The pole position conquered by Ferrari in what could be the last edition of the French Grand Prix takes on even more value when looking at the completeness and variety of the Le Castellet track. It is customary to assert that anyone who proves to be competitive in Barcelona can also be competitive anywhere and in any condition, a statement that, with due caution, can also be transferred to Paul Ricard. It is no coincidence that the F1-75 took pole position on both tracks, thanks to the goodness of the entire car package in both fast and slow corners, with some gaps still to be filled in terms of speed peaks. On the other hand, at Le Castellet Ferrari itself is not exempt from some imperfectionswhile Red Bull on Saturday is back to being in better shape than appearance might suggest.
The F1-75 is confirmed to be a car with a high and well distributed load level, without any particular imbalances that have undermined the balance, so much so that the Red has built a large part of its advantage in the fast corners. The conspicuous updates to the bottom and diffuser have been fully promoted, certifying the correlation with the simulation and design tools. On the sporting level, on the other hand, the exploitation of Sainz’s retreat on the grid to benefit from the play of the trails in Q3 was positive. However, there is no shortage of moles in Ferrari, starting with a Charles Leclerc who at the press conference said he was not fully satisfied with the car’s balance. For the Monegasque it is in fact customary to play with a dancer rear end, driving skills exploited a lot on the other tracks, but which at Paul Ricard is not possible as in the scorching heat conditions experienced in France any snap of the rear end raises the temperatures of the tires, compromising the rest of the tour. The same wake exploited in Q3 yielded about two tenths according to Leclerc himself, while Federico Albano’s data shows a gain of half a tenth in the straight compared to Q2. Sainz’s contribution was therefore not decisive, but without it the advantage over Verstappen would have been less than three tenths, underlining how the RB18 on the flying lap was not too far from the F1-75.
After the obvious difficulties revealed on Friday, Red Bull found itself on Saturday thanks to the great data analysis work carried out during the night. In the first two free practice sessions, Milton Keynes’s car showed great balance problems, with Max Verstappen suffering in particular from understeer. During the night, however, Red Bull did a commendable work on the set-up after the same work had already been carried out at Silverstone, presenting itself in very competitive FP3 and subsequently confirming itself in Q3. The world champion revealed that personally the biggest gain in the night was found in low-speed grip, therefore attributable to the mechanical structure. His teammate identified instead in the thermal management of the tires the key to the return of Red Bull, with the difficulties of stabilizing the tread temperatures in hot conditions which he said were about 95% of the cause of the balance problems. Even more than a Ferrari significantly faster than Red Bull on the flying lap, the Paul Ricard qualifying results in a F1-75 that is easier to tune than the RB18 and immediately competitive.
However, the balance of power of the qualifying will not necessarily be the same that will emerge in the race, where tire management will be the key element, so much so that a multi-stop strategy is possible. In the full-load simulations conducted in the morning, Red Bull appeared in line if not slightly slower than the stint simulated on Friday by Ferrari, but as always, the actual fuel loads and work schedules are ignored. Leclerc, on the other hand, stated that the Cavallino team worked on this front during the night, finding a leap forward in tire management compared to the high degradation accused in testing. The Scuderia di Maranello therefore did not work solely in terms of qualifying, but paid great attention to the pace over the long distance. Furthermore, regardless of the values on the field, tire wear will be a factor that will facilitate overtaking and with them also the comeback of Carlos Sainz from the bottom.
The mid-group classification presents a great alternation of different cars as well as a certain disorder, outlining a balanced context where the driver can make the difference and in which it is more complex to attribute the merits of individual performances to each single-seater. At Paul Ricard Mercedes fails to break away from the pursuers as it did on previous occasions, with Lando Norris standing between Hamilton and Russell. On the flying lap, the W13 is thus confirmed to be inconsistent in performance based on the track, with progress alternating with steps backwards. However, part of today’s result is also attributable to the excellent work done by McLaren with the latest update package introduced in France, which allowed the MCL36 to make a sudden leap forward. Also for the Woking team it will now be a priority to find consistency in performance, having already alternated excellent performances with disappointing weekends.
While starting the Grand Prix from the last positions of the grid, in qualifying Haas has once again sent signals that it can play the role of fifth force. The VF22 is currently the only car largely stopped at the spec from the start of the season, testifying to the efforts and gains associated with extracting the potential from a car through set-up choices. In this field, Haas has capitalized on the experience accumulated in the two-year period 2020-2021, having to maximize the performance of a car constantly lacking in novelty at the same time. At Le Castellet the renewed AlphaTauri conquers Q3 with Yuki Tsunoda, while the new one Williams confirms himself capable of fighting for Q2 with Albon, in contrast to a situation in which until a few races ago the FW44 was perpetually the rear of the grid. Nicholas Latifi finished the French qualifying in last position, but the Canadian will have to adapt to the new driving style required by the car before any judgment can be made on it. Overall, one might get the impression that midfield teams such as Williams and AlphaTauri have not particularly improved their results despite the scope of the innovations introduced. However, in such a compact line-up where each team progresses race after race, even confirming oneself on the same levels becomes a symptom of progress.
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