Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Le Castellet

  • Round 12- French GP

    Round 12- French GP

    Well, well, well… With this possibly being the last French GP for a while (nothing confirmed yet…) it was most definitely an exciting one, from Safety Car’s to VSC, spins and the all important debate… 1 stop or 2!

    For a second year in a row, Max Verstappen wins the French Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton finishing 2nd in his 300th GP, and Mercedes make it a double podium for the first time this year, with George Russell finishing 3rd.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Russell, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Alonso, P7: Norris, P8: Ocon, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Stroll.

    Another mixed weekend for Ferrari, Carlos starting at the back of the grid due to penalties and had to make his way through the grid and to end up P5 is very good. On the other hand Charles… In the lead of the race and he crashes, not the first time the Monegasque has done that this season, but these costly mistakes are going to cost him the championship if he carries on.

    What a weekend for RB, taking home the win, and having Perez in P4, quite shocked he didn’t get a podium but he was caught sleeping when we went racing again after the VSC period by Russell, but on another note, the Mexican just has not looked comfortable in the car all weekend…

    Now onto Mercedes, WOW who would’ve thought they would walk away from the weekend with a double podium! Not me… but I feel like the win is coming soon for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes are now starting to close in on Ferrari in the Constructors, especially if things keep going wrong for the Italian team.

    Now onto, Alpine, the teams home GP and double points! I don’t think they could’ve asked for much more really, Alonso best of the rest in 6th and Ocon in 8th, a decent amount of points for them. Interested to see how the team will do in the next round!

    The Championship-

    Max has a healthy lead in front, with Leclerc remaining in 2nd but Sergio Perez has closed down the gap and is only 7 points away from the Ferrari driver in third. Sainz remains in fourth, but George Russell is coming back fighting for that fourth position and is only one point separating the pair. Hamilton remains in 6th, but slowly catching up his teammate.

    Red Bull builds on their lead with 394 points, Ferrari are in 2nd on 314 but Mercedes are only 44 points away from them in 3rd position. Alpine have now jumped McLaren and sit in fourth, with the British team sitting in 5th and four points away from Alpine.

    We don’t have long to wait, as we are returning next weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before summer break!

  • F2 Le Castellet – Day 2 & 3

    F2 Le Castellet – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Daruvala got a great start from pole position but Lawson lagged behind him, the Carlin driver fell down the order into Turn 1, losing second to Armstrong and third to Drugovich momentarily, but a wide moment on corner exit left the MP Motorsport driver in the hands of Pourchaire.

    Lawson kept in touch with Armstrong ahead and made a late lunge into Turn 1 on lap 4. The pair battle through the first sector and somehow avoided contact, just millimetres apart at Turn 4. After making the move, the gap to race leader Daruvala stood at 2.2s but Lawson set about hunting him down, to cut it down by 1.6s by Lap 6 and by Lap 8 the Carlin driver broke into DRS range.

    The Safety Car offered a brief pause in action, deployed on Lap 9 following contact between Robert Merhi and the recovering Enzo Fittipaldi. The pair had been fighting for 15th position but a slide and spin in the North Chicane on the Mistral Straight left the Charouz in the middle of the track. Amaury Cordeel behind couldn’t avoid him and made contact, putting both out of the race.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Lawson, P2: Daruvala, P3: Drugovich, P4: Doohan, P5: Vesti, P6: Iwasa, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Sargeant, P9: Sato and P10: Beckmann.

    Pourchaire, Vips, Armstrong and Fittipaldi have all been penalised, Pourchaire originally crossed the line in P3.

    Day 3-

    After warmer temperatures played havoc earlier on in weekend, the field would have been thankful to have been greeted by cooler morning conditions in Le Castellet – allowing the grid to split their strategies.

    The top five opted to get things underway on the softer compound, but that didn’t help Logan Sargeant, who suffered wheel spin off the line and dropped down to third. There were contrasting fortunes at the front of the pack, as Doohan got a blistering start to streak into the lead in the opening two corners. However, the Australian driver had company in the form of Iwasa, who immediately put him under pressure.

    The Safety Car was swiftly deployed as the marshals picked up both Armstrong, and the stricken Marino Sato, who’s race ended early in the run-off section. Firing up his tyres early, Iwasa streaked ahead of Doohan on the restart, as Lawson boldly dived to the inside of Drugovich to take seventh.

    The pit stop was the undoing of Sargeant’s day as well on Lap 13. The Carlin driver was unable to pull away from his pit box and was forced to retire, having looked solidly in the fight for a podium spot.

    But it was Ayumu Iwasa who took the win and his first Formula 2 win! Theo Pouchaire cmae home to finish 2nd, and his teammate Frederick Vesti rounded out the podium in P3, a double podium for the ART GP team.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Iwasa, P2: Pourchaire, P3: Vesti, P4: Drugovich, P5: Doohan, P6: Lawson, P7: Daruvala, P8: Novalak, P9: Nissany and P10: Fittipaldi.

    We are back next weekend and we are in Hungary for Round 10, our last before summer break!

  • Round 12- France Qualifying

    Round 12- France Qualifying

    Qualifying at Circuit Paul Ricard is now complete, and it was confirmed that Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen will be both starting at the back of the grid due to taking extra power unit components.

    But it was Charles Leclerc who took pole position at Circuit Paul Ricard! Max Verstappen lines up on the front row with him in P2 and Sergio Perez rounds out the top 3 in P3.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton, P5: Norris, P6: Russell, P7: Alonso, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Sainz and P10: Magnussen. But with the last two and them starting at the back Ricciardo and Ocon move up into the top 10.

    What a day for Leclerc! This is what he needed, and his teammate played the team game and gave Charles a tow and ensured him that he got pole position! But for Carlos he has a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to seeing himself and Magnussen make their way up the field!

    Lando Norris, what a lap!! McLaren brought a lot of upgrades for this weekend and they are clearly paying off so far. It will be interesting to see if the car has the race pace tomorrow as if he wants to fight for a good amount of points he will be up against the Mercedes pair.

    Ahh so nice to see an Alpha Tauri in Q3, again they brought a few upgrades this weekend, not as many as McLaren but enough to get them further up the grid. Definitley be interesting to see how Tsunoda does and if he can capitalize on his qualifying position and score points tomorrow.

    Gutted for Mick, he was set for Q2, but he got his laptime deleted by the slightest of margins and he could of easily been in the top 10 with the pace he had. Be interesting to see how far he can get up the grid.

    Predictions-

    My top five are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton and P5: Russell.

    I don’t think there is going to be much change from the starting grid, but I feel like it will be a crazy and close race. If RB and Mercedes perfect their strategy Leclerc is going to struggle, especially being on his own and his teammate being no where near him…

    Timings for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F2- 08:35am (BST)
    Race- 14:00pm

  • F2 Le Castellet – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Juri Vips became the driver to beat in the opening session in Le Castellet, clocking in a 1:46.501 to go over a tenth and a half clear of the pack in Free Practice. Ayumu Iwasa secured the second fastest time ahead of Frenchman, Theo Pourchaire.

    Although there are 167 different configurations of the Circuit Paul Ricard, the 22 car field took to the track to find the limit of it. However, that task is easier said than done as thermal tyre degradation left their rear wheel squealing for traction.

    Hauger got things underway with the first representative lap being laid down moments before Frederik Vesti brought a quick pause to proceedings. The ART GP driver, already experienced a delayed start to his running and shortly after getting out on track he came to a halt on the Mistral Straight.

    With 20 minutes left of the crucial 45 minute session, Pourchaire set his eyes on beating Iwasa to the fastest time. Despite the grid utilising the hard compound, keeping the tyres in their performance window proved a challenge especially in the final sector which saw several moments of oversteer.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Vips, P2: Iwasa, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Drugovich, P5: Daruvala, P6: Verschoor, P7: Armstrong, P8: Doohan, P9: Sargeant and P10: Fittipaldi.

    Qualifying-

    Logan Sargeant left it as late as possible to snatch pole position for the Feature Race in Le Castellet, narrowly edging out Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti by the slimmest of margins.

    Iwasa held provisional pole entering the final laps and Vesti couldn’t quite match him, ending up 0.023s down on the DAMS driver’s effort. Sargeant pulled out the time though, just 0.006s of it, but that was good enough for pole position Sunday.

    Drivers took extra care on their preparation laps to keep the soft compound as intact as possible for their flying laps with temperatures remaining high for the Qualifying session.

    Drivers boxed with 15 minutes remaining for the customary change of tyres. Enzo FIttipaldi didn’t join them though and was out of the car unable to take part in the final 10 minutes due to an issue on his car. Hauger joined the Brazilian on the sidelines shortly afters, as he came to a halt on the track and bringing out the red flags with just over seven minutes left of qualifying.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Sargeant, P2: Iwasa, P3: Vesti, P4: Doohan, P5: Pourchaire, P6: Drugovich, P7: Vips, P8: Armstrong, P9: Lawson and P10: Daruvala.

  • French Grand Prix

    Another week, another race! We are on our final double header before summer break and our first stop is France. The home Grand Prix of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon as well as Alpine.

    Will Ferrari’s reliability hold up? Or will it take a hit once again? What can Red Bull do and will Perez be looking for that win after last time out? And Mercedes… big upgrades are coming this weekend, will we see them fight for pole and the win?

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Carlos Sainz, after having mechanical issues last time out, he needs a good weekend in France as it looked like he was getting P2, which would’ve been an easy 1-2 for the Italian team.

    Sergio Perez, not a good weekend for him last time out. It’s going to be crucial for the Mexican and Red Bull to score good points this weekend, especially if he wants to be in this title fight.

    Pierre Gasly will be wanting a good weekend in front of his home crowd. This season isn’t going like last for the Frenchman, and his admitted the car is slow and possibly one of the slowest…

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Hamilton and P5: Perez.

    I think the Mercedes are going to close the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull. I think it will be top 6 fighting it out for pole and be quite close. Leclerc’s pace on one lap is definitely a stand out this year and hopefully it can be carried out.

    Times for weekend-

    Friday 22nd-

    • Free Practice F2- 10:35am – 11:20am (BST)
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 13:00pm -14:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm
    • Qualifying F2- 17:30pm – 18:00pm

    Saturday 23rd-

    • Free Practice 3 F1- 12:00pm – 13:00pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 17:00pm – 17:45pm

    Sunday 24th-

    • Feature Race F2- 08:35am (BST)
    • Race- 14:00pm

  • Beckmann replaces Hughes

    Van Amersfoort Racing took to social media to announce that Jake Hughes will not be racing the next two rounds due to having a positive covid test. David Beckmann will be replacing him for the double header in France and Hungary.

    As France and Hungary are consecutive race weekends, Hughes won’t be able to recover in time and will miss both rounds.

    After finishing sixth in Formula 3 in 2020, Beckmann has yet to compete in a full season of Formula 2, budget issues saw him dropped by Charouz halfway through the 2021 season, despite taking two podiums for the team.

    These rounds will be Beckmann’s third and fourth this season, having already been a stand-in already this season. In Imola, he replaced Cem Bolukbasi after his injury in the previous round. Then Beckmann took Amaury Cordeels spot, as he had to serve a race ban after acquiring 12 penalty points on his license.

    Beckmann has managed to grab points already this season, but another four points could easily bump him up to 19th in the standings, which is very impressive considering he’ll have only competed in four out of ten rounds.

    Also still driving as a substitute for the next two rounds in Roberto Merhi, who is replacing Ralph Boschung until he recovers from his neck injury.

    Wishing Jake Hughes well and we will see him back on the grid soon!

  • Le Castellet added to F2 Calendar

    Formula 2 has announced that they will be racing at the French Grand Prix alongside F1, following the cancellation of the Sochi round.

    Yesterday, Formula 1 confirmed that they will not be replacing the cancelled Russian Grand Prix on its schedule, F2 had also been set to race at Sochi until the September event was cancelled in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However Formula 2 had indicated it intended to replace its lost round.

    The French Grand Prix had been the only European round where no Formula 2 or Formula 3 races were billed, but F2 will now join W Series as the support categories.

    With the new round added, it means F2 will have four double header rounds in the space of five weeks. Starting off with Silverstone from 1st to 3rd July, the Spielberg round from 8th to 10th, Le Castellet then two weeks later on the 22nd to 24th and the Budapest from the 29th to 31st.

    The last time F2 was at Circuit Paul Ricard was in 2019. The feature race was won by that years eventual champion and now Formula E Champion and driver, Nyck de Vries. The sprint victory was taken by French driver, Anthoine Hubert, his final win before the Spa crash.

    Since it was announced that we would drop one event, we have been working on finding a venue to replace it, keeping in mind the costs. Le Castellet came out as the best option, and we are really pleased to return to the Circuit Paul Ricard. With this added round, we go back to fourteen events as announced before the start of the season. This means that the 2022 season calendar is the most sizeable one we have had since the start of the FIA F2 back in 2017. It will be a very busy month of July for the teams and the drivers, but a very exciting one for the fans and everyone involved in F2.

    Bruno Michel, FIA Formula 2 CEO on the latest round.