Formula 1 2018 Pirelli Grand Prix de France

F1 is back in France (at the heavily re-worked Circuit Paul Ricard) for the first time in a decade.

 

I don't know the track at all and watching a race at a track where you don't know where the cars are going isn't as fun. I can't look at a certain shot and know what's coming up which contributes to how you watch. You don't watch a turn you watch a group of them in a sequence. If you don't know the sequence it's just cars driving around. I get that when watching IMSA at certain tracks. I'm just not familiar enough with them.

 

They have done an awful job of marking the track layout



Like... what?!

 

Exactly. They had a quick interview with Herman Tilke in FP2 and he said there are 180 configurations. The least they could do is put up cones or something. What do they do Yas Marina? That place has some spots like this, but not nearly as complex

 

FP1 Highlights including Ericsson's impressive accident.

 

This hurts my head.

 

The worst onboard lap in recent memory...the excitement in Lewis’s voice is palpable



The “pinnacle of Motorsport”....m’kay

 

He's not very subtle either.

 

It’s why I like Lewis, he gets **** for being fake but honestly, you can tell exactly what he’s thinking

 

Twitter is having a ball with Paul Ricard






It’s a good thing these “best drivers in the world” have all that runoff to save their bacon when they can’t control their cars.


It’s funny....a track with massive runoff, almost everyone spins out. A track with little to no runoff (eg Monaco), hardly anyone spins out.....

Edit: forgot to add, also from Twitter. Apparently access to the circuit has been a nightmare, with traffic gridlocked for hours....and they’re expecting everyone to vacate the parking lots by 1030 tonight, and then return tomorrow morning

Also, I’ve seen a couple articles on Twitter, haven’t read them in full yet, proclaiming that fans watching on TV are complaining of getting headaches and nausea from all the striping on the circuit

Bernie must be killing himself laughing right now.

If anyone wants a good laugh, @FakeCharlieWhiting is worth a follow on Twitter...same with WTF1.

 

It looks fun to drive (unless you get lost) but boring to watch, cars look slow on TV. Thought Signes would be more impressive on TV as well. And with those few corners before Mistral I can't see much overtaking, especially with chicane there.

Hoping we don't get any accidents at pit exit...

 

It’s not that bad. As someone who’s watched GT racing there, getting nauseous from the run off is the least of the tracks problems!

 

Oh I’ve watched all the GT races there...TC and F3 too. I’ve never gotten “sick” watching a race there, but I have fell asleep several times.

The last Blancpain race there was epic, I’ll admit that....but that was a 1000km endurance with 50 entrants in competitive cars....and they had big enough balls to use the full straight, no chicken. The drafting and fighting for position in Signe was awesome, but we won’t have that in F1 thanks to the chicken.

 

Somehow I think there is going to be a problem with exceeding track limits sometime this weekend. Although you could make the defense it's still part of the track somewhere.

Looking at the track from above it's almost like one of those visual trick images where you stare at the center of it and it starts spinning around and makes you dizzy.

 

Why is everyone hating on Paul Ricard? It's not a bad track to drive on, and it's great for France to have an F1 race again. The layout isn't stupid like some of the other tracks that they go to - I'd much rather Paul Ricard, a track which some history associated with it, than Yas Marina. That track is useless and doesn't excite me at all; it's just a waste of space. Paul Ricard is a great addition to the calender.

 

Probably because there is easily better tracks in the same country

 

Better tracks? Not for F1 there isn't.

 

Yes there is. Magny Cours is better for one

 

Magny cours with DRS would work much better then it did back when it was used last, I have a feeling there isn't going to be good chances at passing here unless there is a big tyre advantage, the chicane in the middle of the back straight isn't tight enough imo kind of like Barcelona's turn 1 which isn't tight enough to make a good move down the inside work properly, it would be best to remove it completely.

 

I only liked Paul Ricard for its novelty claim of the circuit with the highest number of configurations in the world (167). Imagine if PD decides to include this track in GT, the variations alone would take up the whole blu ray disc

http://www.racingcircuits.info/europe/france/paul-ricard.html

The red/blue run off strips can make for some interesting photos, but that's about it. Everything else about the layout is just bleh. Signes would be interesting if they leave the straight unbroken, but even that they have to ruin with a chicane. The corners in the last sector is absolutely painful and will not do any wonders for overtaking/close racing opportunities.

Maybe they should randomly activate the rain machine in the race?

https://www.circuitpaulricard.com/en/page-technology-and-innovations.html

 

If they absolutely have to use a chicane, the bus stop style chicane that runs through the current chicane could possibly work better. It’s tighter so it would be better as a hard braking spot for overtaking, and the current chicane is an awkward and long size, so I’m predicting it’ll be hard for cars to follow while going though it.

 

I reckon it was before his bedtime. "Sleeping..uh sweeping left"

 

If the replaced the blue tarmac with the tyre ripping red tarmac at the edge of the race track it would fix track limits. As it is now, it is configured for testing where you don't want that kind of punishment for an honest mistake.

 

I'm glad the VA said which turns the drivers span off at otherwise you'd think it was the same bit of track each time.

I've never really liked Paul Ricard but I have to confess that its last GP was before I was watching F1. Can anyone say what it was like back in the day?

 

Onboard lap 1983.

 

And as a spectacle from a fan's point of view? Were the old French GPs there any good?

 

Not really, you have to remember this track was the safer option to that of the previous French GP which actually produced better racing, but also had far more risk to all those involved. That track has been reconfigured since that time and still exist, so does Dijon and as we all know Magny, I think other than the French wanting to see F1 in their country again, and this track still be used for testing after it was no longer on the calendar are the reason it was picked. If the French GP stays on the calendar for a long time again, I could see this place being replaced with something else.

 

1984 250cc race.

 

For me it’s all the paved runoff and low curbs, and the chicane that ruin it for me.

If the circuit had grass and gravel, and if they used the full Mistral Straight, I wouldn’t mind this circut at all. Going off the last couple GT3 races there, it can produce great racing, with the right cars. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the F1 cars do (after Canada, it’s not looking good).

I really don’t get why they need the chicane. It’s not going to create more overtaking....a massive straight with a massive drs zone would create more overtaking, if it was just about overtaking. Am I wrong or can the driver manually close the drs flap? Or like Davidson said, if you don’t feel comfortable, just lift a little. And I can’t see runoff being the issue, not when Eau Rouge, Blanchemont, 130R to name a few have much less runoff.

They should go back to Rouen Les Essart