2021 French Grand Prix - Le Castellet, June 18 - 20

[Sieper]

For the F3 guys this is a big chance to show their worth. Track looks extremely slippery though. So far so good in the warm up though.

[Starkblood80]

Max was 2.5 tenths ahead on the Softs but on the Mediums Mercedes were quicker or atleast at par with RB. That is in qualifying when RB better heat up their tyres & are on a light fuel load. On the Mediums & Hards where the race will be, on full fuel load, Mercedes have a quicker car. Clearly with the Hard Compound tyres. Perez is also @ P4 & should have been in P2 or P3 to trouble Hamilton.

I don't if Max will be able to hold Mercedes in race pace with harder rubber because Mercedes is the clear-cut quicker car with harder rubber in race per. Even in Monaco, Bottas was 1 or 2 tenths behind Max before the pit-stop & in Baku Hamilton was a couple of tenths behind. This is in tracks which don't suit Mercedes, with a flexi wing in Baku for RB & with C3-C5 Tyres which suit RB. Now we move to more of the C2-C4 & C1-C3 Tyre range in non-street circuits !

Mercedes-RB will go to the wire. I don't know if what Max said (2 Tenths quicker than LH in the same car is true) but Mercedes are a well oiled team winning 7 straight championships. Lewis has been incredibly lucky & Max could have been 30-40 points up. Although Lewis has lost championships with the quickest car (Nico 16, Raikkonen 07, even almost to Massa in 08 before Glock spun), this is a difference Lewis-Mercedes combo. Max hasn't made many mistakes while Lewis has so far & Max is possibly a shade quicker in raw pace but RB has won nothing so far in the hybrid era.

I am predicting LH win Max at 2 & Bottas @ 3. There is no reason for Mercedes to lose this with C2-C3 tyres in race pace !

If you look at Q2 actually Red Bull had better pace on the medium tyres, that's why Mercedes needed a second lap to improve their time, their first lap was slower. Also if Mercedes is quicker on the harder tyres, doesn't that mean that Mercedes is warming up their tyres better?

Not really, it more than likely means the Mercedes is taking longer to get the tyres up to the optimum working temperature. If that then equates to them being more gentle on the tyres during the race then this could be good for them.

[Wouter]

Just for an impression of the condition of the track. The start of the F3.

[Capharol]

Just for an impression of the condition of the track. The start of the F3.

already dryed up again, so track is green and slippery curbs

[InsaneX_Badger]

Would a green track play more into Red Bull and others who get the tyres into the desired window earlier?

[matt_b]

Would a green track play more into Red Bull and others who get the tyres into the desired window earlier?

Nope it means higher tyre wear which will definitely hurt Rec Bull, if its wet it will also hurt Red Bull with the lower downforce package compared to Mercedes.

[ringo]

Redbull is quicker in sector 2 because they took off the downforce of the car. And even with reducing downforce theyre still quick in the other sectors meaning the chassis is super efficient. Max just has to drive away cleanly to win this. To how things are now its really looking good for RB for the rest of the season. Theyre quicker on the straights and in the corbers even with a compromise on downforce.
Lewis just needs to apply pressure as he usually does and play mind games to force Max into outbraking himself. He cannot depend on car performance or strategy for this one. RB also havr Checo to make life harder for Mercedes. We are seeing a changing of the guard this year. 2022 should be even more exciting if RB turn out to be the team to be beat.

[atanatizante]

...

... I think it's something that's inherent to the car that gives them such low tire degradation come race day.

THIS!

[atanatizante]

Rosberg said on Sky that now at the 30-degree track temp things would swing in HAM favour, knowing the W12 is overheating the tyres around here ...

[Just_a_fan]

Will Ferrari be allowed to change those flat spotted tyres? Presumably so as there would be a simple safety argument.

[RZS10]

Don't they use different tyres on the laps to the grid anyways?

[djones]

Was Ferrari using a heat gun to blow hot air into the hub?

[Spacepace]

Will Ferrari be allowed to change those flat spotted tyres? Presumably so as there would be a simple safety argument.

Those were just a set of scrubbed tyres. Probably from Q1

[atanatizante]

With a one-stop race, as Pirelli said it`ll be, then it`s gonna be an M-H strategy.

Then it`s down to the medium (which was the first stint soft C3 tyre from Barcelona) - and hard tyre aka the medium one C2 from Barca ...

Regarding tyre pressure, it`s a little bit higher, which is prone to some blistering as it`s said :

[godlameroso]

When things get closer the pressure increases is true in so many different ways.