Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Paul Ricard, 2019

Warm but cloudy weekend with low chance of race day rain in France

2021 French Grand Prix weather

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The French Grand Prix is expected to be overcast for much of the weekend, with a slight chance of rain showers on race day.

Forecasts indicate Friday will be the sunniest of the three days of running at Paul Ricard. The morning session will see relatively heavy cloud but this should turn sunny by second practice.

Saturday will follow a similar pattern of cloud cover, lifting somewhat after third practice but still relatively heavy ahead of the qualifying hour.

Race day will be much as the previous two days – overcast and with temperatures up 31C – but with an increased chance of rain. At present only a slight chance of rain is forecast during the race, and this may well change over the course of the next three days0

Overall temperatures should be relatively high at Paul Ricard. The mercury will peak at around 30C on Friday and Saturday just before the afternoon sessions on each day.

Wind conditions on Friday will be a little stronger than on Saturday, with speeds up to 30kph and gusts of up to 55kph. It should be calmer for qualifying, with top speeds of 20kph and gusts of 40kph.

The most striking differences between this weekend and F1’s last visit to the track two years ago will be the cloud cover. Although air temperatures are set to be higher this year, having peaked at 27C during the race at the 2019 French Grand Prix, all sessions that year were in sunny weather.

Expect considerably lower track temperatures than the 50-57C seen over practice, qualifying and the race in 2019. From this weekend’s race teams have to complay with new, stringent checks of their tyre temperatures and pressures, and they will have to keep a close watch on changes in the atmospheric conditions.

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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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8 comments on “Warm but cloudy weekend with low chance of race day rain in France”

  1. windy.com suggests rain on race day, during the race. I have found their forecast more reliable than others. But this is F1, of course, and unless there is a typhoon en route to the track, rain is unlikely. Will happily be proven wrong!

    1. @roodda I’m not really counting on rain. Not that I wouldn’t mind it during a race as I only care about the weather in qualifyings.

    2. If it does rain on Sunday it will either miss the track or pours down just after the race during the podium ceremony because we can’t have nice things. lol

      1. this F1 seasons’ ultimate challenge is make one of Paul Ricard, Sochi and Abu Dhabi exciting. Just one. Hopefully the rain does it!

    3. @roodda Just switch on the sprinklers. No one will ever know!

  2. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    17th June 2021, 12:22

    I’ve never been fond of this race as its a characterless car park that rarely produces a good race but here’s hoping it’ll be different. If it rains, it certainly might be.

  3. The Met Office gives 40% chance of rain at 1400.

    1. That is on Sunday.

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