French Grand Prix Preview

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Wednesday 18th June 2008

We thought we'd said "Nevers again" after last season, but F1 is back at Magny Cours for the most lukewarm of encores. The French GP is usually filled with all the drama and excitement of an afternoon at the bowls club, but without any of the adrenalin rush.

Ferrari arrive at the race with a perfect opportunity to reclaim the World Championship lead. Last year Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were in a class of their own at this billiard table-smooth track and there's no reason to doubt they can make it another 1-2 this year.

In 2007 Massa looked like he was on course to win until Raikkonen snatched it back in the final pit-stop. This year Felipe will have learned...

Lewis Hamilton was only ever going to be looking at third place for the French GP which might be some consolation as he arrives with a 10-place grid penalty.

On which subject...remind me - what nationality was Machiavelli? Last week's Ferrari press release looked to stoke up the row between Kimi and Lewis when it seemed that during the race, the Finn had let it all pass him by. After the pit lane accident in Montreal Raikkonen's anger was commendably under control as he got out of the car and strolled past the guilty Lewis Hamilton.

Yet strange to find out that he got much angrier in press releases afterwards. From his McLaren days PF1 has always relished the Raikkonen GP previews as they always include words you never hear him uttering. That continuity of invention has followed him to Maranello as Kimi anticipated the French GP with: "I came back from Montreal with a really good impression of the F2008 and I'm sure that we can win again very soon. Because now we go to circuits where we are usually very strong. You know that I don't like to look behind: I'm concentrated on the French GP, where I want to repeat last year's result, when we brought home a wonderful one-two win."

Anybody ever heard Kimi use the word "wonderful"? And has he ever used the words "quenched" or "lust"?

Well, fair enough if it's a load of boring old twot about the next race where GP drivers always say the same bland things about their hopes and prospects. But it starts to take on a more questionable aspect when a clearly fabricated quote starts to express contentious views.

"I still can't believe it, that someone can hit you while you are standing at the red light next to another car. I can't imagine how Hamilton could not see the red lights and the two cars standing in front of him.

"I was ready to fight and overtake Kubica, once the lights were green. But I didn't have the time, as Hamilton crashed into my back and the race was over. I'm not angry. Just disappointed, surprised and frustrated at the same time. He knew that the lights were red."

If Raikkonen really does feel that way he should say so in his own words, otherwise it gives the impression that Ferrari are just trying to synthesize an argument.

The question they should really be asking themselves is - is Robert Kubica a serious Championship contender? Well, yes. Nelson Piquet (Senior) won a World title by cruising around and taking second places and with both Massa and Raikkonen taking points off each other Kubica can easily sustain his level of performance till the end of the season.

Hamilton will have to get past a lot of cars in a race where it's normally very difficult to get by. However it will be interesting to see how cars handle the wide Adelaide hairpin. Without traction control on the exit, the acceleration zone out of that corner is going to be a tricky place and the drivers can no longer floor the throttle and let the engine software sort it out. Expect to see a lot of drag races down to Nurburgring.

In fact it might be hard for Lewis to beat his own team-mate in France, Heikki Kovalainen is due some good luck (and a result) and with competitive beasts like Fernando Alonso, Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber likely to be between Hamilton and the sharp end of the race, it will be tough going to even make it past Heikki.

Of the mid-grid runners, Honda will look to reinforce their good form in Canada with an even better result at Magny-Cours. Ross Brawn reckons that his car is better on smoother tracks and so this weekend should be a perfect place to prove that.

Renault usually pull something out for France and Nelson Piquet Junior will have to get very close to Alonso for an entire weekend if the rumbling rumours of discontent are going to be stopped. He needs to do a DC-in-Montreal.

As for incident and drama? Set your alarm clocks for halfway through the race just in case you drop off.