A collective penalty kick for Carlos Sainz in France

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A full program this weekend, because in addition to Formula 1, the Formula 2 and W series are also at the start at Le Castellet. And you can live there with Sky everywhere!

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Difference: No desire for new Underbody rules

The FIA ​​would like to change the bottom rules for 2023 (all info here!). Unsurprisingly, some teams aren’t too keen on it. To our knowledge, there are at least six racing teams currently in opposition.

It has to be Ferrari, Red Bull, Alfa Torri, Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams. Bottom line: If for safety reasons, the FIA ​​can move forward with rule changes without teams’ approval.

That’s exactly what the teams suspect. They think rule changes are not very necessary. So it can stay with us for a while…

FT1: Closing time!

And that was with the first training session. Nothing has changed up front, the best time passing by a hair’s breadth of Leclerc in front of Verstappen, and behind them come Sainz, Russell and local champ Gasly.

From a German point of view, the session didn’t go well, and Vettel and Schumacher ended up in P14 and P16. Within two hours we continue FT2. Before that, as usual, an overview of the FT1:

Report

result

FT1: Final Stage

The last minutes of FT1 is already running. Meanwhile, Leclerc moved into P1, leading by 1:33.930. He and Verstappen are almost on par with that. This is how you can go on for the rest of the weekend!

Meanwhile, Bottas is turning heads off the racetrack…in FT2 he’s allowed to run again. It also applies to Hamilton.

Call all current information in the live session bar!

FT1: It’s getting faster

In the meantime, we’re already moving into the last 20 minutes of FT1 on the track, and as expected, times are getting faster too. Sainz made a brief move into P1, but Verstappen is now driving again.

However, with 1:34.021, the world champion is less than a tenth of a second ahead of Leclerc, who is just ahead of his teammates. Vettel is currently at P9, Schumacher is on P18.

Call all current information in the live session bar!

engine parts

By the way: Not only is the Spaniard getting new parts this weekend. For example, Hamilton got a third turbo, a third MGU-H, a second control electronics, and a second energy storage.

There are also new batteries for Russell, Zhou and Sainz themselves, and Russell has also received new control electronics. However, all these changes are implemented without penalty. As mentioned earlier, the only thing is for Sainz.

FT1: times

After the first few minutes, times aren’t particularly important. For completeness, let’s take a look at it anyway: Verstappen currently leads with a 1:34.991 ratio and is therefore more than half a second faster than the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, Perez is spinning. He’s lucky that Le Castellet’s runoff areas are so generous… Meanwhile, McLaren has been smeared extensively with FloViz paint, and updates are being tested here.

Call all current information in the live session bar!

FT1: The Gazelle Problem

Not the best start to his home race. The Frenchman reported an engine problem. The good news: After a few minutes in the pits, he can come out again, so it doesn’t look like it was a major thing.

By the way, Gasly can no longer change the engine. He has already reached the maximum allowed and will receive a penalty. You can find an overview of all engine penalties for 2022 here!

FT1: Open the session indicator now!

FT1 starts within five minutes. Here at this point you will find the most important information, images and sounds. You can get the full coverage in our session tape with Stefan Ehlen. Better to let both indicators run in parallel!

Quick look at the temperatures: As already announced, it’s hot! 30 degrees is warm to be exact, even the asphalt shines at a good 55 degrees. happy tire…

How much does the AlphaTauri update bring?

We previously talked briefly about the big AlphaTauri upgrade this weekend. But how much does the package really bring? “Hopefully, the promotions will put us in the top three,” Yuki Tsunoda jokes.

Then he explains more seriously that the update should bring “at least three or four tenths”. “But you never know,” he recalls. “This car behaves a little differently at every racetrack.”

So let’s just wait and see. But the goal is clear: AlphaTauri wants to get back into the third quarter on Saturday and collect points on Sunday!

15 years ago today…

… Fernando Alonso won the 2007 European Grand Prix. However, the true story of the race was written by a German at the time: Marcus Winkelhock made his Formula 1 debut at the Nürburgring.

And in his first – and also only – Formula 1 race, the 27-year-old was already able to rack up the kilometers in the lead! You can find more about Curious Racing in our gallery:

Best of what’s left: Will Alpine overtake McLaren?

Crossed the Alps during a tough weekend driven by Esteban Ocon in Spielberg McLaren equals in the World Cup. Both teams are now vying for the P4 with 81 points. And Fernando Alonso believes his team will soon be able to completely overtake them.

As it is known, Nick de Vries drives the car today First practice instead of Lewis Hamilton. The number 19 will be worn on the car. We want to quickly answer some questions on this topic.

How, for example, that de Vries in Spain, When he was already working with Williams in FT1Who’s still carrying the 45 in the car? This has to do with the fact that Friday driver numbers are related to the car and not to the driver.

Another question we keep asking is when will the starting number be “released” again. Because 19 was still used by Felipe Massa until 2017.

This is strictly specified in the regulations. The starting numbers for regular drivers become available again if the driver has not raced for two full seasons.

This means that the number 7 Kimi Raikkonen is currently still off-limits to other drivers, for example, and will not be available again until the 2024 season after he resigns at the end of 2021.

New clutch

Speaking of upgrades, one part not included there is the clutch. There should be a new team for the Ferrari factory team and also for Alfa Romeo and Haas customers this weekend.

Alfa Romeo in particular has had to struggle with bad starts over and over again this year. And Carlos Sainz confirms that Ferrari also had a “problem” with the beginnings of this year.

The revised clutch should now handle the situation. We’ll keep that in mind, but unfortunately we don’t know if all six cars will use the new clutch this weekend.

Stamtech: Ask Norbert Hauge a question!

The default schedule for Formula 1 regulars On the Formel1.de YouTube channel It has become a constant star for German-speaking Formula 1 experts since its introduction in December 2021.

The July edition of the regulars schedule takes place the Monday evening after the French Grand Prix (25 July), and this time we’ve invited a special guest again: Norbert Hauge.

Starting at 7:00 PM, Mercedes-Benz’s longtime head of motorsports will answer questions from our channel members, who can connect with Haug via the Zoom meeting. All the information is here!