2021 French Grand Prix - Saturday

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The 53-lap French Grand Prix is set to be a one-stopper. With all the top 10 choosing to start on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre, a medium to hard one-stopper is the logical way forward for them – and this could be the case even for those outside the top 10. In fact, for those further down the field, starting on the P Zero White hard could be another option as well, before switching to the medium or P Zero Red soft later in the race.
A one-stopper from soft to medium is definitely too demanding, especially if it’s warm, so the only other obvious choice will be soft to hard (although that will require a bit of tyre management on the soft).
However, there’s also a small chance that there could be some rain tomorrow morning, and while that’s unlikely to persist until the race, a wet surface in the morning might affect tyre strategy.

FOCUS ON

• Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed Pirelli’s 250^th pole position, having also gone fastest by a big margin in FP3 this morning. He ran the C4 Red soft compound to set his pole time, which he also used to establish the best FP3 time in the morning.
• Practically all the drivers used the Yellow medium C3 tyre for the crucial Q2 session, which determines the tyres they will start the race on tomorrow. As a result, all the top 10 on the grid is set to start on the medium.
• Williams driver George Russell was the only driver to begin Q2 on the soft tyres, before switching to the medium. The medium was also used during the first Q3 run by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
• There were two red flags in the opening Q1 session, including one that ended the session prematurely with 20 seconds to go and prevented a number of drivers from completing their laps.
• Temperatures remained dry and warm similar to yesterday, peaking at 32 degrees ambient and 46 degrees of track temperature. This might change tomorrow, with some forecasts of light rain in the morning.

FORMULA 3 - RACE 1 AND RACE 2

ART Grand Prix’s Alex Smolyar won an action-packed Formula 3 sprint race from sixth on the grid, with many other drivers making up an impressive number of positions. Local man Victor Martins (MP Motorsport) finished second from 10^th on the grid, having held the lead – which changed hands several times – right up to the last lap. Arthur Leclerc, the brother of Charles, finished 12^th for Prema despite starting from the back, and as such started from reverse grid pole for Saturday afternoon’s F3 race. As per the regulations, all the drivers used the Pirelli P Zero White hard, which performed strongly in the demanding conditions and allowed drivers to push. Leclerc won the second race to lead home a Prema one-two, after another 20-lap encounter on the hard tyre with no compulsory pit stops. Martins made it one more podium on home territory.

MARIO ISOLA – HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The almost unanimous decision to run the Yellow medium tyre in Q2 gives some idea of what we can expect from the race strategy tomorrow, with the medium C3 compound offering more durability than the soft without costing too much by way of performance. But with all the top 10 starting on the medium, this leaves the way clear for those behind them to try something different tactically and potentially gain an advantage in the early stages of the race. This could be the case in particular if it rains and temperatures then drop tomorrow, which might bring the track back towards the softest compound. Congratulations to Max Verstappen and Red Bull for pole position, which also happens to be Pirelli’s 250^th pole in Formula 1.”