Max Verstappen, round twelve of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to France at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France for the Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022. This is the fourth time that the event returns to the Circuit Paul Ricard after it last hosted the race in 1990. It is the 90^th running of the French Grand Prix and the 61^st time that the event has been part of the FIA Formula One World Championship since the sport began in 1950.

 

 

2022 French GP Preview – A look at the Circuit Paul Ricard

 

 

The Circuit Paul Ricard is a permanent motorsport racetrack built in 1969 at Le Castellet, near Marseille in France.

 

The circuit opened in April 1970 with its innovative facilities making the French track one of the most safest racing circuits in the world at the time of it’s opening with the first event being a 2-litre sports car race.

 

The circuit had three track layout variations, a large industrial park and an airstrip. The combination of modern facilities, mild winter weather and an airstrip made it a favourite among the racing teams in all different categories for testing during the off-season.

 

The circuit’s character is very hard on engines as they run on full revs for long spells. Engine failures were common at Paul Ricard, such as Ayrton Senna’s huge crash during the 1985 event after his Renault engine blew in his 97t Lotus, as the Brazilian went backwards on his own oil at Signes and crashed heavily, luckily escaped with minor bruising. Nigel Mansell also crashed at the same spot during practice, suffering a concussion which kept him out of the race. The Briton’s crash came from a left rear tyre puncture exploding after flying over 320kph, which detached his Honda-powered FW10’s rear wing.

 

The Honda-powered FW10 Williams holds the fastest lap on the original circuit with 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg setting a 1:39.914 during the 1985 French Grand Prix. The quickest top speed at the circuit came from Swiss driver Marc Surer flying down the famous Mistral Straight with his 1000bhp Brabham-BMW BT54 hitting 338kph.

 

The Circuit Paul Ricard developed some of the best drivers during the 1970’s and 80’s with four-time World Champion Alain Prost winning the French Grand Prix at the circuit four times (1983, 1988, 1989 and 1990).

 

The circuit was also used for testing, especially for Formula One. In 1986, Brabham’s Elio De Angelis was killed during a testing accident at the fast first corner after his BT55’s rear wing broke off. Although the circuit itself was not the cause of the crash, they modified it to make it safer.

 

The French Grand Prix will be run on the modified longer circuit formerly used, including a chicane halfway down the long 1.8-kilometre Mistral Straight.

 

Built on a plateau, one of the tests the drivers and teams face this weekend is the Mistral wind. This longer configuration provides a range of challenges across the three sectors.

 

The circuit features two long high-speed straights, some heavy braking zones but also technical slow speed corners, while the famous Signes corner at the end of the Mistral Straight will be one of the fastest corners on the F1 calendar. This could give the teams the possibility of exploring different directions on car setup, with the Friday practice sessions set to be very busy as they test a wide range of downforce levels.

 

Paul Ricard has hosted the French Grand Prix on 14 occasions from 1971-1990 with the Long Circuit (without the Mistral Chicane) being used from 1971-1985 and the shorter Club Circuit from 1986-1990.

 

The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 5.842km (3.630 mi) in length with 15 corners.

 

The race distance is 309.626km (192.393 mi) with 53 laps in total.

 

Sebastian Vettel holds the fastest lap record at the Circuit Paul Ricard with a 1:32.740 set at last year’s event in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90.

 

Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories at the French Grand Prix with eight.

 

Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful constructor at the French Grand Prix with seventeen victories to their name.

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2022 French GP Preview – Onboard Lap of the Circuit Paul Ricard

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Circuit Paul Ricard with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, set at last year’s event. The reigning champion posted a 1:29.990 of the Le Castellet track. You can watch it here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5-tSxKIcE

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2022 Franch GP Preview – The Last Five Winners

 

 

2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Not Held due to COVID19. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 (Circuit Paul Ricard). 2008: Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari (Magny Cours). 2007: Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari (Magny Cours).

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2022 French GP Preview – Tyres

 

 

Sole tyre-supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to Le Castellet, the white side-walled C2 Hard rubber, the yellow-marked C3 Medium compounds and the red side-coloured C4 Soft tyres along with the green-branded Intermediates and blue side-marked Full Wets in case of rain.

 

Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the hards.

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2022 French GP Preview – DRS Zones

 

There will be two DRS Zones at the Circuit Paul Ricard, the first detection point is 75 metres before turn seven with the activation zone 170 metres after turn seven. The second DRS detection point is at turn 14 with the activation zone 115 metres after turn 15.

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2022 French GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

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ICYMI: Leclerc survives throttle-scare to clinch Austrian GP victory

 

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc survived a throttle-scare to take victory at the Austrian GP with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking a close second and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton completing the podium, however, the Scuderia were denied a one-two finish after Carlos Sainz suffered a fiery engine failure.

 

Leclerc who had not been on the podium since the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, overtook Verstappen three times on track as the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers were set on different strategies.

 

A late throttle-pedal issue did worry the Monegasque driver, but he held on to take his third win of the season.

 

However, Leclerc was not joined on the podium by team-mate Sainz, who showed similar pace and was on course to follow his fellow Ferrari-compatriot over the line but was forced to retire by a late engine fire to give Hamilton the final podium place.

 

When the 71 lap Austrian GP began, Verstappen lead a quick formation tour in an attempt to build tyre temperature and on the C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds, enjoyed a nice launch to hold the middle line and keep the lead into the opening corner.

 

Leclerc maintained second place as third-starting team-mate Sainz was squeezed on the outside to re-join wheel-to-wheel with Mercedes’ George Russell, before he fought back by the Briton on the inside into the third corner.

 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, from fifth, could then have a look at the Silver Arrow with a drag race out of the right-hand turn, which left the Mexican on the outside for the turn four left.

 

But Russell tapped the right-rear of Perez’s RB18 racer with his front-left to send the Mexican spinning into the gravel trap but rejoined by finding the tarmac run-off by the barriers.

 

Out in-front, Verstappen built to a 0.985 second gap over Leclerc at the end of lap one, with Sainz a further second back whilst Perez eventually recovered to the pits for a set of C3 white-branded harder tyres although the Red Bull driver would retire on the 17^th tour.

 

Unlike the F1 Sprint race where Verstappen triumphed, the reigning champion could not pull away in the early proceedings as Leclerc kept within the one second window to hold DRS assistance.

 

On the rundown from turns one to three, the gap dropped to 0.5 seconds and with Perez heading for an early exit, Ferrari had the potential to split its strategy to jump Verstappen.

 

Leclerc had his initial look up the inside of the Red Bull into the third corner on the eighth tour but thought better of it for the next three laps.

 

Then on the 11^th lap, Leclerc made the move – sliding down the inside into the third corner, Verstappen, slower in the early stages, gave his title-rival room and barely put up a battle.

 

Verstappen tried to counter back on the outside of turn four but suffered a lock-up to drop behind.

 

Despite a moment of over-steer and then enduring a couple of lock-ups, Leclerc, posted the fastest lap at that stage and allowed the Ferrari driver to edge clear of DRS.

 

This triggered Verstappen to put a set of the C3 harder tyres at the end of lap 13 but was delayed by a 3.2 second stop due to a slow front-left change to come out into traffic.

 

This left Leclerc have a 2.5 second lead over team-mate Sainz as Verstappen had to make his way by Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher for fifth around the outside of the second corner kink before relegating 2021 championship-rival Hamilton with ease by cutting back to get a good exit from turn three.

 

The Ferrari’s kept flying around without pitting, Leclerc holding a four second gap to Sainz before the race-leader stopped at the end of the 26^th tour for a set of harder rubber – with a quicker 2.6 second stop.

 

Sainz followed suit a lap later for hards, with the Prancing Horse pairing returning to the track behind Verstappen but with the advantage on race pace – Leclerc set a new fastest lap of the Grand Prix.

 

On the 33^rd tour, Leclerc got into DRS range of Verstappen before another clean move for P1 at the third corner. An early overtake allowed Verstappen to drop back and gain DRS assistance for the rundown to turn four but decided against a proper fight back to confirm second place.

 

With Verstappen complaining of unpredictable grip levels in his RB18 racer, the team pitted him again on the 37^th tour for another set of hards, which gave Ferrari room for another stop 12 laps later.

 

Leclerc and Sainz enjoyed quick stops but again faced the battle of overtaking Verstappen, the Dutchman 2.5 seconds in-front with 20 tours remaining.

 

Leclerc was quickly back into it on the C3 white-branded harder compounds to only gain DRS assistance on Verstappen two laps later, with the Ferrari moving on the outside on the rundown to the third corner.

 

Leclerc cleverly left Verstappen to take the apex but turned sharply to get onto the throttle quicker and nailed the exit to power himself back into the lead for the last time.

 

Sainz was then about to overtake Verstappen to make it a Scuderia one-two, but on the run to the fourth corner, running behind the Red Bull, a puff of smoke started to come out of the F1-75 racer’s engine cover.

 

The Ferrari’s engine then failed wildly, with Sainz trying to pull up to the exit as flames erupted, but the slope of the circuit exit rolled meaning the Spaniard struggled to stop the car and jump out.

 

As the flames drew closer to the cockpit, Sainz was eventually able to hop out of his F1-75 racer as the virtual safety car was deployed, Leclerc holding a 5.4 second over Verstappen.

 

At the end of the 58^th tour, Leclerc used the slower conditions to pit for the C4 yellow-marked mediums and was followed by Verstappen for the run to the chequered flag.

 

Leclerc then complained of a throttle problem, the pedal not retracting fully to make the run through the third corner very challenging as the gap to the lead came down.

 

A 4.1 second lead when the virtual safety car was about to end, but Leclerc would hold on to claim the Austrian GP victory by 1.532 seconds – his first win since the Australian Grand Prix in April.

 

Hamilton came a quiet third and a further 41.217 seconds behind the top two, but the seven-time world champion was on a two-stop strategy rather than a three and made a great push up the field from ninth on the grid.

 

The Briton’s race was notable for an entertaining fight with both Haas VF-22 entries and then a DRS overtake on Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

 

Russell finished fourth and ahead of Ocon, whilst Schumacher scored back-to-back points finishes after flying past McLaren’s Lando Norris and team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

 

The other McLaren MCL36 entry of Daniel Ricciardo was ninth whilst Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten, having survived being squeezed onto the grass by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, which instigated the Spaniard to wag his finger out of the cockpit as he continued to fight for track position.

 

Alonso, however, is currently under investigation by the stewards for an unsafe release in his pit-stop.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas finished 11^th in the classification and ahead of Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who took 12^th, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who settled for 13^th and the other C42 Alfa of Zhou Guanyu ended the Grand Prix 14^th.

 

A difficult weekend for AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly saw the Frenchman come home in a low-15^th. He was once again in the wars – being hit with a five-second timed-penalty for clipping Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel at the fourth corner and sent the AMR22 spinning into the gravel trap. Vettel was also reprimanded by five seconds as part of a flurry of track limits given out through the field.

 

Vettel finished 17^th, behind Tsunoda, with the only retirees Sainz, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi and Perez.

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2022 French GP Preview – The Situation

 

 

Max Verstappen heads to the Circuit Paul Ricard sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship Standings with 208 points and a 38-point-advantage over Charles Leclerc who is second on 170 points whilst Sergio Perez is third and a further 57 points behind his Red Bull team-mate and on 151 points.

 

Ferrari are confident that they have found momentum to fight Red Bull as the F1 circus travels to the Circuit Paul Ricard for this weekend’s French Grand Prix, where Mercedes could find themselves back in contention at the front of the field.

 

The Scuderia and Red Bull – with their star drivers Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen – have been the title-contenders so far this campaign and whilst the latter has built a strong points lead; Leclerc ended a seven-race drought to win the Austrian GP last time out and re-ignite his championship challenge.

 

The Red Bull Ring was also encouraging for the chasing outfit and driver because of the turnaround in pace, with Ferrari evidently finally matching the straight-line speed of the Red Bull’s whilst maintaining their edge in the corners.

 

This has intensified the stakes for this weekend’s French Grand Prix at Le Castellet.

 

“We had a disadvantage compared to the Red Bull, no doubt, in terms of straight-line speed, especially in DRS zones,” said Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto to Sky Sports on the team’s improvement.

 

“We worked a lot on it. We introduced a new rear wing, only on one car to start [for Leclerc in Canada] and then on both cars since the UK. And with that new rear wing, I think we simply reduced the gap,”

 

“We have closed the gap we had in terms of speed. I think they still have got a slight advantage, but very little or negligible.” Binotto concluded. Credit to Sky Sports for the quote.

 

Certainly in Austria, Leclerc overtook Verstappen three times in succession during the race – making it the first time this season that the Dutchman has been passed and beaten on a Sunday – whilst the Ferrari F1-75 entries were much kinder on it’s tyres compared to the RB18’s.

 

“In the power limited [corners], we are very close,” Binotto added. “Then it’s only about the grip limited corners where we can make the difference.” Binotto concluded. Credit to Sky Sports for the quote.

 

At a circuit featuring long straights and high-speed corners, the next Grand Prix in this title-fight promises to be another spectacle in the story of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

 

There is also the possibility of a triple-threat battle at the front rather than two – with Mercedes expected to be competitive again this weekend.

 

Although the Silver Arrows have been struggling with porpoising and outright pace this campaign, they have enjoyed their best weekend’s at smoother tracks similar to the Circuit Paul Ricard.

 

At Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, the circuit layout and vital upgrades saw Mercedes fight for the victory for the initial time in 2022.

 

The reigning eight-time consecutive Constructor’s Champions struggled somewhat at the Red Bull Ring – but were still in the battle for pole position and scored a solid haul of points on the Sunday – and have always been quick in Le Castellet, a race that has long been recognised as an opportunity for Mercedes, Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

 

Oracle Red Bull Racing returns to France sitting on top of the Constructors Championship with 359 points and a 56 point-lead over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 303 points while Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team are a further 122-points behind the Milton Keynes-based outfit in third place on 237 points.

 

A title challenge bid may be a bit too far given their deficit, but can Mercedes compete for their maiden victory of the season? Will we have a triple-threat, six driver battle at the French Grand Prix?

 

Click here for the 2022 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top Ten) and Constructors Championship Standings

 

The Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix De France 2022 weekend begins Friday June 22 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday June 23 and the 53 lap Race Sunday June 24.