Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Go behind the scenes at the French Grand Prix
From traffic jams to football matches, drivers' advice and opened heavens, we take you to the off track action and reaction from the Circuit Paul Ricard's return to F1 action.
It's not often that people scurry into the F1 paddock nine or 10 hours before the start of the race, but a safety-first approach at the revived French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard saw officials, teams and media all grumpily stumbling in with dawn still a recent memory.
Formula One goes to many new and interesting places, most of which approach their first Grand Prix with a mix of cheerful incompetence and headless chicken terror. Circuit Paul Ricard, while not a blushing neophyte in the world of motorsports, managed to confirm everyone's worst expectations by making a truly horrendous mess of its traffic management.
It's not easy for a circuit on top of a hill in the middle of rolling countryside to deliver smooth-running traffic, but France seemed to go out of its way to recapture its former glory as the Grand Prix with the longest tailbacks in the world.
Spectators weren't able to get into the circuit, and when in, weren't able to get out. Not that anyone in the paddock particularly cared about the plight of the masses – they were more concerned with their own necks in the same queues. It was at least democratic.
Romain Grosjean (scooter) related how he and Sebastian Vettel (motorbike), were prevented from getting to work by the local Gendamerie. His argument that there wouldn't be a whole lot of point in spectators getting if there weren't any drivers to race fell on indifferent ears. Formula 1 has promised to do better next year.
There's also an air traffic control strike currently going on in France.
Ing-er-land, Ing-er-land, Ing-er-land!
Formula One is a global sport, but with seven-and-a-bit teams based in England, the paddock tends to be dominated by staff from Great Britain. This meant there was more than a bit of interest in an unfortunately-timed England football match in the run up to the race's start.
While most of the mechanics could surreptitiously tune a monitor in to the coverage, (the ones who weren’t already watching their cricket team completing a 5–0 shellacking of Australia) it wasn’t so easy for the one English driver on the grid. "When I walked into the garage to put my helmet on, I saw it was 6–0. Then when I went out and did the laps of the grid and came back to go to the toilet, I got to see it again, and it was 6–1. I mean, jeez, that's a mighty score. What a great result for England," said Lewis Hamilton after the race.
"They're going to bring it home, right?" asked the not-at-all bitter Max Verstappen.
"I hope so, if they're playing like that. They need to keep opening the can of whoop-ass on everyone and that could be awesome," added a very happy Hamilton. It's worth noting the French Grand Prix winner was a team-mate of England and Manchester United wing-back Ashley Young in their school days, and will cheerfully claim to have been the better footballer. Whenever he's asked, Young tends suggest he wasn't.
Ruckus!
With little overtaking expected in France, the field was in a fairly committed frame of mind in the charge down to the first corner, with wheels being bumped all the way from Turn One to Turn Six. The most significant was the collision between Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel, for which Vettel received a five-second penalty that seemed fairly anaemic, given that he managed to come out of the pits ahead of Bottas and finish two places higher.
There was a serious question about whether a driver should be allowed to profit from bumping another off track, and whether Vettel should have received a more serious censure. Max Verstappen, though, sensed an opportunity to have a little bit of fun at Vettel and Ferrari's – or possibly the media's – expense.
"I think next time you see Seb you should ask him to change his style, y'know," said the grinning Verstappen. "Because honestly, it's not acceptable. That's what they said to me at the beginning of the season so I think they should do the same. And then, of course, Seb shouldn't do anything, just drive again and learn from this and go on. That's my advice to everyone in this room. Or a head-butt."
Record breaker
Coming off a 10 year hiatus for the French Grand Prix, the only drivers old enough to have previous experience of the French Grand Prix were the four world champions, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Vetteland Hamilton. Alonso and Räikkönen were the only previous winners, though.
France became the 23rd distinct race Hamilton has won, and gave the Briton yet another record to add to his still growing collection, having drawn level with Michael Schumacher in Azerbaijan. For the record, Hamilton's sequence is:
- Canada
- USA
- Hungary
- Japan
- Australia
- Monaco
- Great Britain
- Germany
- China
- Singapore
- Turkey
- Belgium
- Abu Dhabi
- Italy
- Malaysia
- Bahrain
- Spain
- Russia
- Austria
- Mexico
- Brasil
- Azerbaijan
- France
Schumacher only won in 19 countries, but also won the Pacific, European and San Marino Grands Prix that ran in Japan, Germany, Spain and Italy respectively.
On to Austria
While the rain held off during the French Grand Prix, the heavens opened shortly after the chequered flag, much to the consternation of the crews in the pitlane, who were hurriedly trying to pack-down for the long drive to the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.
F1 is at the start of its first triple-header of Grands Prix, the unfortunate consequence of a record-equalling 21-race calendar, and a desire to avoid clashes with the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Cup final.
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There's a lot of miles to cover in the next two weeks, with first a trip to Austria and then to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. The logistics are rather more complicated than flying halfway around the world, because the teams haul their European gear and motorhomes by truck, rather than simply mating up with one of their pre-positioned sets of sea-freight and working out of a tent at the flyaways.
Sacrifices will be made. It's already been revealed that Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing will have to do without the Energy Station at their home Grand Prix, for example.
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