Circuit Paul Ricard Tag

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his 75th career pole position in qualifying at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first Formula 1 French Grand Prix in a decade. Hamilton edged team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just over a tenth of a second with championship leader Sebastian Vettel third and three tenths down on the Briton. At the start of Q1, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was the first of the top three team drivers to set a time and his 1:31.823 was good enough to push Haas’ Romain Grosjean out of P1.Read More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in a rain-disrupted final practice for the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The Finn was one of a handful of drivers who completed a lap in mostly dry conditions at the start of a session that began under threatening skies. He set a time of 1:33.666, to head Renault’s Carlos Sainz by 1.2 seconds, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc just over six hundredths of a second further back. Behind them, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was reporting drops of rain, though the GermanRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton used an upgraded Mercedes power unit to power away from his rivals in second practice for the French Grand Prix, topping the timesheet, seventh tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing. Mercedes had been set to introduce an upgrade in Canada but held back the power unit for further tests, but today the Constructors’ champions confirmed that all six Mercedes’ powered cars will run this weekend with the new unit. When the session’s qualifying simulations got into gear midwayRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Formula 1 welcomes back one of the most coveted races to its calendar with the return of the French Grand Prix. The last coming a decade ago at Magny-Cours, the comeback is set this weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner and current pilot Daniel Ricciardo delve into what can be expected as the sport braces for the first leg of an unprecedented tripleheader in its history. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid sat down the duo to discussRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A French Revolution in Formula 1 is upon us. The racing talent that exists in France has long been considered in the upper echelon, but in Formula 1 it endured a depression of sorts. Those days are over. The country has enjoyed seeing the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier conquer World Rally Championships many times over, with the two combining to win the last 13 titles (Loeb 2004-’12, Ogier 2013-’16). It is quite possible that total will move to 14 with Ogier currently leadingRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The reborn French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, scheduled for summer 2018 has determined which of the famous test rack’s 167 layouts it will use. The layout, of 5.482 km will closely follow that of the last French Grand Prix held at the circuit in 1990, but it will not use the full 1.8 km Mistral straight, which has not been used since 1985 after Elio de Angelis passed away after a testing accident there. The circuit served purely as a testing venue from 2002 toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The French Grand Prix will officially return to Formula One in 2018. The news which broke just days ago, was confirmed today during a press conference at the Automobile Club de France in Paris. As previously reported the race will return the Grand Prix to the Paul Ricard Circuit, which last hosted a Grand Prix in 1990. Since then the track has mainly been used as an extensive testing facility and only held low level F3 and touring car series races. The contract gives the promoters valuableRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The French Grand Prix is poised to make a surprise return to the Formula One calendar in 2018, after an absence of a decade. The race, last hosted by the rural Magny-Cours circuit in 2008, will come to the Paul Ricard circuit, where the French Grand Prix was previously held between 1971 and 1990. The track is owned by Bernie Ecclestone’s family trust, but the F1 supremo has insisted that they will rent the circuit to the event promoters for the Grand Prix in order toRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Porsche again topped the timesheets for the second and final day of running for the World Endurance Championships ‘prologue’ test from Paul Ricard in France. Brendon Hartley picked up where Neel Jani left off yesterday and set the fastest time of the test with a blistering 1:37.448 lap during a qualifying simulation. Once again, the time was close to those set last year by Porsche, despite the 8% energy reduction via the fuel flow regulation changes, but it is worth noting that last year Porsche ranRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has topped the time sheets at the close of Pirelli’s pre-season wet weather tire test at Paul Ricard. His best lap of 1:06.750 was just shy of a tenth better than Danil Kvyat managed in the Red Bull. The circuit which hasn’t hosted a Grand Prix since 1990 has evolved into one of the premier test circuits in the world. Pirelli chose it for this and made use of the onsite sprinkler system to test multiple sets of unmarked prototype intermediate and fullRead More