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Formula 1: Six key questions ahead of the 2021 French Grand Prix
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Jim Munro
LiveScore
Sunday's Formula 1 French Grand Prix is hosted by the Paul Ricard circuit
Sunday's Formula 1 French Grand Prix is hosted by the Paul Ricard circuit

LiveScore’s Jim Munro gets you up to speed with the big talking points around the Formula 1 paddock ahead of the 2021 French Grand Prix.

1. Can Lewis Hamilton get back to winning ways? 

Lewis Hamilton’s attempt at mind games misfired spectacularly in Azerbaijan. Ahead of the race restart with two laps remaining, Hamilton was sat in second place with a virtual guarantee of 18 points if he played things cool. 

Having declared to the world via the Mercedes team radio that the championship was “a marathon not a sprint”, he made a charge for the lead at the first corner, hit the wrong button on the rear of his steering wheel and missed the turn.

It was a rare error from the seven-time world champ and instead of taking a healthy lead in a tight title race, he remains four points behind Max Verstappen as the action resumes in France. 

Lewis Hamilton's locks his brakes and steers out of contention during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton's locks his brakes and steers out of contention during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The Paul Ricard circuit has been a happy hunting ground for Mercedes in the two most recent French Grands Prix, with front-row lockouts on the starting grid in 2018 and 2019, Hamilton taking the win on both occasions. 

With Verstappen now at the wheel of a highly competitive Red Bull and Sergio Perez finding form with his maiden win for the team in Azerbaijan, this should prove to be a race of small margins. 

Indeed, the mix of corners at Paul Ricard is what makes it an excellent testing circuit, similar to Catalunya’s Circuit de Barcelona which hosted this season’s Spanish Grand Prix. 

Hamilton enjoyed a pole to flag victory in Spain in May, but his qualifying time was a blink of an eye 0.036 seconds ahead of rival Verstappen.  

2. Have Pirelli discovered what caused two high-speed blowouts in Azerbaijan?

Max Verstappen's Red Bull is carted away in Baku after a rear-tyre blowout
Max Verstappen's Red Bull is carted away in Baku after a rear-tyre blowout

An absolutely thrilling race in Azerbaijan last time out needed to carry a health warning, with both Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll fortunate to escape injury after spectacular high-speed crashes.

The root cause in both cases was the blowout of a left-rear tyre. What concerned Red Bull and Aston Martin was that there had been no sign of the imminent tyre failure among their sensor-transmitted data. 

Pirelli investigated and declared that the tyres were not faulty and also that debris on the track was not the cause of the problem. 

This turned the spotlight back onto the teams and whether the tyres were being run at the recommended pressure. 

Red Bull Racing released a statement over social media, stating: “We have worked closely with Pirelli and the FIA during their investigation into Max's tyre failure on lap 47 of the AzerbaijanGP and can confirm that no car fault was found. 

"We adhered to Pirelli’s tyre parameters at all times and will continue to follow their guidance.”

Effectively we have the teams saying they operated within all guidelines but Pirelli absolving their tyres of any blame. 

Jenson Button summed up the confusion best with his reaction: “So what was the reason for the failures then?! Aston and Redbull stuck to the limits given, no cuts in tyre from debris and no defects or failure from Pirelli? Voodoo magic then I guess.” 

3. Can Sergio Perez muscle his way into the title fight?

Sergio Perez celebrates his first victory for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Sergio Perez celebrates his first victory for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

In Azerbaijan, Sergio Perez delivered something that Red Bull have been desperately seeking for three years – a winning team-mate for Max Verstappen. 

The last Red Bull victory not featuring Verstappen was Daniel Ricciardo’s Monaco win back in May 2018. 

For the Austrian outfit to challenge the Mercedes stranglehold on both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, they need to have two drivers able to compete with the very best – the highly talented Verstappen and A.N.Other. 

In Perez they appear to have found their man. Having a driver able to muscle his way into the argument at the front of the pack opens up all sorts of tactical possibilities for Red Bull, with pit-stop strategy having such a big part to play in the present day F1 arena. 

You can’t help feeling team boss Christian Horner had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he said the No.1 driver at Red Bull is “the one who drives in front”. 

It surely can’t be too long before Verstappen is celebrating being world champion – with Perez’s help.  

The win in Azerbaijan took Perez onto 69 points in the drivers’ championship, 32 adrift of Hamilton in second place and 36 behind his team-mate. 

That’s a huge mountain to climb, even at this stage of the season, but Perez has settled quickly and effectively into his new seat.

In the drivers’ interviews ahead of Sunday’s race he received a glowing reference from former Red Bull pilot and four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel. 

“In all honesty - and this I really mean from the heart - I’m very happy that Checo got a great seat because he deserves it,” Vettel said. 

“He’s shown it not just with a win but he’s shown it with the last 10 years or something like that, that he’s been in Formula 1 and he deserves to be in a great car.” 

4. What type of Ferrari will turn up at the Paul Ricard circuit?

Max Verstappen congratulates Charles Leclerc for gaining pole position in Azerbaijan
Max Verstappen congratulates Charles Leclerc for gaining pole position in Azerbaijan

Ferrari could make it three pole positions in a row if Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz can secure front spot on the grid at the Paul Ricard circuit. Easily said, not so easily achieved.

Leclerc failed to start in Monaco having qualified in P1 and in Azerbaijan he fell from first to fourth by the end of the race. In France he expects the going to be even tougher.

“I think it’ll be a bit back to reality,” he said. “That’s been two weekends, first in Monaco we did not expect to be that competitive, then in Baku we definitely did not expect it and we expected to be back to reality in Baku.

“But actually I think this weekend is unfortunately going to be the weekend where we will be back to reality and where we’ll be struggling a bit more compared to the last two weekends.”

Asked where he thought he and Sainz may be battling for positions, he said: “I really hope that it won’t be outside the points, but no, I feel like we are going to probably be the fourth, third team fighting with McLaren, AlphaTauri, always these same teams we are fighting with. 

“But with a bit more gap to the top teams, which are Mercedes and Red Bull,” 

5. What prompted Alpine to extend Esteban Ocon’s contract to 2024?

Esteban Ocon has signed a new deal with Alpine which runs to the end of the 2024 season
Esteban Ocon has signed a new deal with Alpine which runs to the end of the 2024 season

While there was a lot of fanfare around Fernando Alonso’s return to F1 this season with Alpine, the man to benefit most has perhaps been team-mate Esteban Ocon. 

Earlier this week the Frenchman agreed to a contract extension which will see him race with Alpine until at least the end of the 2024 season. So what prompted this move? 

Alpine’s bosses have been pleased with Alonso’s progress but will also have noticed that Ocon has performed consistently better than his team-mate so far.

The 24-year-old has reached the chequered flag first in the four races in which both drivers have finished and has an average starting place of ninth on the grid compared with Alonso’s 12th. 

Added to his maiden podium finish in December in Renault’s colours, when he took second-place at the Sakhir Grand Prix, it’s easy to see why the rebranded Alpine team decided to tie him down. 

Asked about his new deal in the build up to his home race on Sunday, Ocon said: “Yes, it feels good. It’s weight off the shoulders I would say, so I can focus only on the performance and on what matters, now that the race seat’s secured.

“I have felt good this year in the team, I feel very well integrated. I feel the atmosphere is fantastic and we are working very nicely and obviously we have a great chance of doing good things next year with the new regulations, so it’s definitely the perfect place for me to be staying.”

6. Has war broken out at Haas?

Mick Schumacher isn't happy with team-mate Nikita Mazepin after their battle in Baku
Mick Schumacher isn't happy with team-mate Nikita Mazepin after their battle in Baku

While most of the attention is on the front runners, there was an intriguing scrap towards the back of the field during the last lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

Haas pair Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin nearly collided on the home straight as they fought over 13th and 14th place - literally a pointless tussle as only a top-10 finish earns championship points. 

As Schumacher attempted an overtake inside Mazepin’s right, he felt his team-mate made a deliberate veer in an attempt to shove him into the wall. 

Haas team boss Gunther Steiner said both drivers had subsequently “cleared the air” but after arriving in France Schumacher gave a very different impression. 

Asked whether he still felt he could trust his team-mate, Schumacher said: “I think trust is built and it for sure can be built again. 

“Obviously right now, I don't really know what to expect in one vs one, but at the end as well, I'm sure that after the talks we had with the team, everything should be in order to build up onto that trust again.

“In the moment it was rather confusing, in a way, because I was not expecting it at all, especially between team-mates.

“Obviously I understand it's a last lap, we all fight, but if you come in such a tow, you have all that's left in terms of battery and then you use everything and there's no stopping you, the only way you stop somebody is by scaring them or pushing them into the wall and obviously he tried to do that.”

Mazepin denied there was a problem: “There was no incident. Both cars returned to the pits with front wings and the paint job was as polished as it was just before the race so I would like to look at that in a pretty positive way.”

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