Grand Prix 2019 French Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It's finally time to bring the discussion surrounding the Canadian GP to a close as the whole band wagon moves back across the pond to the Paul Ricard circuit in France.

I've spent ages trying to come up with the perfect PQR thread for this GP.

After much thought. I came up with this.

All you need to know about the circuit is here: Circuit Paul Ricard - Wikipedia

Let's hope its a good race.

 

[Ruslan]

Why did they use gorillas for their trophies?

 

[FB]

F1.com has this to say about the trophies:

Gorilla statues

We’ve mentioned our love for classic trophies in this feature in the past, but France last year delivered one of the more unusual designs on the podium. A tricolore gorilla holding up a Pirelli tyre was the reward for race winner Lewis Hamilton, and there was also a link to other items throughout the weekend.

The trophy was designed by French artist and sculptor Richard Orlinski, but his work was not confined to the end of the race. Orlinski’s creations were prominent around the track throughout the race weekend, with sculptures such as the panther, the horse, the bear and the ‘King Kong’ being joined by another piece he describes simply as ‘the pair of jeans’.

It’s a unique way of adding to the visual impact at a race weekend, and one that is set to continue this year. So if you see a bright blue horse rearing trackside, now you know why…

I take this to mean that they are gorillas just because they are.

 

[Il_leone]

Johnny Carwash If only Ferrari had shown more faith in Le Clerc's ability rather than hold him back perhaps the championship would not be a lost cause instead of pandering to Vettel's ego

 

[Johnny Carwash]

I doubt very much that even if Le Clerc had preferential from Ferrari that it would make much difference to the championship standings.The combination of Mercedes and Hamilton is to strong for all the drivers on the grid.It is like the Schumacher era when the drivers knew subconsciously that they just couldn’t beat him.

 

[Ruslan]

So any opinions on Ricciardo’s two 5-second penalties relative to what was done at the Canadian GP?

 

[F1Brits_90]

So any opinions on Ricciardo’s two 5-second penalties relative to what was done at the Canadian GP?

well it is different because he was fully in control he just outbraked himself. thats why i always said about vettel if he was in control penalty. but he couldn't do anything about it. & in that interpretation it was correct

 

[F1Brits_90]

got to say i really had low hopes for that race & Hamilton just looked like in 1 those unstoppable moods this season. bit like 2015 where bottas is doing fine & cant complain, but id say only Verstappen or maybe Leclerc in Mercedes could stop him being a world champion this year. reliability depending . such is the achievement of Bottas that in 7 races. Ocon has gone from 2020 shoo in to 2020 reserve driver or somewhere else on grid. but that was as dreadful as it gets Australia 2018 last time I remember really not enjoying a race like that. domination in any sport is never enjoyed only appreated after they retired or everyone has caught up to them. phil taylor in darts, Federer / Sampras at Wimbledon. Vettel/ Schumacher in F1. Man utd in football, team sky in cycling. can only think of usain bolt as popular sportsman who dominated

the reason I dreaded this race is. because it had 2 things in Pirelli era strike dread into fans. hot weather & long pit lane. means 1 thing babysitting tyres. as well as dirty air being a issue Pirelli giving tyres that are degrading is killing the sport because teams just babysit the tyres & wont push. which makes the reason for tyres a myth. i dont want to go rose tinted but in early/mid 00s we had bad races but they were pushing to limit. now we are have bad races at 70%

anyway on the race erm. hard to talk about the top 5 because they were alright & hard to judge. gutted for Norris drove a brilliant race but let down by hydraulics, Gasly not helping himself again, Haas don't see how it could gone any worse, impressive from Kimi great drive. Part of me was going to joke & start arguing over perez penalty. but then i saw replay which was a weird one because he lost it on entry & did everything by the book, left & went around the bollard. he even followed the road to the T. but gets a penalty rightfully because he rejoined ahead of grosjean. another one where rules dont help themselves

 

[Ruslan]

Part of me was going to joke & start arguing over perez penalty. but then i saw replay which was a weird one because he lost it on entry & did everything by the book, left & went around the bollard. he even followed the road to the T. but gets a penalty rightfully because he rejoined ahead of grosjean. another one where rules dont help themselves

Well, they are getting "consistent" with their interpretation.

 

[cider_and_toast]

It's very rare these days that I agree with Martin Brundle who appears to be more like the Alistair Campbell of F1 on a weekly basis, however, in response to the noise being made by some teams regarding returning to last years tyre construction he rightly pointed out that having last years tyre construction didn't stop Mercedes winning the title then so why should anything change now?

Unless there are a few Jean-Louis Schlesser moments at some point it looks like the top step is going to be coloured silver the whole season.

Oh deep joy

 

[siffert_fan]

I don't understand how people can call any performance "masterclass" when the only car in the same league is the teammate.

 

[Angel]

Is it over yet? I think I fell asleep. It's going to be a long season

 

[cider_and_toast]

A slightly happier note for Kubica fans as he beat George Russell to the flag for the first time this season

 

[F1Brits_90]

It's very rare these days that I agree with Martin Brundle who appears to be more like the Alistair Campbell of F1 on a weekly basis, however, in response to the noise being made by some teams regarding returning to last years tyre construction he rightly pointed out that having last years tyre construction didn't stop Mercedes winning the title then so why should anything change now?

Unless there are a few Jean-Louis Schlesser moments at some point it looks like the top step is going to be coloured silver the whole season.

Oh deep joy

interesting to note that Mercedes have beat the 9 race winning streak of red bull in 2013, equalled the winning streak of Ferrari of 10 consecutive victories & if they win in Austria it will match the all time record of McLaren in 1988. then if Mercedes win the british gp then that will be a new record of 12 & become the most dominant F1 car of all time

 

[Angel]

A slightly happier note for Kubica fans as he beat George Russell to the flag for the first time this season

I'm glad someone had something to appreciate in that race.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

I missed the race yesterday, I went to Imola to see a client racing a Lambo in the GT series, by what I have gathered from your various posts I think that tonight I won't be watching the recording of the race

Besides, the rules... yesterday I saw a round of the Italian GT championship, a race of the Mini Challenge and the Italian TCR: every single time a driver went anywhere near another car the stewards opened a case, they handed out plenty of penalties and the racing was rubbish. Car racing is all about close contact dices, personally I don't care if a car has a sexy rear diffuser, I wonder what's the point of car racing anymore.

Last year I witnessed the same sad show when I went to look a round of the Clio Cup, as soon as someone beached their car in the sand they deployed the SC, when someone hit the grass he was punished, not to mention any slight contact between cars that resulted in black flags and 25 seconds penalty being handed out.

I did only one race in the Clio Cup in my day, at Monza, back them when you were followingf closely another car the standard procedure was to "knock" on the rear bumber of the car in front, that would happen 4 or 5 times on each straight, so over the whole race you could be knocked say 50 or 60 times. Nowadays that would be impossible. And don't get me started on cutting chicanes becasue during the qualyfying heat we all cut across each chicane, then they put some old tyres as some sort of barriers to the side of the chicanes, after a few laps those tyres had been pushed to the back of the track and we could all happily cut any chicane. It was great fun, no wonder that yesterday the only spectators were friends and family of the racers.

 

[Izumi]

I missed the race yesterday, I went to Imola to see a client racing a Lambo in the GT series, by what I have gathered from your various posts I think that tonight I won't be watching the recording of the race

Besides, the rules... yesterday I saw a round of the Italian GT championship, a race of the Mini Challenge and the Italian TCR: every single time a driver went anywhere near another car the stewards opened a case, they handed out plenty of penalties and the racing was rubbish. Car racing is all about close contact dices, personally I don't care if a car has a sexy rear diffuser, I wonder what's the point of car racing anymore.

Last year I witnessed the same sad show when I went to look a round of the Clio Cup, as soon as someone beached their car in the sand they deployed the SC, when someone hit the grass he was punished, not to mention any slight contact between cars that resulted in black flags and 25 seconds penalty being handed out.

I did only one race in the Clio Cup in my day, at Monza, back them when you were followingf closely another car the standard procedure was to "knock" on the rear bumber of the car in front, that would happen 4 or 5 times on each straight, so over the whole race you could be knocked say 50 or 60 times. Nowadays that would be impossible. And don't get me started on cutting chicanes becasue during the qualyfying heat we all cut across each chicane, then they put some old tyres as some sort of barriers to the side of the chicanes, after a few laps those tyres had been pushed to the back of the track and we could all happily cut any chicane. It was great fun, no wonder that yesterday the only spectators were friends and family of the racers.

Is Vettel done at Ferrari? Whole weekend his car is sliding, whilst Leclerc seems OK. Any idea why's that?

 

[RasputinLives]

I imagine its down to the fact they had different set ups and LeClerc's found one that suited his driving style better and meant the car didn't slide as much. Seems pretty simple.

Of course i'm guessing. The race was so dull I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to notice details like that.

 

[RasputinLives]

Why did they use gorillas for their trophies?

Danny Baker designed them.

 

[Angel]

I missed the race yesterday, I went to Imola to see a client racing a Lambo in the GT series, by what I have gathered from your various posts I think that tonight I won't be watching the recording of the race

Besides, the rules... yesterday I saw a round of the Italian GT championship, a race of the Mini Challenge and the Italian TCR: every single time a driver went anywhere near another car the stewards opened a case, they handed out plenty of penalties and the racing was rubbish. Car racing is all about close contact dices, personally I don't care if a car has a sexy rear diffuser, I wonder what's the point of car racing anymore.

Last year I witnessed the same sad show when I went to look a round of the Clio Cup, as soon as someone beached their car in the sand they deployed the SC, when someone hit the grass he was punished, not to mention any slight contact between cars that resulted in black flags and 25 seconds penalty being handed out.

I did only one race in the Clio Cup in my day, at Monza, back them when you were followingf closely another car the standard procedure was to "knock" on the rear bumber of the car in front, that would happen 4 or 5 times on each straight, so over the whole race you could be knocked say 50 or 60 times. Nowadays that would be impossible. And don't get me started on cutting chicanes becasue during the qualyfying heat we all cut across each chicane, then they put some old tyres as some sort of barriers to the side of the chicanes, after a few laps those tyres had been pushed to the back of the track and we could all happily cut any chicane. It was great fun, no wonder that yesterday the only spectators were friends and family of the racers.

Alex Wurz says the drivers themselves are to blame for how things are now. As soon as anyone does anything wrong they're on the radio claiming a breach of the rules. He does have a point when you think about it. What is the answer though? I mean what is the point of rules if you're not going to enforce them? Without rules there would be anarchy, if you are too strict over the rules you end up in the situation where we are now. How do you go back to a happy medium though? Which rules will you allow to be slightly 'abused' and which won't you?

Like many things I doubt there are any easy answers to this sadly. Until they find some, we're all in for a dull time I would say.

 

[F1Brits_90]