Another French GP

[FW17]

1990 - Surprising that these cars had enough grip to get around the Singes corner flatout with wings that were quiet flat

[Layout used that year was not the full circuit]

[Manoah2u]

whoa, i can't remember ever seeing that Williams with white instead of yellow around the cockpit. cool!

[FW17]

Test Livery I guess



1992 First few races the airbox was white, guess camel did not pay enough

[Sniffit]

This promises to be one of the most boring GPs ever. Well I guess they have a year to dig up the retardedly large runoff areas and replace them with sand/gravel to make things more interesting (and no it won't happen, I know).

[FW17]

Neither the circuit layout nor the Grand Prix slot had been specified by officials, but Paul Ricard manager Stéphane Clair has confirmed these details to GPUpdate.net.

Paul Ricard is set to make use of its full 5.861km layout, with the North Chicane splitting up the lengthy Mistral Straight, and slot into the calendar at the end of August.

Significant work will be carried out at the venue throughout 2017 to prepare for the arrival of Formula 1, and support categories, and cater for the influx of supporters.

[BanMeToo]

Qualifying will be cool on a 'new' track. Not so much the race.

Do the runoffs actually work? Will they eat Pirelli tires?

[f1316]

Right, so this is my question: isn't the whole point of Paul Ricard's runoffs that they're designed to punish wide running by affecting the tyres?

Scratch the question, read for yourself:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/gforcef1 ... racks/amp/

So will these be retained for F1? I hope so - would be a very useful test for an initiative that I'd like to see used at other circuits.

[Sniffit]

Right, so this is my question: isn't the whole point of Paul Ricard's runoffs that they're designed to punish wide running by affecting the tyres?

Scratch the question, read for yourself:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/gforcef1 ... racks/amp/

So will these be retained for F1? I hope so - would be a very useful test for an initiative that I'd like to see used at other circuits.

While they punish drivers, forcing pitstops they still remove a lot of the danger and spectacle. Graveltraps provide alot of good footage with gravel spraying and also gives the chance of spectacular crashes.

[f1316]

Right, so this is my question: isn't the whole point of Paul Ricard's runoffs that they're designed to punish wide running by affecting the tyres?

Scratch the question, read for yourself:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/gforcef1 ... racks/amp/

So will these be retained for F1? I hope so - would be a very useful test for an initiative that I'd like to see used at other circuits.

While they punish drivers, forcing pitstops they still remove a lot of the danger and spectacle. Graveltraps provide alot of good footage with gravel spraying and also gives the chance of spectacular crashes.

Right, but they're more dangerous so the FIA are not going to go back to installing more gravel traps - it's just not going to happen.

The trend is just for normal tarmac, meaning drivers can go unpunished for mistakes and/or intentionally run off track to gain time. Seems to me that the Paul Ricard option is better than that.

In any case, it's really not a question of opinion; I'm just wondering if anyone knows what the organisers/FIA intend to do? Seems like a great opportunity to trial a new solution, but wouldn't be surprised if we turn up there in 2018 with smooth tarmac everywhere.

[krisfx]

Qualifying will be cool on a 'new' track. Not so much the race.

Do the runoffs actually work? Will they eat Pirelli tires?

The Pirelli tyres do a good enough job of eating themselves, not sure they need fancy run off to achieve that

[Tim.Wright]

I've tried in the past to search for any confirmation that the run-off areas lf Paul Ricard will destroy tyres by passing over them but there is absolutely nothing from a reputable source. From what I can gather it's a myth that's propagated and is now repeted as fact (i.e. on that Gforce blog above).

Here's my input from another thread some time ago:

The fact that the paint damages tires is even on the FIA site. It is just not stated whether it is when locked-up only, or under moderate load.
http://www.fiainstitute.com/media-centr ... re-02.aspx

That link doesn't say anything about damaging tyres. In fact it says that one advantage of this type of runoff is that the service vehicles can easily drive over it. Its abrasive, but that is a long way from damaging a tyre. An ultra abrasive surface will wear a tyre out quickly if you keep running over it, but its not going destroy a tyre unles you lock up over it.

In fact even that's debbatable - see 1:09


I think we can consider this tyre "destroying nature" of the Paul Ricard run-off nothing but an internet myth...

[BanMeToo]

That totally makes sense. I'm not real surprised to hear it.

[f1316]

I've tried in the past to search for any confirmation that the run-off areas lf Paul Ricard will destroy tyres by passing over them but there is absolutely nothing from a reputable source. From what I can gather it's a myth that's propagated and is now repeted as fact (i.e. on that Gforce blog above).

Here's my input from another thread some time ago:

The fact that the paint damages tires is even on the FIA site. It is just not stated whether it is when locked-up only, or under moderate load.
http://www.fiainstitute.com/media-centr ... re-02.aspx

That link doesn't say anything about damaging tyres. In fact it says that one advantage of this type of runoff is that the service vehicles can easily drive over it. Its abrasive, but that is a long way from damaging a tyre. An ultra abrasive surface will wear a tyre out quickly if you keep running over it, but its not going destroy a tyre unles you lock up over it.

In fact even that's debbatable - see 1:09
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Toosc2WUrFA

I think we can consider this tyre "destroying nature" of the Paul Ricard run-off nothing but an internet myth...

Only now realising that there was a response here (sorry!).

So my question is still: does anyone know if the run off areas will remain in their multi-coloured (perhaps mythically tyre-damaging) format? Edit: by which I mean will they remain in place for the F1 race?

If so, it would provide a definitive answer as to whether it's a myth or not.

[f1316]

In other news:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fren ... ne-934329/

I'm actually quite looking forward to this one.

[ChrisDanger]

I was looking for more detailed information on the layout a few days ago. It will be the below 5.8km configuration, which includes the north chicane on the long Mistal straight, and the tightest (V2) of the T1 la Verrerie esses.