The French Grand Prix
Today is Bastille Day, the most important national day in France. It is a day when the world watches as the legendary Gallic pride comes to the fore and celebrations break out across France and the Francophone world. But today is not a happy Bastille Day. There is a general sense of malaise about France en ce moment. The French president is an idiot, his government is incompetent and the French economy is in a bad way. To top it all, France ignominiously lost the World Cup on penalties a week ago to a cheeky Italian side. Having said all of this, it is impossible to ignore France. For France does things differently. It doesn't have a cock as its national symbol for no reason. The cock is the very epitome of overweening pride. Nobody understands grandeur better than a Frenchman. They look at life differently from the rest of us. Taunt Eric Cantona and you get a chestful of football boots, not a slap. Insult Zinadine Zidane and you get a speedy head butt - to the chest. What better place, then, to have a prestige motor racing event? The French Grand Prix is the reason we call Formula One motor races "Grands Prix". Grand Prix motor racing originated in France. Appropriately, the French Grand Prix takes place this weekend at Magny Cours.
There are some races that you cannot imagine being absent from a Formula One calendar. The French Grand Prix is one such race. Erase it from the calendar and the students will come out rioting at Place de la Sorbonne. Since 1950 the race has been run at various circuits all over the grand French republic. Its current location is not ideal for fans because it is in a remote place which is difficult to get to. Nevertheless, Magny Cours can produce some interesting action on occasion. As the home race of Renault and Michelin this weekend's event is crucial. It has been announced that from next season all the teams will be shod in Bridgestone rubber. This, therefore, will be the last opportunity for Michelin to impress at home. I have little doubt that they are equal to the challenge. Magny Cours provides an excellent opportunity for them. The smooth nature of the circuit makes tyre choice particularly interesting. This may turn out to be a straight race between Bridgestone and Michelin.
The fear expressed by the pundits is that Ferrari have surpassed Renault. "Fernando Alonso has peaked," so the argument goes, "and it is now time for the German in the blood red Italian stallion to show the world who is boss." For emotional Italians this is a compelling argument. "We won-a da World Cup," they cry, "we are-a gonna win-a da World Championship again-a!" Fernando Alonso may be cut from the same Latin cloth but he does his thinking in his head, not his heart. A nineteen point deficit with eight races to go is not an impossible gap to breach but it is a very difficult one. Very difficult indeed. Fernando Alonso is a formidable opponent. He won the French Grand Prix last year with ease. He demonstrated such mastery of the tight hairpins and chicanes at Magny Cours that his opponents were left marvelling. I do not think Indianapolis was a taste of things to come. I would more readily place a fiver on Alonso to take the win than I would on Michael Schumacher. With barely a cigarette paper between Ferrari and Renault's respective speed and reliability, at this stage in his career, Alonso is the better driver.
Interesting as the 2006 championship may be, the big story this weekend is 2007. The team choices of drivers for next season are producing fascinating news. The announcement by Juan Pablo Montoya that he would be leaving the glamour of Formula One and racing in the redneck NASCAR series in America next season caught everybody, even Chipo, by surprise. Such is the difference in driving styles required that most experts are astounded by the bravery of the move. Nascars are heavy, closed roof stock cars which brake and accelerate far less efficiently than the sleek, open-wheeled F1 cars that Montoya has been driving for the last five and a half years. The man clearly enjoys a challenge and NASCAR will certainly give him that. The jury is out on whether his WAG-like wife will be happy to swap the champagne lifestyle of weekends in Monaco for turkey legs and two litre cokes in the American heartland. We will know soon enough.
Montoya's place at McLaren will be taken by Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard stood in for Montoya for a few races at the start of last season (when the Colombian had injured himself allegedly playing tennis) and performed admirably. I fear, though, that the McLaren-Mercedes is not suited to Magny Cours. The only recent McLaren driver who seemed to know what he was doing there was David Coulthard. In one of my favourite overtaking manoeuvres, Coulthard caught out Michael Schumacher in the 2000 race - which he went on to win - and then proceeded dramatically to give the world champion the finger in full view of the TV cameras. Superb! Kimi Raikkonen didn't do too badly by coming second in France last year though. He may be the man to prove me wrong about McLaren but I doubt it. McLaren and Mercedes seem to have serious problems understanding the concept of reliability.
I expect a challenging French Grand Prix. Most of all, I pray for an exciting one. I will be sipping a decent drop of red from Bordeaux and nibbling on some charcouterie as I hope, like you, I will,
Enjoy Magny Cours!
Gitau
14 July 2006
There are some races that you cannot imagine being absent from a Formula One calendar. The French Grand Prix is one such race. Erase it from the calendar and the students will come out rioting at Place de la Sorbonne. Since 1950 the race has been run at various circuits all over the grand French republic. Its current location is not ideal for fans because it is in a remote place which is difficult to get to. Nevertheless, Magny Cours can produce some interesting action on occasion. As the home race of Renault and Michelin this weekend's event is crucial. It has been announced that from next season all the teams will be shod in Bridgestone rubber. This, therefore, will be the last opportunity for Michelin to impress at home. I have little doubt that they are equal to the challenge. Magny Cours provides an excellent opportunity for them. The smooth nature of the circuit makes tyre choice particularly interesting. This may turn out to be a straight race between Bridgestone and Michelin.
The fear expressed by the pundits is that Ferrari have surpassed Renault. "Fernando Alonso has peaked," so the argument goes, "and it is now time for the German in the blood red Italian stallion to show the world who is boss." For emotional Italians this is a compelling argument. "We won-a da World Cup," they cry, "we are-a gonna win-a da World Championship again-a!" Fernando Alonso may be cut from the same Latin cloth but he does his thinking in his head, not his heart. A nineteen point deficit with eight races to go is not an impossible gap to breach but it is a very difficult one. Very difficult indeed. Fernando Alonso is a formidable opponent. He won the French Grand Prix last year with ease. He demonstrated such mastery of the tight hairpins and chicanes at Magny Cours that his opponents were left marvelling. I do not think Indianapolis was a taste of things to come. I would more readily place a fiver on Alonso to take the win than I would on Michael Schumacher. With barely a cigarette paper between Ferrari and Renault's respective speed and reliability, at this stage in his career, Alonso is the better driver.
Interesting as the 2006 championship may be, the big story this weekend is 2007. The team choices of drivers for next season are producing fascinating news. The announcement by Juan Pablo Montoya that he would be leaving the glamour of Formula One and racing in the redneck NASCAR series in America next season caught everybody, even Chipo, by surprise. Such is the difference in driving styles required that most experts are astounded by the bravery of the move. Nascars are heavy, closed roof stock cars which brake and accelerate far less efficiently than the sleek, open-wheeled F1 cars that Montoya has been driving for the last five and a half years. The man clearly enjoys a challenge and NASCAR will certainly give him that. The jury is out on whether his WAG-like wife will be happy to swap the champagne lifestyle of weekends in Monaco for turkey legs and two litre cokes in the American heartland. We will know soon enough.
Montoya's place at McLaren will be taken by Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard stood in for Montoya for a few races at the start of last season (when the Colombian had injured himself allegedly playing tennis) and performed admirably. I fear, though, that the McLaren-Mercedes is not suited to Magny Cours. The only recent McLaren driver who seemed to know what he was doing there was David Coulthard. In one of my favourite overtaking manoeuvres, Coulthard caught out Michael Schumacher in the 2000 race - which he went on to win - and then proceeded dramatically to give the world champion the finger in full view of the TV cameras. Superb! Kimi Raikkonen didn't do too badly by coming second in France last year though. He may be the man to prove me wrong about McLaren but I doubt it. McLaren and Mercedes seem to have serious problems understanding the concept of reliability.
I expect a challenging French Grand Prix. Most of all, I pray for an exciting one. I will be sipping a decent drop of red from Bordeaux and nibbling on some charcouterie as I hope, like you, I will,
Enjoy Magny Cours!
Gitau
14 July 2006
posted by Gitau at 11:34 am
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