The first day of free practice on the difficult Paul Ricard track for the French Grand Prix ended. Certainly the French track reminds spectators that “the eye wants its part” even when it comes to circuits, but some technical difficulties will be a great source of interest, due to the track and, above all, the return to a permanent circuit with long and fast corners and therefore completely different challenges for drivers and engineers compared to the last two races.
Ferrari: the battle is with Alpine
If we have seen a disastrous Alpine in tire management in recent races, the fact that the Le Castellet track is completely different from this point of view means that the French car in the home Grand Prix has the opportunity to demonstrate good potential. Fernando Alonso spent the whole day in a time trial with Charles Leclerc and we compared the laps of the two drivers to get more information.
The first very obvious thing is the difference in maximum speed with the Alpine which reaches 325 km / h in the first straight against the 315 of the SF21. The French team’s aggressiveness in managing the power can be seen in all traction phases but Charles is still very fast in all minimum speed corners and contains the “engine” gap of only 126 thousandths. In the second sector, the phenomenon seen before between Bottas and Verstappen assumes enormous proportions between Alonso and Charles Leclerc, with the French car anticipating delivery so much that it reaches over 10 km / h more straight-line speed than the Ferrari, which is later reduced to 7. Thanks to this aggressive strategy, however, Alonso even earns almost 4 tenths in the central sector. The two drivers then tackle the Signes in a slightly different way, with Charles anticipating the curve trajectory compared to his Spanish rival and above all arriving in eighth gear, then downshifting all the gears at turn 11, while Alonso always remains in seventh and scales much more slowly.
From here on, however, in all the slower curves, the SF21 emerges in an important way: Charles Leclerc is much faster in turns 11, 12 and 13, demonstrating that the great Ferrari work was aimed at improving tire management and that the direct found is the correct one, although obviously not at the level of the very first ones. In the last two corners Alonso is then faster than Charles Leclerc, but the sector is still closed with a good 3 tenths of an advantage for the Ferrari driver, who closes the lap a couple of tenths behind his rival.
The impression is of an Alpine that in the home Grand Prix will try to do well above all in qualifying, using all the available power of its Power Unit, perhaps even at the expense of some future races in terms of reliability and therefore could be a difficult rival for the Maranello team on the flying lap. However, seeing a fast SF21 in the third sector suggests a potentially better tire management on the long run and therefore a better potential for the race than in qualifying. McLaren also started the French weekend quietly, like the last ones, and it is very difficult to understand where it will position itself, but Norris’ cornering performance is for now similar to Charles Leclerc’s so it is reasonable to expect it in the fight. While Alpha Tauri this weekend seems less dangerous for the third force positions, very slow in the corners and clinging to speed on the straight, a difficult combination to sustain on the race pace.
The gap reopens but the battle is fierce
Back on a track with such long corners, where the combination of tire use, load and aerodynamic stability play an important role, Mercedes and Red Bull have once again proven their superiority, with a gap that appears bigger than in recent races. The challenges, however, seem anything but decided: in front Mercedes continues to appear the favourite but the signals sent by Red Bull and Verstappen on the first day cannot make Wolff’s technicians feel at all calm. Behind it is likely we will see another close battle, where small differences can also cost numerous positions. The curiosity in view of the rest of the weekend can only be great.
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