Charles Leclerc in Austria he regained his victory after 3 months of abstinence. A victory conquered to the sound of braking with Max Verstappen, world leader 38 points behind the Monegasque. There Ferrari after the last disastrous races he seems to have reversed the trend again, getting back on track in the fight for the World Championship. Silverstone e Spielberg, bulwarks of the main rivals were in fact the most significant conquests of the Red, which achieved success first with Carlos Sainz and then with Charles Leclerc.
Between problems of reliability and a rush to updates that seems to never end we struggle to understand what awaits us in the race and in the race. In fact, the overall picture tends to change according to the route and the strengths that Red Bull and Ferrari alternate. There are still two stages left to complete the first part of the season. In France, everyone is wondering how Ferrari will react, call for redemption after the latest burning disappointments at Paul Ricard.
In Austria Red Bull in trouble
One of the factors that surprised us most in Austria has been to see a Red Bull struggling with tire management. A situation probably dictated by a less than ideal set-up, and by the presence of the Sprint weekend which halved the time available to the teams to work on the single-seaters. In France, the weekend will be with the traditional format. So the teams will have three free practice sessions to be dedicated to the analysis of data and the behavior of the cars on a totally different track.
Great heat and unknown tires
Europe in recent weeks has been hit by a great heat. At Paul Ricard, a track that in itself puts a strain on the tyres, the high temperatures could make things worse, especially for those teams, such as Ferrari, who have already suffered from this problem here in the past. A problem that threatens to slow down the run-up to the Ferrari, that here last year it failed to enter the top 10 with even one car.
A fundamental aspect also according to Charles Leclerc, who said in the pre-weekend press conference:"The Brignoles circuit, where I started karting, is only 60 km from here. It's always nice to race in France, it's almost like a home race for me: I hope I can repeat the Austria weekend, where I found an important victory on a personal level. I came from five difficult races, in which everything seemed to work against me. It was an important success, just as it was important to recover points for Max . The last few editions at this track have been very difficult for us, we have always suffered with tire management and therefore this weekend we will have to focus mainly on this aspect".
Track limits
The Monegasque also expressed his doubts about the track limits, which have already created quite a few controversies in Austria with cascading penalties. The problem in France could potentially repeat itself, even to greater extents. Pilots, in these modes, can do little to avoid them, and Charles reiterated this: “I prefer the curbs as a reference point for track limits, for example last year we used them as a reference point for the limit and you feel them in driving. With the white line we're so low you don't realize you're going out two inches, but that's the way it is, and so we have to manage the situation this weekend, on the other hand there aren't many curbs".
Source statements: FormulaPassion
