[forzaferrari]

Tyre selection

[forzaferrari]

A lap of Paul Ricard

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/spo...ck-insight

[NeilP]

A lap of Paul Ricard

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/spo...ck-insight

It was an interesting lap. I think I have to give the power teams the slight edge here. I wonder if it will be a one or two stop, methinks a one?

Looking for Mercedes to bounce back here but I think Ferrari will push them all the way the big question is will Red Bull be able to keep up, that is possible with all the Chicanes. Hoping for an interesting race unlike Canada

[Monster Hesh]

Braces yourselves for another dull one. If they removed turns 8 & 9 chicane, the full straight might of opened up some racing. Expect track limits to be none existent. Thinner treads, harder tyres, yes Merc will be back.

[forzaferrari]

Braces yourselves for another dull one. If they removed turns 8 & 9 chicane, the full straight might of opened up some racing. Expect track limits to be none existent. Thinner treads, harder tyres, yes Merc will be back.

From what I remember they had toyed with keeping the long Mistral straight (1.1 miles?) but along came a genius who thought putting a chicane bang in the middle would provide an extra overtaking opportunity 

---

It was an interesting lap. I think I have to give the power teams the slight edge here. I wonder if it will be a one or two stop, methinks a one?

Looking for Mercedes to bounce back here but I think Ferrari will push them all the way the big question is will Red Bull be able to keep up, that is possible with all the Chicanes. Hoping for an interesting race unlike Canada

Yeah Neil expecting Merc to be dominant here....how close Ferrari are will depend on IF Ferrari have got on top of the reduced tyre tread issue....I know Ferrari said they better understand the tyre.

[NeilP]

Braces yourselves for another dull one. If they removed turns 8 & 9 chicane, the full straight might of opened up some racing. Expect track limits to be none existent. Thinner treads, harder tyres, yes Merc will be back.

From what I remember they had toyed with keeping the long Mistral straight (1.1 miles?) but along came a genius who thought putting a chicane bang in the middle would provide an extra overtaking opportunity 

---

It was an interesting lap. I think I have to give the power teams the slight edge here. I wonder if it will be a one or two stop, methinks a one?

Looking for Mercedes to bounce back here but I think Ferrari will push them all the way the big question is will Red Bull be able to keep up, that is possible with all the Chicanes. Hoping for an interesting race unlike Canada

Yeah Neil expecting Merc to be dominant here....how close Ferrari are will depend on IF Ferrari have got on top of the reduced tyre tread issue....I know Ferrari said they better understand the tyre.

As I have said before I have little understanding of the technical side of the sport apart from real basics but I do find it mysterious that Ferrari seem to handle the standard tyres very well and Mercedes just cannot seem to get the best out of the softer tyres. Even more strange is how do Mercedes manage to get seemingly better results than Ferrari on the thinner tyres and I believe we are talking 0.7 mm?

Very strange...

[PapaofGags]

[/quote] Neil
As I have said before I have little understanding of the technical side of the sport apart from real basics but I do find it mysterious that Ferrari seem to handle the standard tyres very well and Mercedes just cannot seem to get the best out of the softer tyres. Even more strange is how do Mercedes manage to get seemingly better results than Ferrari on the thinner tyres and I believe we are talking 0.7 mm?

Very strange...
[/quote]

Yup I think a lot of us struggle with the technical side of the sport, your not alone bud, these tyres twist my melon, Ferrari are supposed to look after their tyres better than Mercedes, then in Barcelona Mercedes the tyre shredder seemed to look after it tyres better than Ferrari, dazed & confused at the best of times but this confuses the crap out of me lol.

[Antilochos]

Have watched two different drives of this circuit. I'm afraid this will be a bad one, maybe even more boring race than Monaco.
Why, why did they put this piece of crap in the F1 championship?

[Purple-banana]

Personally I was a fan of Magny Cours, with the long straights and slow hairpins it seems as though it might have been a good match for these modern cars

[Antilochos]

Personally I was a fan of Magny Cours, with the long straights and slow hairpins it seems as though it might have been a good match for these modern cars

I used to be a fan of Canada circuit and look what kind of race we did have on that seemingly beautiful circuit?

The thing that worries me in France is that it seems narrow, to narrow for these modern F1 cars. Especially since they can't stick to the back of the one they want to overtake like in the old days (o I miss that how they only kept centimeters between the one in front of them while driving >300 km/h). They have to manoeuvre early on and the other will know when to defend way ahead. 
Than I'm curious where the drs will be enabled. Could be a typical circuit for that cat&mouse game (remember Raikkonen and Verstappen in Spain?).

But, who knows and we will get a exciting race. Not that many drivers will know this track that well to drive optimal and there will probably be plenty mistakes.