With the seventh round of the season, the French Grand Prix, the Formula 1 World Championship is back on track this weekend at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet. It’s one of the longest-running events in the category, despite not being held last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year a maximum of 15,000 fans per day, divided into “bubbles” of 5,000 each, will be admitted to the stands, provided they are vaccinated, have recovered from the virus or have a negative test result.
At the end of the nineties, the system was converted into a test site and therefore has some special features such as no fewer than 167 different configuration options, while a short version of less than 4 kilometers also has a sprinkler system to create a wet surface. The run-off zones are covered with an asphalt-tungsten mixture, which creates a very high level of grip and stops the cars very quickly if they leave the track.
The layout of Formula 1 since 2018, when the Grand Prix returned to the calendar after a ten-year break, is 5.842 kilometers long with 15 corners. The first sector is the fastest and offers the most overtaking opportunities, especially immediately after the start line, in turn 1 and at the exit of turn 3. In the second sector, good performance and engine performance is a clear requirement on the Mistral straight and the corners 8 and 9, where the cars are pushed to the limit. Aerodynamic downforce is also the main factor in the third sector: Immediately after Signes, one of the fastest and most impressive corners on the calendar, there is a narrower section with fast and slow sections where traction is crucial. There are two DRS zones: one on the main straight and the other between turns 7 and 8, in the first part of the Mistral straight.
As usual, the cars will take to the track for the first time on Friday for the two one-hour free practice sessions from 11.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. CET. Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by the final free practice session at 12 p.m. The 61st French Grand Prix, which counts towards the World Championship, starts on Sunday at 3 p.m. It runs over 53 laps, which corresponds to 309.69 kilometers.
Ferrari GP statistics from France
GP disputed: 59
Debut: 1950 (P. Whitehead 3rd place)
Wins: 17 (28.81%)
Pole positions: 17 (28.81%)
Fastest laps: 15 (25.42%)
Total platforms: 50 (28.25%)
Facts
5. The furthest back starting position from which the Paul Ricard race was won. It happened twice: 1973 with Ronnie Peterson and 1985 with Nelson Piquet. Two drivers won from fourth place on the grid: Alan Jones in 1980 and Alain Prost in 1990, when he gave Scuderia Ferrari its hundredth Formula 1 victory at the wheel of a Ferrari F1-90. When it comes to making the podium, Emerson Fittipaldi moved up from 17th on the grid to third in 1971 in the very first race here in 1971.
7. The number of circuits on which the French Grand Prix has taken place. Magny-Cours holds the record with 19 races at the trot from 1991 to 2008, followed by Paul Ricard with 16, while Reims holds 11. The other four tracks are Dijon-Prenois (5 times); Rouen (5); Clermont-Ferrand (4) and Le Mans, which was the home of the legendary endurance race, but did not play a major role in Formula 1, where only one race was held in 1967. This event was not held on the historic 13.6 km long road circuit, but on La run Sarthe’s 4.442 km long Bugatti Circuit, the headquarters of the French MotoGP for many years.
11. French drivers who drove for Ferrari in Formula 1. The most successful was Alain Prix, who took five wins in 1990 and Ayrton Senna fought for the title until the penultimate race in Japan. With three wins we find Rene Arnoux, who was front runner in 1983 when Ferrari won the constructors’ title. The man from Val d’Isere was also on the hunt for the driver’s crown and narrowly missed the final. Patrick Tambay and Didier Pironi celebrated two victories each from 1982 to 1983, while Jean Alesi took a single career win at the wheel of a 412 T2 when he won 1995 on his 31st birthday in Canada. The first Frenchman to win a Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Ferrari was Maurice Trintignant in Monaco in 1955, when much of the field retreated and he took full advantage of the reliability of his 625 F1. Other French riders who have raced for Maranello have been: Robert Manzon (5 starts, 4 points); Raymond Sommer (2 starts, 3 points); Jean Behra (3 starts, 2 points); Louis Rosier (15 starts) and Jean Simon (1 start). 73 French drivers have taken part in at least one Formula 1 GP.
59 years and 349 days. Giancarlo Baghetti won the French Grand Prix in Reims on his Formula 1 debut in 1961. The Italian made headlines with a FISA (Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche) Ferrari 156 F1 by winning non-championship races in Syracuse and Naples. On July 2, 1961, he delivered an amazing feat to beat Dan Gurney and Joakim Bonnier’s Porsches, setting a record that has not yet been achieved. Since then, no driver has managed to win on his Formula 1 debut.
115. The number of years since the first French Grand Prix on June 26 and 27, 1906, at Le Mans. The winner was the Hungarian Ferenc Szisz in a Renault AK. For the next edition in Dieppe, Italy provided the winning driver Felice Nazzaro and the FIAT winning car. For decades, this race, organized by the Automobile Club de France, was considered the most prestigious in the world. Scuderia Ferrari’s first victory in this race was achieved in 1934 by the Monegasque driver Louis Chiron in an Alfa Romeo. The French Grand Prix was of course already on the calendar in the first year of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950.
This week in Ferrari history
16/6. In 2010 the Engineering Faculty of Modena and the University of Reggio Emilia was named in honor of Enzo Ferrari to recognize his outstanding efforts in building the faculty in the city.
17/6. A guest of honor welcomed the participants of the “Ferrari 275 Tour”, which in 2004 drove through the streets of Italy. It was none other than John Surtees, Formula 1 World Champion of Scuderia 1964. The Englishman met the 53 crews taking part in the rally in Querceto Castle near Florence. After all, during his time at Scuderia Ferrari he drove a 275 himself, which he remembered as “one of the most exciting road cars I have ever driven in my life”.
18/6. A year ago, Maranello woke up to a very special morning choir: three and a half months after the last day of testing in Barcelona, Charles Leclerc drove an SF1000 through the streets to restart the Formula 1 season after the long break caused by the pandemic. The Monegaske started at the Officina Classiche in the heart of the famous Maranello factory, where the racing department was located for a while, then went down the Abetone Inferiore, past the Gestione Sportiva in Via Enzo Ferrari 27, past the Ferrari Museum, another Favorite place with fans before it ends on the Fiorano route. Two weeks later, on the first weekend in July, the 2020 season finally started in Austria.
19/6. In 2007, Eugenio Molinari set two new world speed records on the waters of Lake Como while piloting a boat equipped with an engine from a Ferrari F430. It recorded average speeds of 123.288 and 122.035 km / h over the flight kilometers. It wasn’t the first time Ferrari engines had been used in powerboat races and for setting speed records. In 1953 a boat was fitted with the engine of a 375 F1, the first Maranello car to win a Grand Prix. The vehicle was the Timossi Ferrari Arno XI, which was driven by Achille Castoldi on Lake Iseo and reached a top speed of 242.708 km / h. Molinari’s performance in 2007 came a week later after an event to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary.
20/6. In 2004 Michael Schumacher took his seventh Canadian Grand Prix victory, his sixth in a Ferrari. The German crossed the finish line ahead of his brother Ralf im Williams and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello. During the technical inspection after the race, however, the English team’s car failed, so that Scuderia Ferrari celebrated its 66th double victory. Up until that point, Michael’s season was impressive, with seven wins from the first eight races. He would win his seventh and final world title, his fifth with the Maranello brand, at the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of this summer.
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