French Grand Prix Tag

By FIA Valtteri Bottas maintained Mercedes’ hold on top spot of the timesheets in free practice for the French Grand Prix, with the Finn beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who went quickest in the morning session, by more than four tenths of a second. Bottas, who goes into the weekend second in the Drivers’ standings, set the pace early in the second session on medium compound tyres and following a move to softs for a performance run he lowered the benchmark to 1:30.937. Hamilton might have been expected to challenge thatRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas to the top of the timesheet at the Circuit Paul Ricard as Mercedes set the pace in the first practice session for this weekend’s French Grand Prix. FIA Formula One World Championship leader Hamilton took P1 more than three tenths of a second over third-placed Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Apart from brief spells when rivals bolted on new tyre before them, the Mercedes pair largely monopolised the top two spots from early in the session. Hamilton and Bottas traded fastest time as theyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Formula One has announced the start times for the 2019 season, which stay relatively consistent to last year. The sport opted for later start times in 2018 in an effort to assist broadcast partners, starting events 10 minutes after the hour instead of on the hour like previous seasons. The biggest change on the upcoming schedule will be for the French Grand Prix, which will start at 3:10 p.m. local time versus the 4:10 p.m. time from last year that was made in an effort toRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton regained top spot in the 2018 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings with a faultless drive to victory at the French Grand Prix, as a Turn 1 collision with Valtteri Bottas at the start of the race meant Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fifth place at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Max Verstappen took second place and Kimi Räikkönen rose from sixth on the grid to take the final podium spot. The race started in spectacular style, with championship leader Sebastian Vettel colliding with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas inRead More

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