After a two week break we are back and the French GP has arrived. We have been given the tyre allocation for the weekend.
The following are the tyres nominated for the weekend: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), and C4 (Soft).
The Paul Ricard Circuit is quite well balanced where there is a bit of everything: fast corners and flat-out straights as well as slower and more technical sections. All of that is placing medium-severity energy loads on the tyres, which is why it makes a good test track.
The Mistral straight – named after the famous French wind, which can also disrupt the aerodynamic balance of the cars – it also has the potential to cool the front tyres down. This can than affect the turn-in at Signes immediately afterwards, which is the most demanding corner of the entire circuit.
Going off track is definitely a no no , the distinct red, white and blue tricolour markings contain a high-friction material which is designed to slow cars down quickly but with high risk to flat spot the tyres.
Last year’s winning strategy was a two-stopper from Verstappen. It was a gamble as he was the only front runner to stop twice, with those behind stopping once, but it paid off in the end.
This year’s French Grand Prix takes place nearly a month later than it did last year, when it rained on Sunday morning, so it’s fair to expect warmer temperatures. This year’s generation of tyres and compounds is different and more resistant to overheating than the 13-inch versions used last year, so we’ll have to see how that affects the strategy. A bit of history: Paul Ricard was actually where our 18-inch tyres for the current era made their debut, at a test with Renault and Sergey Sirotkin back in 2019.
Mario Isla, Motorsport Director
Formula 2-
F2 will be back racing in France this weekend, the first time since 2019. The hard and soft tyres have been nominated for this weekend. This combination has already been seen in four of the previous eight rounds, most recently at Silverstone.
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