French Grand Prix

[Iliana]

from F1 Live

A lap of Magny Cours with Raikkonen

Track length: 4.411 km

Number of laps: 70 (308.586 Km)

Number of corners: 11 (left:4) (right:7)

Top speed: 320 Km/h

Start line offset: 184 m

Downforce setup: medium

Best lap: M. Schumacher - 1'15''377(2004, Ferrari)

Record Pole:F. Alonso - 1'13''698 (2004, Renault)

Kimi Raikkonen may not have won the French Grand Prix to date, but the Finn certainly knows his way around the Manny Cours circuit.

"A burst of acceleration along the short pit straight at Magny Cours sees you reach 273km/h in fifth gear on the approach to Grand Courbe, before dabbing the brakes slightly to take the flat out long left hander.

The sweeping right hander of Estoril follows immediately, and you must keep as much speed as possible as the corner swings you round 180-degrees onto the longest and fastest section of the track, Golf.

Powering along the back straight, which has a gentle curve to the right, you reach speeds of 297km/h in seventh gear before braking hard for the Adelaide hairpin, which is a good overtaking opportunity. A first gear right hander, you pull some 4.2g as you slow to 80km/h to negotiate the tight bend.

You push hard on the throttle as you exit, reaching 260km/h in fifth gear along the straight, through the slight right kink, before dabbing the brakes for the fast Nürburgring chicane. You take the right-left weave at some 210km/h in fourth.

Flicking up through the gears, you briefly touch 260km/h in fifth gear on the approach to the second hairpin. Wider than Adelaide, and therefore slightly quicker, the 180-degree left hander is taken at 88km/h in second gear.

On the power on the exit through another right-left weave, you reach 245km/h in fourth on the approach to the fast fourth gear Imola chicane. The track dips as you take the right-left chicane at 217km/h.

A short burst of acceleration takes you to the Château d'Eau, the long right hander, which has been altered slightly, sees you slow from 225km/h in fourth to 96km/h in second. Accelerating out you reach 257km/h along the new approach to Lycée, which has a gentle curve to the left.

We will have to brake hard for the sharp right of Lycée, which is taken at 80km/h in second, and leads back onto the start-finish straight, through a right-left kink, to begin another lap."

E.A.

Source McLaren Mercedes

Past winners:

2004: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

2003: Ralf Schumacher, BMW.Williams

2002: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

2001: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

2000: David Coulthard, McLaren Mercedes

1999: Mika Hakkinen, McLaren Mercedes

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

I read today that Michellin is giving 7.5 million pounds to refund tickets to americans. Im glad michellin have taken blame very fully, but they still will be punished. My fear is that no-one can punish the FIA or Molesly for that matter. The meeting today or tommoro will declare the rise or fall of formula 1 and we'll see if there is a french grand prix this weekend.

[Iliana]

pls keep all this tire discussion here

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

OK im sorry i think ive gone a little over the top on the subject...

As for the race (if there is one) I hope for F1 it goes well, it really needs a boost, and I like this track cause there are lots of over-taking places. Hope the race goes back to how it was at the start of the season.

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.412

2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:14.521

3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.559

4 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.572

5 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:14.655

6 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:14.832

7 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:14.887

8 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:15.051

9 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.406

10 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:15.566

11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:15.699

12 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:15.771

13 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:15.885

14 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:16.207

15 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1:16.434

16 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1:16.547

17 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:17.857

18 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.960

19 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.047

20 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.335

(Because of changing engine on friday, Raikonnen is moved down to 13th place, with everyone else moving up a place above him, ex. Montoya is now 8th instead of 9th :tup: :tup: :tup: )

[Iliana]

ex. Montoya is now 8th instead of 9th :tup: :tup: :tup: )

wow, yes, Montoya's 8th place is unbelievable comparing to his team-mate's 3rd :P :P

[Iliana]

Dominant Alonso stamps his authority in France

from f1racing.net

Fernando Alonso stamped his authority on the 2005 drivers championship with his fifth win of the season in dominant fashion at Renault's home circuit. The Spaniard led from start to finish and despite a masterful strategy from McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen had to make do with second place. Michael Schumacher collected the final podium position for Ferrari.

Alonso made a blistering start to run off on his own down to the Adelaide hairpin as Jarno Trulli fended off Michael Schumacher to keep second. Rubens Barrichello made a good start to pass Sato for fourth while Fisichella made up the top six.

Alonso waltzed off into the lead building a ten second lead over Trulli by the end of lap seven. A train of cars was forming behind Trulli, with Michael Schumacher right underneath the Toyota's rear wing.

Schumacher eventually passed Trulli in the first round of pit stops. The Ferrari driver along with the Renaults and BAR Hondas was on a three-stop strategy while McLaren - on a two-stop strategy - leapfrogged the entire field. Montoya pitted on lap 25 from second position and rejoined the race in third, ahead of Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile Raikkonen stayed out on track until lap 28 when he pitted and rejoined the race in second place.

By lap 29 McLaren had rolled the strategy dice to perfection to bring both cars right into contention for victory. Alonso was still in the lead but he had one more pit stop to make than both the McLarens of Raikkonen (second) and Montoya (third). Having dispatched Trulli, Michael Schumacher found himself staring at the rear wing of Montoya's McLaren.

Michael Schumacher made his second pit stop on lap 35. He retained fourth place but dropped to almost a minute behind Alonso. The order remained static until Montoya's hydraulic systems failed forcing him to pull off the track on lap 45. Meanwhle Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso made their second stops and Alonso's lead over Raikkonen was cut to thirteen seconds.

Following Montoya's retirement Michael Schumacher was running in a comfortable third, able to make his third and final stop of the afternoon on lap 52. Alonso and Raikkonen also made their final stops with the Spaniard retaining his lead comfortably.

Alonso cruised home to win his fifth race of the season, his sixth career win. The Spaniard stamped his authority on the world championship in a dominant lights-to-flag victory over title rivals Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. McLaren did however pull off a masterful strategy to propel Raikkonen up to second form thirteenth on the grid - the race would certainly have been far closer had the Finn not suffered engine failure in Friday practice.

Michael Schumacher had to be happy with third place at the end of the day although he finished almost a full lap down on eventual winner Fernando Alonso.

Jenson Button kept his cool during the race, unlike team mate Sato who went off track a couple of times. The British driver heads to his home Grand Prix having finally scored his first points of the season with a fourth place finish.

Having started second and holding up the field in the first part of the race, Jarno Trulli collected fifth place for Toyota with team mate Ralf Schumacher keeping his head to bring the second Toyota home in seventh. The two red and white cars were split by the second Renault of Fisichella who could have finished fourth had he not stalled in his final pit stop. Jacques Villeneuve claimed eighth for Sauber and rounded off the points paying positions.