French Grand Prix Review

The teams arrived at Magny-Cours to find a slightly altered track layout. The first change was to tighten the Château d'Eau corner, creating a new passing opportunity for desperados that nobody took up, while the second change was to create a new section at the end of the lap bypassing the old Lycée corner. The 100-degree right-hander was probably meant to create another passing place that had no takers, while the final right-left chicane was rather too Mickey Mouse for our liking.

Here at F1 Rejects, we lamented the loss of the Lycée, for it was there in 2000 that one of our traditions came into being. Alexander Wurz in the Benetton made the single most pathetic attempt at a passing move in recent memory down the inside of Jean Alesi's Prost, only to slither straight off into the gravel trap, and from that moment, our 'Reject of the Race' Award was born. We have been recognising derisory mediocrity in almost every Grand Prix ever since.

France has had its fair share of bizarre off-track moments over the years, such as in 1992 when all the teams bar Andrea Moda managed to skirt around the lorry drivers' strike to get to Magny-Cours. In 2003, BAR made it to the track, only to find that PPGI, with which BAR were in dispute in relation to their former Teleglobe sponsorship, had made good their threat to get a court order to have the team's equipment impounded. For a time it looked as though the BARs would be unable to compete all weekend.

The team bosses' ongoing joust also went into extra time. At the start of the season, it was agreed that the electronic gizmos would be outlawed at Silverstone, but after Imola this had been postponed until 2004, and then put on hold indefinitely. As with all things in F1, these decisions seem to have been signed in anything but blood, and now Paul Stoddart, no doubt on the warpath after Montreal, was threatening to run his Minardis without traction control in Britain and then protest against every other car in the field.

In truth, such a protest would have little more than symbolic value, and without traction control and automatic gearboxes, the PS03s may actually risk not qualifying, and that would rather defeat the purpose. Still, Stoddart got the last (albeit temporary) laugh, when the drying conditions in Friday qualifying - the exact opposite to what happened at the Nurburgring - left us with Jos Verstappen's Minardi at the top of the timesheets, and Justin Wilson 2nd except that his time was voided for an underweight car.

Although come Saturday and Sunday that turned out to be completely meaningless, it was another crowd-pleasing moment in a season that has had enough surprises and twists and turns, so much so that Ron Dennis declared it the best season for a very long time. With six different winners in ten races including France, spread over four manufacturers, equalling the figures of the dramatic 1999 season but with another six races left for others to taste the spoils of victory, it was hard to disagree.

The Parc Ferme rule after Saturday qualifying was meant to ensure that the cars would not be as reliable come race day, but at Magny-Cours 16 out of the 20 starters finished. It was also meant to encourage different fuel strategies so as to mix up the grid order, but here we had the top eight spots filled by the top four teams, with the next six filled by the distinct middle tier of Jaguar, Toyota and BAR, and the last three rows a Noah's Ark formation of the 2003 tailenders, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi.

Sauber and Toyota especially tried low-fuel first stints in the opening races, but now the teams are basically going into each race with the same strategy. And even though the points now stretch down to 8th, the fact that there are now four top teams instead of three, plus the fact that the Williams, Ferraris, McLarens and Renaults tend to be relatively reliable, have meant that the likes of Jaguar and Toyota are really still fighting for scraps, and one or two points-paying positions at most.

Still, it's the new points system that rewards consistency which has created this year's multi-way championship tussle. In the drivers' title, it's currently Michael Schumacher on top with 64, from Kimi Raikkonen 56, Ralf Schumacher 53 and Juan-Pablo Montoya 47. Under the old system, it would be Michael on 54, Raikkonen on 46, Ralf on 38, and JPM 35. The big benefactor there, clearly, has been Ralf, whose sluggish but consistent first quarter may turn out to be vital in keeping him in the title hunt.

Once more, the wisdom of having Ferrari as Bridgestone's only top team has come into question. The Japanese product was obviously the inferior at Magny-Cours, but apart from Ferrari, Bridgestone only have BAR, Sauber, Minardi and Jordan to help develop their tyres. Michelin have the might of Williams, McLaren, Renault, Jaguar and Toyota. Whereas Ferrari's masterstroke in having (amongst the top teams) exclusive use of the Bridgestones proved a decisive factor in 2002, it could be their undoing in 2003.

No doubt that Ralf's lights-to-flag win here in France was somewhat impressive, and as an accumulator of points he is definitely now in the title game just as Heinz-Harald Frentzen was in 1999. But with Bridgestone likely to up the ante for Michael in the upcoming races, and with Raikkonen sure to bounce back after his recent poor run, one wonders if Ralf can merely depend on consistency and a good package to snatch the title, or if he can take the fight up to Michael and Kimi when they're in top form also.

Consider this: in the third of the four stints in France, Montoya was catching Ralf hand-over-fist. If JPM could have afforded a few more laps before his third stop, he may have stolen the win. Ralf explained that this was due to an unhappy set of tyres, but therein lies his problem. In a stable car with everything working well, Ralf can fly with the best, but he doesn't seem to have that innate ability that his brother or Montoya has to drive around a problem. That's the sort of thing which can prove decisive in tight title battles.

David Coulthard, meanwhile, responded well to the criticism justifiably levelled at him for his truly terrible form over the past few races, and was more than a match for his team-mate this time around. He had a chance of leapfrog the Finn in the pits but for his rather messy final stop, when first his original rig wouldn't work, and then the lollipop man mistakenly let him out with the substitute rig still not fully uncoupled from the car, causing an anxious moment when both refuellers were dragged to the ground.

Although this was more of an uncharacteristic blunder, a case of panic from the well-drilled McLaren crew (in contrast, by the way, to some of the stunning work from the Williams crew who are not usually renowned for the slick stops), fingers were pointing at Intertechnique, the manufacturer of the fuel rigs, once again. It was, after all, another rig problem which caused Jenson Button's BAR to run out of fuel. It seems unfair that teams' fortunes are so often decided by the vagaries of a third party's performance.

Yet another highly nondescript race from Rubens Barrichello, whose two-stop gamble when just about everyone else went for three-stops was not only a mistake, it came to naught when he spun at the end of lap one. His fastest lap of the race was slower even than Mark Webber's, and that said it all, really. Rubens desperately needs to up his game if he is to dutifully help Ferrari to either title in 2003. Maranello already has a bit of weak link in Bridgestone; they don't need another one by way of their second driver.

Not only was it disappointing, it should have been embarrassing as well. At Renault's home race, they had 1,500 mechanics, staff and other hangers-on in attendance, and to record a double-DNF where only four cars retired is not a good look, and it earns them our 'Reject of the Race' award. They are now in a lonely 4th in the constructors' title, and Alonso seems relegated to a battle for 5th with Barrichello and DC. They're not the most motivational things to aim for. One hopes that Renault doesn't lose focus as a result.

Yet again Webber and Jaguar proved to be best of the rest, with another fantastic drive to 6th place and three more points, elevating Mark to 9th in the drivers' title and Jaguar up to 6th in the constructors', ready to pounce on BAR in 5th. Unfortunately this went completely unnoticed on French TV. Since it was a case of an Australian driver in a British car run by a giant American conglomerate, one wonders if it was a backlash against the 'coalition of the willing'!

Webber had also been involved in an incident on Friday when he collided with Schumi in pit lane, the Ferrari having leapt out of its box into the Jaguar's path after a practice pit stop. Ferrari were rightly fined for this recklessness, but what was interesting was Mark's immediate lividness, followed by his diplomatic answers when interviewed afterwards. He's making a name for himself as a genuine contender who won't be intimidated by the top teams, but he's cool enough to play his political cards right as well.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Renault
Disappointing Double DNF at Home GP

Panis will be glad to have scored yet another point, this time on home soil and, unlike in Canada, not really a gift. Cristiano da Matta was somewhat off the pace this weekend, but since Monaco the Toyotas have established themselves in the second tier along with Jaguar, BAR and possibly Sauber. But one could argue that they were already sort of in the middle tier in 2002, and in all honesty, for all their financial investment they should be best of the rest and starting to challenge the big four up front.

Villeneuve's 9th place just out of the points after their legal dramas at the start of the weekend would have been mildly encouraging, but early in the season the BARs also looked capable of challenging the top guns, but in the past few races, on their Bridgestones the BAR 05 has appeared skittish and unbalanced. The Saubers meanwhile had yet another useless outing, but provided one scary moment when Frentzen dived down the inside of Nick Heidfeld at the Adelaide hairpin just as they were being lapped.

Jordan couldn't even get both cars to the finish, Giancarlo Fisichella's engine blowing up at the same time as the Renaults, while Firman was sandwiched by the tortoise-like Minardis of Wilson and Verstappen, who after Friday's heroics went from hero to zero. Fisi expressed his dejection at Jordan's performance after the race, and you can't help feeling sorry for him. One would hope that the updates planned for the EJ13 for Silverstone will make some sort of difference to Jordan's fortunes for the rest of 2003.