July 20, 2022
After a much needed two week break, it is time for le Grand Prix de France. This weekend marks the beginning of the second half of the F1 season. With Ferrari regaining confidence in their consecutive wins, Mercedes picking up their pace, and Mick Schumacher unleashing his inner beast, we have a lot to look forward to. Here is everything you need to know for the 2022 French Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 7/22, 8:00-9:00 AM
Practice 2: Friday 7/22, 11:00-12:00 AM-PM
Practice 3: Saturday 7/23, 7:00-8:00 AM
Qualifying: Saturday 7/23, 10:00-11:00 AM
Race: Sunday 7/24, 9:00 AM
Sunday’s race will take place at the Circuit Paul Ricard, located in Le Castellet, France. It is made up of fifteen high-, medium-, and low-speed corners and two straights. The variety of corners make Paul Ricard one of the most used test circuits in the world because it gives teams the chance to test their car in all sorts of conditions without going to multiple tracks. Overtaking should be very interesting at this race because the track is one of the widest on the calendar, giving ample room for side by side racing. The track has a lot of run off area, meaning that track limits could be an issue again. I really hope Race Control’s decisions won’t make me whip out my meme again.
The Circuit Paul Ricard
Currently, Charles Leclerc is in second place in the Driver’s Championship. With thirty-eight points between him and Max Verstappen’s lead, Leclerc won’t be able to retake the lead this weekend. However, if he performs well for the rest of the season and Verstappen has a few DNFs or poor races, Leclerc should be able to close that gap and retake the lead of the championship. Ferrari is coming to France with the confidence from winning the last two races, but Red Bull is coming to France hungry for a win. We’ll see how it plays out but right now, I don’t know who will win.
Mercedes’ form seems to have really improved in the last few races. With three straight podiums for Lewis Hamilton, they are showing that they are ready to battle the front-runners. We can expect Mercedes to do well at Paul Ricard because the track is very similar to Silverstone, a track where Mercedes excelled. However, if Mercedes keeps up their pace and continues separating the Red Bulls and Ferraris, they will greatly affect the championship. Points that could have gone to one of the top teams will go to Mercedes instead, creating a wider gap in the Constructors Championship.
The French Grand Prix means that Alpine gets to have its home race! The French based team is currently tied for fourth with McLaren in the Constructors Championship. Both teams have eighty-one points, but due to the fact that McLaren has one podium this season and Alpine has zero, McLaren gets P4 and Alpine is in P5. Alpine has had better results in the last few races and with the way their pace is going, I think they will end up taking P4. Sorry McLaren, I love you, but we might end up losing this one.
Mick Schumacher got his first points finish at Silverstone and ever since, he has been in what I like to call, “BEAST MODE”. Schumacher is scoring points, getting career best finishes, and battling former world champions on the track. Let’s hope he keeps this form because he has been giving us some of the best midfield racing battles of the season. Haas has also had consecutive double points finishes in the last two races. If they keep this up, they might be able to get Team Principal Guenther Steiner his desired P6 in the Constructors Championship.
Along with Alpine, Pierre Gasly will be having his home race. Gasly and AlphaTauri have not been performing very well lately. Austria was a mess for the team with Gasly in P15 after suffering penalties for track limits and Yuki Tsunoda in P16. For the French Grand Prix, AlphaTauri is introducing a new aerodynamics upgrade that is supposed to give them a real boost in pace. In interviews they did before the weekend, the drivers both said they want to try and get to Q3 during Qualifying so they can have an easier time trying to score points on Sunday. I guess AlphaTauri is planning to rely on their Qualifying speed and race strategy to recover their disastrous season.
Nicholas Latifi’s Williams is finally getting the upgrades package that his teammate got at Silverstone. Alex Albon has run the last two races with the upgrades and they have shown promising results. The rain at Silverstone and Sprint format in Austria made it difficult for the team to get proper data about the performance of these changes. However, the team feels that the car with the upgrades is better than the car without the upgrades. By fitting both cars with the package, they will be able to have a proper testing in France and hopefully, have a good race result.
Honorable Mentions:
The trophies for the French Grand Prix are gorilla statues. This fact has always fascinated me. Apparently, a sculptor named Richard Orlinski designed the original gorilla trophy and it was inspired by King Kong. My research basically told me that there isn’t really a reason for the organizers of the French GP making the trophy a gorilla. They just did.
My research also taught me that Aryton Senna won a Sonic the Hedgehog trophy in 1993 so I guess the gorilla isn’t even the strangest trophy we have had.
The French Grand Prix should be interesting. We need Leclerc to perform well if he is going to start closing the gap to Verstappen, Schumacher should be after more points, and Alpine will be trying to get ahead of McLaren. We’ll get to see how good the Williams and AlphaTauri upgrades are and hopefully, my man Pedro Gaseoso will be able to get some points again. That’s all for now. I will be back next week to tell you all about the race!
Happy Race Weekend!
~ Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://scuderia.alphatauri.com/en/french-grand-prixview-2022/
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/2022/french-grand-prix/everything-you-need-know-french/
https://wtf1.com/post/why-is-the-french-gp-f1-trophy-a-gorilla/
https://www.mediareferee.com/f1-news-why-is-the-french-gp-trophy-in-the-shape-of-a-gorilla/
