11:09 AM
Good afternoon F1 fans
And welcome to our liveblog coverage for the 2021 French Grand Prix from Paul Ricard. It’s not the track with elicits the highest level of enthusiasm from F1 fans – and maybe even the drivers – but this season has been a fine one so far, so we may be surprised.
Perhaps the biggest factors in its favour – and the hope that we will get a far better race than we had in 2018 and 2019 – is a) the weather and b) the tightness at the front. Rain has been falling at various points during the morning and the F3 race that finished around 11.30BST finished with a mixture of drivers on wet and dry weather tyres. There is a high chance of at least a bit more rain falling in the next 90 minutes or so before the race starts, too. But then again, it may not and the F3 cars did a good job at creating a dry line.
The closeness at the front has been replicated throughout much of the year. Yesterday it was Max Verstappen who held the upper hand, finishing 0.25s ahead of championship rival Lewis Hamilton. In fairness, it was testament to Mercedes and Hamilton that he got the gap down to just a few tenths after struggling throughout the weekend. But, then again, that’s Hamilton.
Verstappen spoke after qualifying:
“To be able to put it on pole here, on a track that has not been our favourite in terms of performance, is very promising and a big boost for the Team. We really did not expect it so I am of course very happy. Everything has been working really well all weekend and from today even compared to yesterday we made a good improvement through hard work and maximising set up.”
“I was confident after FP3 but you never really know where you are or what everyone else will bring in qualifying, so we should be very happy with this performance so far. There is a long run to Turn 1 so we have to get a good start tomorrow and for sure they will be very close but our long run pace in FP2 looked good so I expect another tight battle.”
He currently has a four-point championship lead over Hamilton. Can he extend that today? The problem for Red Bull on the more traditional circuits, has been that Mercedes have the better car on race day. If it is raining then that could give us the drama we want (remember Imola?) but even if it isn’t then the run to the first and second corners will be crucial.
The race starts at 2pm BST and we will be here for all the build-up, latest updates and reaction from Paul Ricard.