F1 Grand Prix du France 2007 (Preview)

Grand Prix de France is a race held as part of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One automobile racing championships.

Grand Prix motor racing originated in France and the French Grand Prix, open to international competition, is the oldest Grand Prix races, first run on June 26, 1906 under the auspices of the Automobile Club de France in Sarthe, with a starting field of 32 automobiles.

The first World Championships were organized in 1925 with the French Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. The French Grand Prix has been part of the Formula One championships since their inception in 1950. The race has been held at various racetracks throughout France, such as the Autodrome de Montlhéry.

Since 1991 it has had its permanent home at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The move to Magny-Cours was an attempt to stimulate the economy of the area, but many within Formula One complain about the remote nature of the circuit.

The 2004 and 2005 races were in doubt because of financial problems and the addition of new circuits to the Formula One calendar. These races went ahead as planned, but it still has an uncertain future.

On 29th March it was announced by the FFSA, the race promoter, that the 2008 French Grand Prix was put on an indefinate "pause". This suspension was due to the financial situation of the circuit, known to be disliked by many in F1 due to the circuits remote location.

Further, on 31 May, Bernie Ecclestone confirmed that the 2007 French Grand Prix will be the last to be held at Magny-Cours.


GP Info:

Laps 70
Circuit length 4.41 km (2.74 miles)
Race length 308.59 km (191.75 miles)
Most wins by single driver Michael Schumacher (8)
Most wins by single constructor Ferrari (6)
Lap Record: 1:15.377 - M Schumacher (2004)

2006 Race:

Winner Michael Schumacher
Winning team Ferrari
Winning time 1:32:07.803
Pole time 1:15.493
Pole driver Michael Schumacher
Pole team Ferrari
Fastest lap 1:16.423
Fastest lap driver Kimi Räikkönen
Fastest lap team McLaren-Mercedes

Timetable:

Friday 15 June
Local EDT BST
10:00-11:30 04:00-05:30 09:00-10:30 Friday Practice 1
14:00-15:30 08:00-09:30 13:00-14:30 Friday Practice 2

Saturday 16 June
Local EDT BST
10:00-11:00 04:00-05:00 09:00-10:00 Saturday Practice
13:00 07:00 12:00 Qualifying

Sunday 17 June
Local EDT BST
13:00 07:00 12:00 Race


Weather:

The Weather Channel

AccuWeather

Weather Yahoo!

Live Streams:

SopCast
TVU


NOTE: Practice sessions are unlikely to have streams.
These channels should show the qualifying and race (NO practice):
CCTV5 (SopCast / TVU)
Starsports (SopCast / TVU)
Channels that may show F1 content:
Wheels (TVU)
kimi56 (SopCast)
Embedded-tv.com (SopCast / TVU)

Live Timing:

Live Timing for all sessions, requires Java & account on F1.com:
Formula 1 Live
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Some photos of the new aero pkg. fot this weekend:

(the new McL. aero look evil )
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Friday Practice 1 & 2

Time table:
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:15.453
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.488 0.035
3 19 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari 1:15.773 0.320
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.780 0.327
5 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari 1:15.952 0.499
6 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:15.958 0.505
7 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:16.003 0.550
8 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.049 0.596
9 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:16.162 0.709
10 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:16.184 0.731
11 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:16.205 0.752
12 10 Robert Kubica BMW 1:16.236 0.783
13 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:16.260 0.807
14 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.285 0.832
15 7 Jenson Button Honda 1:16.395 0.942
16 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.562 1.109
17 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:16.735 1.282
18 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:16.950 1.497
19 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:16.968 1.515
20 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:17.165 1.712
21 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:18.213 2.760
22 21 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:18.708 3.255

BEST SECTOR TIMES

Sector #1
Pos No Driver Time
1 5 Felipe Massa 22.012
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen 22.217
3 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 22.258
4 14 David Coulthard 22.261
5 16 Nico Rosberg 22.286
6 19 Scott Speed 22.332
7 1 Fernando Alonso 22.335
8 15 Mark Webber 22.342
9 17 Alexander Wurz 22.354
10 11 Ralf Schumacher 22.374
11 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 22.391
12 23 Anthony Davidson 22.417
13 2 Lewis Hamilton 22.431
14 12 Jarno Trulli 22.439
15 8 Rubens Barrichello 22.460
16 10 Robert Kubica 22.512
17 7 Jenson Button 22.533
18 22 Takuma Sato 22.551
19 4 Heikki Kovalainen 22.610
20 9 Nick Heidfeld 22.727
21 20 Adrian Sutil 22.928
22 21 Christijan Albers 23.004


Sector #2
Pos No Driver Time
1 6 Kimi Räikkönen 28.793
2 2 Lewis Hamilton 28.923
3 5 Felipe Massa 28.930
4 11 Ralf Schumacher 28.932
5 7 Jenson Button 28.938
6 1 Fernando Alonso 28.950
7 19 Scott Speed 28.951
8 10 Robert Kubica 28.976
9 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 29.001
10 16 Nico Rosberg 29.012
11 17 Alexander Wurz 29.055
12 12 Jarno Trulli 29.083
13 4 Heikki Kovalainen 29.097
14 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 29.127
15 14 David Coulthard 29.134
16 23 Anthony Davidson 29.151
17 15 Mark Webber 29.233
18 8 Rubens Barrichello 29.280
19 9 Nick Heidfeld 29.341
20 22 Takuma Sato 29.424
21 20 Adrian Sutil 29.740
22 21 Christijan Albers 30.019

Sector #3
Pos No Driver Time
1 1 Fernando Alonso 24.312
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen 24.329
3 19 Scott Speed 24.345
4 2 Lewis Hamilton 24.353
5 5 Felipe Massa 24.455
6 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 24.486
7 14 David Coulthard 24.563
8 23 Anthony Davidson 24.594
9 12 Jarno Trulli 24.629
10 7 Jenson Button 24.699
11 16 Nico Rosberg 24.705
12 10 Robert Kubica 24.736
13 17 Alexander Wurz 24.743
14 9 Nick Heidfeld 24.770
15 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 24.813
16 11 Ralf Schumacher 24.878
17 4 Heikki Kovalainen 24.916
18 15 Mark Webber 24.939
19 22 Takuma Sato 25.010
20 8 Rubens Barrichello 25.031
21 20 Adrian Sutil 25.304
22 21 Christijan Albers 25.402

SPEED TRAP

Pos No Driver Time of Day Speed
1 1 Fernando Alonso 14:53:58 268.7
2 19 Scott Speed 15:22:33 267.5
3 12 Jarno Trulli 15:28:32 265.0
4 5 Felipe Massa 15:24:59 264.1
5 2 Lewis Hamilton 14:11:29 263.9
6 6 Kimi Räikkönen 15:29:19 260.1
7 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 14:45:25 259.6
8 11 Ralf Schumacher 14:57:51 259.5
9 7 Jenson Button 15:27:38 259.4
10 4 Heikki Kovalainen 15:29:41 258.9
11 14 David Coulthard 14:46:02 258.8
12 22 Takuma Sato 15:31:05 257.6
13 10 Robert Kubica 14:44:17 256.9
14 21 Christijan Albers 14:13:44 255.3
15 16 Nico Rosberg 14:50:47 254.8
16 17 Alexander Wurz 14:51:27 253.3
17 8 Rubens Barrichello 15:04:27 252.8
18 9 Nick Heidfeld 14:42:43 251.3
19 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 14:37:17 249.4
20 15 Mark Webber 14:29:28 244.1
21 20 Adrian Sutil 14:53:50 243.1
22 23 Anthony Davidson 14:57:23 240.1

News:


Nick Heidfeld back pain.

Back pain puts Heidfeld in doubt for French Grand Prix
BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld could miss Sunday's race at Magny-Cours, after complaining of back pain during Friday’s practice sessions for the French Grand Prix. Heidfeld aggravated an injury sustained in recent testing at Silverstone.

“I stopped early because I wanted to save my back,” said Heidfeld. “Last week at the Silverstone test I had some problems. I can still feel it and as a precaution I want to have it checked today."

He is being examined at the Centre Hopitalier Pierre Beregovoy in Nevers. A decision must be taken tonight and put before the race stewards ahead of practice on Saturday, if BMW Sauber decide that they need to use reserve driver Sebastian Vettel for the second race in succession.

Vettel stood in for Heidfeld’s team mate, Robert Kubica, at the last round at Indianapolis while the Polish driver rested following his Canada crash.



Mechanical problems for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton struck technical trouble during opening practice for the French Grand Prix.

Under overcast skies, Hamilton's stricken McLaren was hauled onto a flat-bed truck and returned to the pits shortly into the 90-minute session at Magny Cours.

The Briton got back into action later and set only the sixth quickest time, behind the dominant Ferraris, team-mate Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Red Bull's David Coulthard.


A spokesman for Mercedes-Benz said of Hamilton's problem: "The engine protection system kicked in because the engine was too cool. We have changed the level of temperature and everything is okay."

Driver quotes:

Felipe Massa, Ferrari (1st, 1m 15.453s):
"Today we were quick and we have found a good balance right from the first few laps in this morning's session. I think the work which culminated in the test session at Silverstone is beginning to produce results. We were competitive and I think that can continue for the rest of the weekend. The harder tyre seems more consistent in terms of performance, while the softer one seems to give more grip, which will be useful for qualifying."

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (2nd, +0.035s):
"I would say that this was quite a positive day. We worked well and I think we can be competitive this weekend. The car went well right from the morning, but there is still room for improvement. However, as usual on a Friday, it is hard to say what the real pecking order is in the field. The performance of the two types of tyre we have here is pretty similar, even if I never managed to get a clean run with the softer on and so it's hard for me to say which is quicker."

Scott Speed, Toro Rosso (3rd, +0.320s):
“I am not sure exactly where we stand, as you don't know what the others are doing in terms of fuel load. Certainly we were on the low side when I did my quickest lap. The gearbox is definitely a step forward and the car was not bad today. We struggled a bit from understeer. This afternoon, I had a few problems, including one with the steering wheel, that prevented us from getting through all our programme, apart from looking at the tyre comparison and even that was not so conclusive as I had a problem on the warm-up lap for my last run. Generally, we look more competitive than we have in past races. Now we just need to work hard, keep our heads down and try not to make any mistakes for the rest of the weekend.”

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (4th, +0.327):
“This morning was a little frustrating as I missed some track time when the engine protection system came in as a result of the engine running too cool and I stopped on track. Luckily the car was returned with about 45 minutes of the session still to run so I still managed to get quite a few laps in and completed our planned programme in the afternoon session.”

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Toro Rosso (5th, +0.499s):
“Maybe the quick times look nicer than they are in reality. We still have to work on improving the balance of the car, as the handling is not perfect yet. Even so, it is nice to see our names near the top of the order, at least on paper. Now we need to work on improving our traction and front end grip. For sure we are more competitive as the car has made a big step forward, mainly with the new seamless shift gearbox, which makes for much quicker changes. However, the other teams have probably also improved in other areas. Tomorrow, we will work on generally improving the set up, but we can look to the rest of the weekend in a positive frame of mind.”

David Coulthard, Red Bull (6th, +0.505s):
“A normal Friday session today, evaluating tyres, chasing balance and getting the car set ahead of tomorrow. The times were promising, but I don’t really get too excited about them on a Friday, as qualifying is the important thing.”

Nico Rosberg, Williams (7th, +0.550s):
“I didn't feel very good about my first runs out on the track but we managed to improve the set-up quite a lot today. We discovered some interesting things and tyre-wise we found some good results as well. As is usual this season, it's not immediately obvious how we'll work the two tyres, but we will go through that this evening. It's a lot of fun to drive on this track because of the new tarmac which gives it a lot more grip. My general feeling today is positive even if there are still some things we need to improve for tomorrow.”

Fernando Alonso, McLaren (8th, +0.596s):
“We managed to complete our programme, and we have a good understanding of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres characteristics in these cooler than expected temperatures. We could have been faster today, and there is still a little bit of work to do tomorrow on the set-up. However I think we will be stronger over the weekend than we appear today and so I am not too worried about the results so far.”

Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri (9th, +0.709s):
“I am happy with our day's work. We found a good balance for the new tyres close to the end of the day and I'm obviously pleased to be so high up on the timesheets. We found some quite big differences between the tyre options and I think that every team will find them a challenge for the rest of the weekend.”

Ralf Schumacher, Toyota (10th, +0.731s):
“That was a reasonable day’s work. The car was reliable in both sessions so we did quite a lot of work on different set-ups, as well as getting information on the different tyre compounds. There seems to be quite a bit of difference between the medium and the soft tyres so we will have to look at the data and see what we do in terms of strategy. Track temperature was lower than usual here because of the cooler weather but that didn’t cause any problems and it is the same for everyone anyway. The car definitely improved during the two sessions so I am optimistic for the weekend but the battle in the midfield is very tight so it is difficult to say exactly where we are this weekend. Our target for tomorrow is clearly to get into Q3, I was very close to that in Indianapolis and I hope to achieve it this time.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault (11th, +0.752s):
“I had a pretty good day. We did lots of laps and completed the programme, which is always the first objective. The changes we made to the set-up were good, and I felt really comfortable out on track. The times and handling balance were quite consistent on the long runs, which is an important factor for the race, and I don't think the position will look too bad once we have completed our analysis. There's still more progress to come from our work overnight, but I think we have a good starting point to work from.”

Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber (12th, +0.783s):
“After starting the day with some steering problems, which meant missing the first hour of running, everything went smoothly this afternoon. We have nearly completed our programme with quite a lot of set-up work. I am happy to be back in the car, we have to work for tomorrow, but generally the car’s balance is not too bad.”

Alexander Wurz, Williams (13th, +0.807s):
“We had a very interesting Friday session and ran through the programme according to plan, the only shame is that there were some yellow flags out when I was on my quickest lap. Now we have to go through the information to improve our set-up and make the correct tyre choice. The circuit was okay today, but just a little slippery. That's like every other venue on a Friday though and it provided a good foundation for consistent work.”

Jarno Trulli, Toyota (14th, +0.832s):
“We went through some set-up work and also looked at tyre performance so it was a productive day and now we understand more about the direction we should take with the car. We suffered from a bit of understeer in some places during the day but in general the car seems quite good. Now we will have to work hard with the information we have and try to make more improvements before qualifying. We will have to wait and see where we stand in terms of performance because it is hard to judge on a Friday. We had a great race in the US with my sixth place but every race is a different challenge and it depends a lot on many variables, things like the weather, how the car is suited to the circuit and so on. For tomorrow I aim to qualify in the top 10 again so I can fight for more points in the race.”

Jenson Button, Honda (15th, +0.942s):
"It was a typical Friday practice for us today as we focused on evaluating the tyres and finding the best set-up on the car. Most of the runs went fairly smoothly with Rubens and myself covering a lot of laps, giving us plenty of data to work with overnight. It was pretty windy out there today which will make the data comparisons more tricky, but the conditions are the same for everyone."

Mark Webber, Red Bull (16th, +1.109s):
“I’d just started a long run in the second session and the car suffered a transmission problem, so I had to stop. The second session on a Friday is important, so it’s a shame that we couldn’t run for all of the time, but we’ll get information on the problem tonight and look into it ready for tomorrow.”

Heikki Kovalainen, Renault (17th, +1.282s):
“The car balance isn't quite where I want it to be at the moment, and that was costing me time today - especially as I also had some traffic on my last timed laps on new tyres. But that is something we can tune overnight, to be honest. The important thing was to do the programme, make some good set-up changes, and give ourselves a platform for tomorrow. I think we managed that successfully, and we know the direction we need to go overnight. There is still work to be done, and some time to be found in the car, but I think we will look better tomorrow, than the timesheets suggest right now.”

Rubens Barrichello, Honda (18th, +1.497s):
"I thought the car was a little more competitive today, although that isn't necessarily represented by our position on the time sheets. We struggled a little with the balance of the car during the morning session, particularly with the rear end, but it improved over the course of the day. Unfortunately I didn't get my last run on the new tyres this afternoon due to the yellow flags after a car went off the track. That would have improved my lap time a little for sure. Still, we have a lot of information to look over this evening to try to improve for qualifying tomorrow."

Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (19th, +1.515s):
“The practice sessions have been okay so far and, anyway, I like driving on this circuit. I stopped early because I wanted to save my back. Last week at the Silverstone test I had some problems. I can still feel it and as a precaution I want to have it checked today.”

Takuma Sato, Super Aguri (20th, +1.712s):
“The day was quite interesting because the two tyre options behaved differently, so we need to analyze the large amount of data we were able to collect today. We also ran some new aero developments and there were a few good points from them. The car ran reliably and with no problems, so I think that it was a positive day.”

Adrian Sutil, Spyker (21st, +2.760s):
“I am not happy with today, I cannot find a balance I am happy with on the car. With one set-up I have a lot of understeer and with another I have oversteer; it is difficult to find a middle ground. We have a lot of work to do and we have to check all the data and see what we can do for tomorrow.”

Christijan Albers, Spyker (22nd, +3.255s):
“In the first session I was actually pretty happy with the car and I think we were making some good progress, but in the second session I touched the kerb on the exit of turn 12 and went straight ahead. Unfortunately this damaged the car and I couldn't continue. I am disappointed as we still had two new sets of tyres to use and we could have improved the time. We did make some steps though and we will have to see what will happen tomorrow.”

Images & Screenshots:

Download Highlights FP

File: FP1_Highlights2.avi
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