Lewis Hamilton has taken an easy victory in France thanks to a controlled performance at Circuit Paul Ricard. Max Verstappen raced anonymously to second place while Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium for Ferrari.
Circuit length? Laps for the race? I'm guessing 52 or 53?
Some things that are apparent, a one stop is going to be difficult to pull off. The tire wear is much more severe than in Canada. The first and final sectors are particularly hard on the tires with traction limited long radius corners. Second, fuel consumption will be an issue.
This circuit has 4 long flat out sections so too much drag can hurt, at the same time you need good aero because all the non flat out corners require lots of downforce.
Sadly I don't see many overtaking opportunities, realistically turn 11 is the only place to overtake. Otherwise it's essentially impossible as the other straights end with chicanes. Tire wear will be the only saving grace for any overtaking.
Straights don´t look that long and as it has been already mentioned I see only one decent place to overtake. So, I hope tha this part works well alongside a higher tyre degradation. I hope we can see a two-stop race.
Moreover, I am interested to see how much Mercedes will improve with the updated PU.
Did they set up any temp grandstands along the course? From the photo the track looks very barren of any real spectator viewing areas in almost all the corners
Watching that video I can't see where overtakes are going to come from? The straights are kinda long but the corners leading to them are all quick so the drivers will be to far back. The straights all seem to lead into quick corners too so the breaking opportunity won't be there.
The corners are bumpy and some off camber so I guess hopefully the drivers struggle.
Unless this turns into a chaotic race mainly because of accidents/sc, this is going to be a borefest grand slam. Awful track design for modern F1. Let's hope for some entertainment.
