Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix of France 2018

French Grand Prix – Paul Ricard 24 June

Posted: 24.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Maurizio Arrivabene: ”It was a shame about the accident at the start, which meant we couldn’t show what we could really do. But on a track that is not best suited to the SF71H, it proved to be very competitive in tenms of its race pace. That was evident from the great fight back up the order, featuring overtaking moves from Kimi and Sebastian. The team gave its all, making the right strategy calls to give the drivers every chance to get the best result possible in the circumstances. With such a tight calendar, we are already looking ahead to the Austrian GP, which gets underway in a few days and we have to focus on making up the lost ground.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “At the start we lost two places; I was on the outside and then the accident at the first corner happened, and it was a quite messy situation. I tried to stay out of trouble but chose the wrong side of the track. After that I was able lo recover. I had a good feeling with the car, especially after we had our pit stop and put the Supersoft tires on. We had a good speed through the whole race. We decided to do a very long stint with the first set and it lasted very well; only towards the end it got a bit tricky. Then, with the new tires, the car was very good and I could race and actually pass other drivers; it was a lot more fun than the last two races!”

Sebastian Vettel: ”I think my start was good, perhaps even too good, as I found myself very close to Lewis in front and, when I tried to brake, I had absolutely no grip and there wasn’t much space where I could go: Valtteri on my right was trying to get his position back and Max was also trying to come round on the outside. It’s a shame for Vattteri because he did nothing wrong and it’s a shame for us, because we could have obtained a better result. Fortunately, we could continue racing, we had a good car in the race, but the outcome was not wnat we wanted. It was my fault, but now let’s move on and think about the next weekend.”

French Grand Prix – Never give up

Posted: 24.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Disaster at the start, then Kimi on the podium with Seb 5^th, thanks to guts and strategy

Le Castellet, 24 June –An accident at the start, duels on the track and a well thought out strategy which delivered a third and a fifth place for Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Scuderia Ferrari thus made the best of what turned into a bad situation right from the start. Seb limited the damage, with Hamilton now heading him in the championship by 14 points.

STORY OF THE RACE. “Nose damage” shouted Seb: just moments from the start, a collision with Bottas at Turn 1 produced damage that was clear to see. The Safety Car came out immediately because of a collision between Ocon and Gasly and the number 5 Ferrari pitted for a new nose, while Bottas also came in with a puncture. Seb took on Softs, the hardest tyre, in order to rejig the race strategy. Kimi was now seventh after also having a moment braking into the first corner.

5 laps later and the race was on again. Seb went round the outside of Alonso, who spun and Kimi got the better of Leclerc. Vettel gained a further two places before use of DRS was authorised. Raikkonen passed Magnussen to go fifth. Seb had just passed Vandoorne to close in on the points zone when the stewards handed him a 5 second penalty for the earlier collision. Further up the order, Kimi showed that the SF71H had a strong race pace as he next passed Sainz.

On lap 12, Vettel pulled a great passing move on Hulkenberg to go tenth and next on his list was Perez, followed by Grosjean. On lap 16, Kimi set the fastest lap, as Seb now passed Leclerc and Magnussen for sixth place.

Lap 20 and Seb got past Sainz, braking from 330 km/h at the chicane and he was clear of traffic. The aim was to get ahead of Verstappen when the Red Bull would pit, but was there was the added variable of the lurking threat of rain. Seb asked which sector was costing him the most time. Verstappen pitted at the end of lap 25 and Seb stuck right with him down the straight but also had to look after his tyres at the halfway point.

At the start of lap 30, Ricciardo pitted and this time Sebastian managed to stay ahead, without counting the penalty. With 20 laps to go, Hamilton pitted, which meant Kimi was leading, before he too pitted to change tyres, going from Ultra to Supersoft. On fresher tyres, Ricciardo managed to get ahead of Seb who now found himself ahead of his team-mate. Then Raikkonen put in a super lap in 1’34”819 and soon after Seb left the way clear for his team-mate who was racing Bottas. Indeed, it was Valtteri who came in for Supersofts but it was a slow stop. Ferrari reacted, bringing Vettel in for Ultrasofts, sitting there for longer to take the penalty too, comfortably maintaining his position.

Last few laps: Raikkonen was very quick and had Ricciardo in his sights, but there were backmarkers to be dealt with. The first scrap came at the start of lap 47 and then Kimi made the decisive move at the chicane and was in a podium position. Right at the end the Virtual Safety Car was used after Stroll went off. Scuderia Ferrari picked up 25 points, which one minute into the race had seemed an impossibility. It was down to the determination of the drivers and the cool headed approach of the guys on the pit wall.

French Grand Prix – A day of mixed feelings

Posted: 23.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb happy with 3^rd, while Kimi looks ahead to “a challenging day”

Le Castellet, June 23 – It was a rain-free qualifying session at the Paul Ricard circuit today, but a day of mixed feelings for Scuderia Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. While the former secured third place on tomorrow’s starting grid, the latter could do no better than sixth, due to a few mistakes on his last run. Anyway, the race pace of the SF71H looked encouraging during Friday’s long runs and the race may have some surprises in store for our drivers. Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that five out of six Ferrari Power Units made it to Q3 in today’s qualifying.

“During the session”, Seb explained “it was getting better and better and I was more confident. So, I think today we can be happy with the third place. My last run was not spectacular, though, and I don’t think it was good enough to put me n the front row. After my first attempt in Q3, I had thought I could be closer to Mercedes and hoped to improve. But, unfortunately, in my last fast run I pushed a bit too much and made some mistakes here and there. Anyway, the car is good and we proved it. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, as we start with different tyre strategies. I think the car should be strong in the race”.

Kimi, on the other hand, was less than happy with his result: “My car was working well today and it was a pretty straightforward qualifying until my last run. I was not able to put a timed lap together in the whole of Q3. The first run was pretty decent, but then I went a bit sideways in turn 11, and lost time. After that I was not able to improve my lap time. For tomorrow we chose the strategy that we think is the best for us, but we have to wait and see. In other races we have seen people starting with different tires and it did not change things from night to day. For sure tomorrow will be a challenging day”.

French Grand Prix – Qualifying ends at Paul Ricard

Posted: 23.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb third and Kimi sixth

Le Castellet, 23 June – After the final free practice session had been pretty much wiped out by rain, the clouds parted just enough to let a pallid sun shine through for qualifying. Scuderia Ferrari got its cars into third and sixth places on the grid for Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen respectively with the German lapping in 1’30”400 and the Finn posting a 1’31”057.

The session was red flagged with seven minutes remaining, because of Romain Grosjean’s crash. Both Scuderia Ferrari drivers ran the same tyre programme, using the purple Ultrasoft throughout the sessions. The race starts tomorrow at 16:10.

French Grand Prix – Rain wipes out P3

Posted: 23.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Very few laps for Seb and Kimi

Le Castellet, 23 June – The third free practice session saw hardly any running as rain and poor visibility meant the cars stayed in the garage for most of the session. Sebastian Vettel posted a best lap of 1’36”756 while Kimi Raikkonen did a 1’49’’711 as they tackled an exploratory lap of the track on dry tyres when the track was damp in several places. Qualifying is next on the agenda, at 16h00.

French Grand Prix – Potential to be unlocked

Posted: 22.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Kimi, Seb “reasonably happy” but feel they can find more performance for tomorrow

Le Castellet, June 22 – The Paul Ricard Circuit may be “new” to the youngest generation of fans, but for Scuderia Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel it was just “another hot day at the office” as they progressed through the planned sequence of laps in Friday’s free practice, using different tyre compounds track that saw temperatures shoot over the 50 degree mark, while testing new solutions on their SF71Hs. The day ended with Kimi and Seb setting P4 and P5 respectively, before switching to a race simulation which produced encouraging pace.

“It was a good day” commented Kimi “and it’s fun to be in a new place, I enjoyed it as it’s something different. In the afternoon session, the weather conditions made it quite tricky. It was not the easiest situation on track, but overall it was ok. From the tyre point of view I think it was also pretty ok. Obviously we cannot compare what we saw today with the past, as this is a new track for everyone, but I think that we had no particular issues.”

Sebastian’s wrap-up of the day sounded quite similar: “The long-runs felt pretty OK, quite consistent, although I haven’t seen much of what the other teams did. I think the car has more potential here, especially on the fast laps, which we need to unlock for tomorrow and then we’ll be fine. The wind was quite an issue at the beginning of the session, but then it calmed down and it all started to come together. In the end I was reasonably happy with today’s run”.

French Grand Prix – Friday testing ends

Posted: 22.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Kimi ahead of Seb

Le Castellet, 22 June –Just like Practice 1, the second session was also interrupted by a red flag and again Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth respectively. The Finn posted a best lap of 1’33”426 while his German team-mate did a 1’33”689. Kimi ran the Soft and Ultrasoft tyres, while Sebasitan used the Supersoft and Ultrasoft. The final free practice session takes place tomorrow at 13h00, with qualifying at 16h00.

French Grand Prix – First session completed

Posted: 22.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Kimi and Seb fourth and fifth in free practice 

Le Castellet, 22 June –The Formula 1 World Championship has returned to the Paul Ricard circuit for the eighth round of the season and for the first time in 28 years. At the end of the first practice session, which was red flagged with just a few minutes remaining, after Ericsson crashed in his Alfa Sauber, Scuderia Ferrari were fourth and fifth fastest with Kimi Raikkonen (1’33”003) and Sebastian Vettel (1’33”172) respectively. Both Scuderia Ferrari men ran the Ultrasoft tyres. Second practice gets underway at 16h00.

French Grand Prix – The great comeback

Posted: 21.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

“No reason why we shouldn’t be doing well here”

La Castellet, June 21 – We’re back to Europe after Canada, back to France after an absence of ten years and back to the Paul Ricard circuit which had hosted its last F1 Grand Prix in 1990. Seb Vettel was three years old then but he knows about the history of the sport and remembers “that Ferrari won with twice as many cylinders as we have today”.

“The car has worked everywhere so far”, says the winner of the Canadian Grand Prix, “and we are very happy about it. It’s more difficult to know what to expect here than on any other track, as we’ve never been properly here with the other teams at the same time and on the same circuit layout. We’ll see how it will be, I don’t see any reason why we should struggle and I think we should be doing fine here, but we don’t know exactly what to expect, the asphalt is new and the track is also new to a certain extent. The fact that we’ve been competitive so far in most of the recent races makes us quite confident for the next ones. We’ll focus on the next races always going step by step. I’m looking forward to racing here!”

For his part, Kimi Raikkonen is keen to re-discover the French track. “I think it’s nice to have a new place for racing”, says Kimi. “This is not a brand new track, I had driven here some years ago and we did a tyre test in 2016, but obviously racing is different. The layout of the track was different then, but it hasn’t really changed that much; it’s a bit wider in a few places, but the last part is always the same. As on any Thursday, it’s hard to know what to expect, but the weather is pretty warm and for sure it will play a part in many ways. What will happen and how the tyres will behave, nobody really knows. Let’s see how it is tomorrow and hopefully the circuit will provide some exciting racing. As for us, we’ll go through our normal program and see how the weekend will go, hoping this weekend is more straightforward than the last one”.

French Grand Prix – Time for the “triple header”

Posted: 19.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Le Castellet hosts the first of three GPs on consecutive weekends

The doyen of all Grands Prix returns to the calendar after an absence of ten years. The first race to be called a Grand Prix was held in France, 112 years ago at Le Mans. Back then, the track was triangular and measured 103 kilometres, of which 12 laps were required to make up the race distance. It was won by the Hungarian, Ferenc Szisz in a Renault, at a respectable average speed of 101.19 km/h.

Many years later, F1 as we know it began and the French GP moved around various circuits: Reims, Le Mans, Rouen, Clermont-Ferrand and Dijon. Then, before the Magny-Cours facility was built, the lion’s share of races took place at the Le Castellet Circuit, otherwise known as Paul Ricard. The last race was held there in 1990 and was won by Alain Prost driving a Ferrari 641. From then on, the track was used for testing, with facilities for watering the track, but with no permanent grandstands.

So now, the race returns to Provence with a race that kicks off F1’s first ever triple-header, with three GPs- France, Austria, Great Britain – one weekend apart, followed by a weekend off before two back-to-backs at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring. It makes for a very demanding schedule in the run up to the August break.

Planning for three events, with one of them at what is effectively a brand new venue, is no easy logistical task. However, after Sunday’s race, our cars and a good part of the personnel, will return to Maranello. This will be a weekend of discovery on the 5.861 km long track, where the tyres available will be the Soft, Supersoft and Ultrasoft, with a construction similar to that used in Spain a month ago.