French Grand Prix Preview

Following two incident filled races at Monaco and Canada, Formula One makes a final appearance at Magny Cours this weekend.

The French Grand Prix is one of the oldest on the calendar and except for 1955 has been a permanent fixture in Formula One.

But the future of the French GP looks uncertain at best, with Bernie Ecclestone claiming F1 will not return to Magny Cours following this year’s race with no plans for another circuit to take its place.

The track has staged the race since 1991 but is obscure and difficult to get to, situated literally in the middle of nowhere in central France. The obscurity, combined with the lack of hotels means the track is unpopular with many teams, though the track provides a challenge for the drivers, with a mixture of tight hairpins and fast sweeping chicanes.

The Contenders

Any chance of a Lewis Hamilton victory in France were effectively ended in Montreal after his pit-lane cock-up saw him penalized 10 places on the grid along with Williams’ Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton now faces a difficult decision, either to run light in qualifying aiming to start in 11^th place at best or to opt for a heavy fuel load that could see him stranded behind mid-field cars, but would see him run longer in the race.

Realistically, a podium finish would be a magnificent achievement on a circuit that sees little overtaking.

Pre-race testing at Barcelona last week showed that the Ferrari F2008 is still the fastest car on mid to high speed circuits, so expect Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate Felipe Massa to figure strongly for the win, along with McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.

Raikkonen was victorious here last year, and Ferrari has won four of the last seven races at Magny Cours—the circuit certainly suits them.

However, expect BMW’s Robert Kubica to challenge strongly. They say when a driver claims their first win, the floodgates open.  So following his breakthrough win in Montreal two weeks ago, the Pole could well be amongst the challengers again, especially if any of the top two teams make mistakes.

Toyota to pay tribute to Andersson

Toyota driver Jarno Trulli has claimed that a decent points haul would be the best way to pay tribute to former Toyota team principal, Ove Andersson, who was tragically killed in a Rallying accident last week.

"We want to achieve a strong result this weekend as a tribute to Ove because without him I'm not sure whether Toyota would be competing in Formula 1 now" said the Italian.

Andersson was the mastermind behind Toyota’s switch from World Rallying to Formula One in 2002.

Magny Masterpieces

Despite a reputation for boring races, Magny Cours has served up some decent contests in its 18-year history, the best of which came in 1999.

A damp qualifying session saw Rubens Barrichello claim a shock pole position for Stewart-Ford, with Jean Alesi in an equally surprising second place on the grid for Sauber.

The race was a cracker, with the weather forcing the Safety Car to make an appearance. Conditions were such that the safety car came close to aquaplaning more than once!

Six cars retired as a result of spinning off, while one time leader Michael Schumacher suffered from electrical problems and had to change a steering wheel in the pits.

Overtaking at the Adelaide hairpin was a common event, with several drivers making moves up the inside.

Barrichello led several times during the race and kept a cool head while others lost theirs to claim third place, and Mika Hakkinen overcame a spin on lap 38 to claim second place in his McLaren.

But on a day for clear thinking, it was the Jordan team who came out on top, the Irish squad executing a perfect change in strategy under safety car conditions to switch to a one-stop strategy.

Mike Gascoyne’s quick thinking paid off, and Frentzen was able to by-pass the second round of pit stops to claim a famous win.