Who will master the Mistral at this year's French GP?
Antonin Vincent / DPPI
With the Formula 1 season now past its halfway point, the title battle temperature is rising as the grand prix circus touches in Paul Ricard for the French GP.
The previous round in Austria represented a turnaround of sorts in this year’s F1 story, with Charles Leclerc finally getting another win after a series of races characterised by poor reliability and bad strategy calls from Ferrari.
Those problems could persist at the historic Le Castellet circuit with France in the middle of a heatwave, but championship leader Max Verstappen appears able to keep his cool in battle this year.
Just behind the front two teams, Paul Ricard is a circuit which is expected to suit Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell due to its smooth track surface, helping to negate the Brackley boys’ bouncing down the formidable Mistral straight.
Here’s all the TV and streaming times so you can watch and find out.
You can choose to either tune in live or watch the highlights. All the timings you need to watch this weekend’s action are listed below. Times are BST.
Live TV Each session will be shown live on the Sky Sports F1 channel, beginning with Free Practice 1 at Friday lunchtime followed by FP2 later in the afternoon.
Live stream All the running can be live-streamed using the Sky Go app for Sky Sports F1 subscribers. NOW TV memberships also allow full access to Sky’s live coverage.
Highlights Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of qualifying, as well as the Grand Prix on Sunday evening. For a quicker recap, the official F1 YouTube channel will upload highlight clips after every session over the weekend, whilst the Sky Sports YouTube channel releases a more detailed highlights clip on a Sunday evening.
Qualifying |
French Grand Prix |
|
| Start time | 3pm | 2pm |
| Live coverage | From 2.35pm, Sky | From 12.30pm, Sky |
| Highlights | Saturday, 6.30pm, Channel 4 | Sunday, 6.30pm, Channel 4 |
Each session will be live on Sky Sports F1 with coverage leading up to each one, as well as live reaction afterwards.
Both qualifying and the race will be broadcast on the Sky Sports Main Event channel too.
Friday FP1 – 12.30pm | FP2 – 3.45pm
Saturday FP3 – 11.45am | Qualifying – 2.35pm
Sunday Grand Prix – 1.55pm
Sky’s live broadcast of each session is available to watch on NOW TV with a sports membership, and can be streamed anywhere in the UK, regardless of location.
The app can be downloaded on mobile and tablet devices, as well as a PC, laptop or console. Weekend passes are also available, giving access to coverage across each session.
Existing Sky subscribers can watch the action using the Sky GO app on mobile and tablet devices, as well as a PC, laptop or console.
Last year’s French GP saw Max Verstappen pull off a strategic masterclass to pass Lewis Hamilton and snatch the win right at the death.
As teams agonised over whether to stay on graining tyres with a one-stop strategy or use fresher rubber with two, the Red Bull driver rolled the dice by plumping for the latter.
The undercut worked, as Verstappen swept by Hamilton on the penultimate lap to win in a thrilling finale.
The track limits debate is set to rear its head once more in Paul Ricard, but the onus is on world class drivers to control their cars, writes Chris Medland
Traditionally this season the Red Bull has looked after its tyres better, with Ferrari having superior one-lap pace but punishing its Pirellis soon into the race.
In Styria, the Scuderia appeared to have remedied this problem, with Leclerc able to push and Verstappen hindered by tyre wear.
Seeing who can look after the black stuff best will be fascinating in the Le Castellet showdown, but there could also be a joker in the pack in the form of Mercedes.
The Brackley cars have struggled to turn on their tyres in the early phase of stints before coming into the race as the laps go by due to superior Pirelli preservation.
Could this help Hamilton and Russell enter the fray in the extreme heat of Paul Ricard?
The French GP will be a 53-lap blast around Circuit Paul Ricard, resulting in a race distance of 192 miles (310km) on a circuit 3.6 miles (5.85km) in length.
The layout will feature two DRS zones, one down the start / finish straight (with the detection zone in Turn 14, the penultimate corner) and the second down the first half of the Mistral straight, with activation area on the exit of Turn 7.
| Friday 22 July | Saturday 23 July | Sunday 24 July | |
| F1 | Free Practice 1 1pm Free Practice 2 4pm |
Free Practice 3 12pm Qualifying 3pm |
Grand Prix 2pm |
| W Series | Practice 9.40am Qualifying 6.25pm |
Race 1.50pm |
