In the round-up: Romain Grosjean is mystified by his crash during Q3 at Paul Ricard.
What they say
We don’t know yet what happened. It’s the same braking point, same entry speed, it’s exactly the same as the previous lap. There is no explanation. Same line. So I don’t really know what happened there.
It just came all of a sudden, the rear went oversteer and then the nose was stuck in the barrier so I couldn’t reverse the car. If not I could have come back to the pit and put a new front wing and go for it again.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
F1 personnel/media! The dedicated lane is working well today. Take the A50 until junction 9 and then go all the way up to the track. Less than an hour from Sanary with little traffic 👍 #F1 #FrenchGP
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) June 23, 2018
Interestingly no tyres or tecpro where @RGrosjean went off. Hitting guardrail must’ve winded him! #F1 #FrenchGP
— Mark Hughes (@markhughesF1) June 23, 2018
I suppose one good thing about Kimi Raikkonen wasting one of the best seats on the #F1 grid is that he prevents the front three rows of the grid from being team x team x team quite often. When he looks in his mirrors on the grid he'll see the man that should take his seat
— Glenn Freeman (@glenn_autosport) June 23, 2018
Feeling sorry for 2 #F1 teams tonight. McLaren; good team, big aspirations, great history, at the bottom of a sporting ravine & looking for a way out. Pulling together more important than ever. Sauber; king makers, but know they’ll lose their star driver. Vasseur deserves credit
— Mark Gallagher (@_markgallagher) June 23, 2018
As someone who grew up obsessed with F1 in the 80s and 90s, the notion that McLaren and Williams are the two slowest teams seems ludicrous
— Andrew van de Burgt (@AvdaB) June 23, 2018
Dear @GPFranceF1 you really need to sort this traffic situation out. It’s a pathetic course d'escargot 🐌
— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) June 23, 2018
I've been driving for an hour and I haven't even left the circuit yet. Sort it out @F1 #FrenchGP
— Adam Hay-Nicholls (@AdamHayNicholls) June 23, 2018
Without wishing to pour cold water over the traffic chaos narrative, we drove straight out of the circuit tonight.
— Stuart Codling (@CoddersF1) June 23, 2018
It only took an hour to actually leave the circuit tonight (probably less than a kilometre). Madness. #F1 #FrenchGP
— Alan Baldwin (@alanbaldwinf1) June 23, 2018
You know things are grim when you’re actually relieved that it only took 1h40 to get from the circuit to the hotel. #FrenchGP
— Elizabeth Muth (@memuth) June 23, 2018
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
French GP qualifying (Toro Rosso)
"We seemed to have some trouble with the second sector on the long straights, so we need to have a look at the data and see where we're losing time, because in general the car feels OK."
French GP qualifying (Williams)
"I had a snap when trying to get more speed, went wide and the rear went away from me. I hit the sausage kerb and the car went up into the air. It was a pretty hard landing and I think there could be a bit of damage there."
Good recovery for qualifying in France (Force India)
"We could have been much further up the grid. I think we were unlucky with the conditions because we were expecting more rain towards the end of Q2. I went out too early and did my laps, and then the track improved."
The return of a cherished European race or a ‘Bernie Ecclestone deal’? (The Independent)
"The revived French Grand Prix is seen as a ‘Bernie deal’ and therefore may have trouble fitting into Liberty Media’s new vision of races held in ‘destination’ cities."
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Comment of the day
There’s no doubt who was the star of yesterday’s qualifying session:
Leclerc is a Vettel-Hamilton-Alonso-level talent. You see guys like this come into the sport, and even without the aid of the telemetry to demonstrate their ability, there’s still an intangible quality that makes them stand out from the crowd. Genuinely great drivers can seemingly go beyond the limits their machinery, and Leclerc’s performances this season have been quite staggering.
Okay, he’s made a couple of errors, but he reminds me of a younger Vettel in that regard. Leclerc is throwing a Sauber – with relatively little downforce – around in a way that suggests it really shouldn’t be sticking to the road in the manner it is. The occasional spin here and there demonstrates how much he’s pushing the car to the limit, and his speed in relation to Ericsson further emphasises his class.
He’s Ferrari-bound for sure – no way is the Prancing Horse passing up a once-in-a-generation driver like him.
@Newfangled
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Strontium (@strontium)
24th June 2018, 0:24
Maybe Ericsson secretly drove Leclerc’s car in Q3?
stjs16 (@stjs16)
24th June 2018, 7:13
Brilliant LOL
[TR]
24th June 2018, 2:02
I give this Grosjean crash a not-enough-smoke/10.
LosD (@losd)
24th June 2018, 2:32
That Erikson fires was epic! Probably a bladder puncture. In a few races, FIA will decide that everyone needs bladders made from paper mache (and that goes for the humans too)
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
24th June 2018, 4:59
Hate to see Kimi kept wasting his chances after good Q1/Q2 but maybe he need to be there one more year before Ferrari make the right decision to promote Leclerc in 2020. I think it’s appropriate to break tradition for a talent like Leclerc.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
24th June 2018, 5:04
Ferrari should use strong arms at Haas to put Leclerc there next year.
Ross
24th June 2018, 5:31
Why? Sauber are already an actual Ferrari B-team. Next years Sauber will be a much improved car. They should use strong arms and put him in the Ferrari next to Vettel, give him a world champ as a benchmark and see what the kid has really got.
Ronald
24th June 2018, 9:26
If Ferrari ever wants to be taken serious with its young driver program, they should put Leclerc in the Scuderia next year. If this guy is not good enough, who will ever be?
rob91
24th June 2018, 12:18
Leclerc will surely be Vettel’s teammate at Ferrari next year, maybe even later this season at the rate he is going, and he only has to do a better job than Räikkönen (which he will definitely do) to prove it to be the correct decision. At worst he is a decent outside bet for the 2019 driver’s world championship.
kpcart
24th June 2018, 5:41
And to think grosjean still harbours ambitions to drive for ferrari. Is performance this year is dreadful.
maia gus
24th June 2018, 6:07
Yes lets grind talent year after year.
Lets bring leclerc to a big team now.
But anything below 19-20 titles would be a total failure and totally his fault.
If only verstappen had lived the hype we wouldnt need to burn another young driver.
Ross
24th June 2018, 6:59
Verstappen isn’t exactly not living up to his hype, he’s been performing well, but he’s been granted the pay check and the team of a world champion without becoming a fully rounded driver first. Leclerc has all the hallmarks of a champion, if the seat is available why not much him into a car that has the opportunity to win/podium. Give him the seat, a world champion as a bench mark in the car next to and see how he handles it. Just don’t build him up to be a demigod and tell him the team will be built around him…
Martijn (@)
24th June 2018, 10:22
Patience..
maia gus
24th June 2018, 6:10
the track promise little overtakes and much traffic.
maybe rain and safety car could make things interesting
Jere (@jerejj)
24th June 2018, 7:42
I agree with the COTD.
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
24th June 2018, 10:52
Grosjean’s crash can be explained by the fact that Grosjean was driving the car.
The guy spun behind the safety car in Baku and spun like a lunatic in Spain.
At least he only spun in qualifying here, instead of the race.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
24th June 2018, 11:45
@andrewf1 Don’t say that so early. The race hasn’t even started yet, so GRO has plenty of time to crash in race as well.
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
26th June 2018, 14:45
I’m beginning to think Grosjean is haunted.