Following the wrangling in the aftermath of the US Grand Prix debacle, the grand prix circus intends to do restore its image and do what it does best at Magny Cours – put on a race! Michelin says it’s well prepared for the French Grand Prix, which is good news for championship rivals Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen!
Following the wrangling in the aftermath of the US Grand Prix debacle, the grand prix circus intends to do restore its image and do what it does best at Magny Cours – put on a race! Michelin says it’s well prepared for the French Grand Prix, which is good news for championship rivals Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen!
After the troubles at Indianapolis, where Michelin told seven teams that it could not guarantee the safety of its tyres, the French manufacturer has been at pains to reassure the organisers of the events, and the fans, that there won’t be any problems in France and Britain, and the drivers are also confident the Michelin tyres will perform well in future races.
“I think the Indianapolis problem was a very specific problem of that configuration of the circuit and what happened there and after the times and the performances the tyres gave to us in the last test last week, I think we are more competitive than before,” said Renault’s championship leader Alonso. “I think the tyres are extremely, extremely good for this race and for Silverstone as well and I have no worries at all.”
Alonso was on pole in France last year and finished second. “We are very optimistic for this race especially regarding the last year’s results so I think we arrive here in a very good moment,” said the Spanaird. “We are leading both championships, the car has improved a lot again last week in Jerez, so we arrive at a perfect point this weekend in Magny-Cours.”
Meanwhile, McLaren-Mercedes Finnish ace Raikkonen is eager to rejoin the battle on Sunday: “Last year maybe it wasn’t our strongest race, even though we had a new car here. I think the car should be good. We have some new parts and a new engine for this race, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Magny-Cours is quite a technical track and presents its own challenges like any other circuit. It requires fairly high downforce, after the lower demands of Montreal and Indy, and the combination of hairpins, chicanes and corners needs good traction. The smooth track surface can react quickly to temperature changes and tyre degradation can be a factor.
“The tarmac at Magny-Cours is more dependent on temperature than usual, which means lap times vary significantly during the day,” said Williams-BMW technical director Sam Michael. “Strategy will be interesting because of the pit lane time and typically high tyre degradation that we see at Magny-Cours.”
The conditions can cause problems for the drivers when trying to find the ideal set up. “It can be an odd place, because it gets really hot after 11am so the set-up of the car tends to keep changing all day with the temperature rise,” said Sauber’s Felipe Massa. “You end up chasing a moving target and it is not easy to get the best out of the car because of this.”
Recently Europe has been experiencing some extreme weather conditions, swapping between very high temperatures and huge thunderstorms. There have been some hot F1 races in Magny Cours in the past, which puts emphasis on engine reliability even though but the full throttle percentage of the lap is not higher than average.
“Our attention also focuses on making the engine as driveable as possible, especially in terms of torque control,” Renault’s Rémi Taffin said this week. “The smoother the engine response, the less it will disturb the car balance during throttle applications at high speed, as occur in turns 3, and the high speed chicanes of turns 6/7 and turns 11/12.”
Renault heads to its home race leading both championships and Alonso is confident the team can do well on its home track: “McLaren will be fast, like they are everywhere, but Magny-Cours has been a good circuit for Renault. Last year, I got pole and had a strong battle with Ferrari for the win. This year, we are going there with a better car, and we will expect to be competitive.”
Raikkonen’s team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya is out to make amends for missing out on the win in Montreal. “I am looking forward to this race and my wish is to do what I did in Canada, to challenge for victory,” said the Colombian.
While the controversy raged around Indianapolis, Ferrari collected the points for first and second which moved the drivers and the team right up the standings.
“We have scored good results here in the past,” Micheal Schumacher remarked in regard to France. “And taking into account the progress the car has made over the past few weeks, I have to be optimistic about Sunday’s race.”
This weekend Oliver Panis will be behind the wheel of a Toyota on Friday, replacing regular third driver Ricardo Zonta. Panis has continued to test for Toyota since his retirement from competition and in the absence of a local racer on the F1 grid, Olivier hopes to give the home crowds something to cheer about.
“Magny Cours is a technical track and conditions can change throughout the day more than at practically any other circuit,” the Frenchman was quoted as saying. “That is an area where my experience will be of real benefit and I am looking forward to doing as strong a job as possible for the team.”
Ralf Schumacher is also back in action for Toyota – the German missed last year’s Magny Cours race after an accident at Indianapolis and was sidelined in America this year due to another crash. “I’m fully recovered from my accident during Friday practice for the US Grand Prix and I’m looking forward to getting back to racing in France,” Ralf said.
BAR Honda has still to notch up any points, but Takuma Sato was confident after the team tested at Jerez last week. “We are carrying forward many positive aspects from the Jerez test and I believe that we can reproduce the performance and be as competitive as we were in North America and I am very positive going to the race next week,” he said.
