The Track
Here it is look: http://tinyurl.com/cyfdb
The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, to give it it's full name, is a much-maligned track. Positioned in a spectator-unfriendly location in the middle of Nowheresville, France, the track is renowned for producing rather dull grands prix, peppered with the occasional mad rain-soaked event, or piece of tactical wizardry, if that's your sort of thing. There was a fairly substantial sigh of relief when Bernard confirmed that the 2008 event would be the last race at the track for quite some time.
Oddly though, the drivers rather like Magny Cours. The mixture of corner types makes for a considerable demand on them, while the long straight on the run down to the Adelaide hairpin offers an overtaking opportunity of sorts, particularly in the wet. There are some rather less impressive sections though, and even after extensive reprofiling and redesigning, the final complex before the start/finish straight continues to be a rather jarring experience for everyone involved, and ruins the whole flow of the lap like a particularly nasty fish bone lodged in your oesophageal tract ruins a tasty plate of kippers.
Talking Points
There will be plenty to talk about at Magny-Cours, even if the race proves to be a bit of a bore. For once, this is the last chance to appreciate the unique charms of the desolate pit, erm, we mean French track, before it is gone forever (possibly). Traditionally, the circuit is rather Ferrari-friendly, and the team will be hoping for more of the same after a distinctly disappointing showing in Canada.
Though at least one of their drivers (i.e. Kimi Raikkonen) had a decent-enough excuse for failing to score decent points in Montreal, namely the whole PitlaneGate fiasco. This will no doubt be debated at length during lulls in the action, in which James Allen and Martin Brundle will doubtless bleat at the inhumanity of the Hamilton backlash, the Hamilton backlashers will angrily type more aggressive messages with their keyboards, and anyone directly involved with the incident pit-side will offer absolutely no quotes of any interest on the subject, continuing to treat the whole controversy with all the incredulous rage as if it had been a quickly-reconciled mix-up with an order at a branch of McDonalds.
Hamilton will at least serve his punishment for his moment of idiocy, taking a ten place grid penalty which could provide us with a stunning recovery drive through the field, or alternatively 70 laps of a McLaren doing battle with some aerodynamically screwed-up air off the back of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams. And while on the subject of Williams, fellow Montreal pit lane messer-upper Nico Rosberg will also be taking a 10 place penalty, which should ruin his chance of points for the weekend rather nicely. Easy to forget that last penalty, seeing as by the time everyone has finished getting irate about Lewis, the idea of shouting about some stupid driving in the pits is so very passé.
With Rosberg out of the picture for the lower points places, expect Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso to resume their solo efforts to wrest fourth place in the constructors for their respective teams. Of their underperforming team mates, Timo Glock outraced Trulli in Canada, and will want to keep that up, while David Coulthard tends to go well here, but then that was before arthritis set in.
Along with all of this, the resident dark horse, and current championship leader, will be in amongst the everything. Robert Kubica and BMW have been quick to dully play down any talk of title challenges post-Montreal, but with Hamilton out of the picture in terms of the podium, and Massa due a mess-up, if the Pole can continue his effortlessly consistent form here, he could find himself leading the championship for quite a bit longer yet.
Modern Classic
2004
Despite our rather blatant ribbing of the track here, Magny-Cours has produced a few interesting races. 1999 was a rain-soaked fiasco, so we'll steer clear of calling it a "classic" for the time being, while the Michael Schumacher/David Coulthard arm-wringing, finger-sticking battle of 2000 was the stuff of legend, but years of alcohol abuse have furred the memories of incidents from that far back somewhat.
So instead, one for the Schumistas. 2004 was a dominant year, even by Ferrarmacher standards, but at the French race, Schumie had to deal with the real possibility of losing out to Fernando Alonso's Renault. Switching to a four-stop strategy may have sounded slightly loony, but as so often with Brawnian pit lane trickery and Schumacher in-lap wizardry, it paid off in spades. He triumphed from Alonso, while a narcoleptic Jarno Trulli dozed off on the final lap to allow Barrichello to take the final podium place from him in the sister Ferrari. Elsewhere, the continued dismal pace of Patty's favourite ever F1 car, the walrus-nosed Williams FW26, made baby Jesus cry.
One Year Ago
The 2007 event at Magny Cours was a thrilling, swashbuckling battle between four drivers, with overtaking aplenty, controversial crashes and a whole host of quotable interviews from all involved. Ok, that's a lie. It was really boring. See here if you need a bit of a snooze.
Facts and Guesses
Number of Laps : 70
Lap Record : 1:15.377 (Michael Schumacher - 2004)
2007 Pole : Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2007 Winner : Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Free Practice 1 & 2 : 10:00 & 14.00 (Local Time) / 09.00 & 13.00 (BST) - Friday 20th June
Qualifying Start : 14.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST) - Saturday 21st June
Race Start : 14.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST) - Sunday 22nd June
On Patronise
Patty will be covering the French weekend with a typically limp array of coverage. One of the team will probably turn up for live commentary on the proceedings in qualifying and the race, and we'll drizzle a steady stream of all the normal reviews and general selection of muttering for your delectation.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
