Magny-Cours July 6 1pm

Track traits Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours Fast straights and tricky Tel: +33 386 218000. www.magny-cours.com corners, a state-of-the-art 55 2 65 2 facility tucked away amid the Château Chicane 40 d'Eau 2 rolling meadows of central Lycée France. Often promotes A B extremely processional racing. Best race Pit lane Heinz-Harald Frentzen's 1999 135 4 win for Jordan in unpre- A Imola dictable wet-dry conditions. 130 170 4 Worst race 6 Estoril ’s demonstration 170 6 run ahead of his Williams team- C mate in 140 4 130 3 1996. At least Michael Schu- macher's Ferrari blew its engine 40 1 A warming up in torrid weather. Adélaide Drivers’ den 185 7 Nevers has little in the way of mph Golf 120 55 Gear 2 80 4 2 bright lights. Small farms and Nurburgring 180° country hotels up to 30 miles TV away provide accommodation. No of laps 72. Lap length 2.64 miles. Race distance 190.08 miles. Fastest lap 1min 15.045sec Top TV angle TV (D Coulthard, McL, 2002). First used 1991. World championship races 12. Most wins Ferrari, The shot from the outside of Williams (4). Pole last year J P Montoya (Wil). Winner last year M Schumacher (Fer). the second right-hand Estoril corner, which offers a brilliant Inside track crucial, because it dictates view of the entire track. Olivier Panis your speed down towards the Hot fact Adelaide hairpin at the end of A woman roller-skated down Hardest bit the long straight. That's the pit lane during practice at A Handling the kerbs to best where you have the best Magny-Cours’ first grand prix effect, particularly on the two chance of passing. in 1991. She turned out to be a very fast chicanes. The 180˚ Weekend highlight friend of the eccentric motor- Château d'Eau turn is also Well, Magny-Cours is sport boss Jean-Marie Balestre. tricky because you have to definitely a very important Admission (3 days) £90-£230. brake as well as turn, so it's circuit, very exciting for me easy to make a mistake. with all the French specta- Rival attraction Easiest bit tors. I get a lot of attention, B The exit of the first gear which can be tiring . . . but Frederic Blandin Ceramic Museum Lycée corner just by the pits. I love it. On Nevers’s Promenade des Ramparts The hard sell: “Two hundred It's important to negotiate Weekend lowlight pieces of earthenware this cleanly, but it shouldn't Looking back and reflecting are displayed —plates, be too difficult. You've got to that I don't normally do too bottles, toilet articles snatch a look at your pit well here, I hope something and lighting objects — boards here as well. will change this year with the and compared with Where to overtake . Traffic can be bad and that of other factories.” C The Estoril corner is the heat sometimes stifling.

Race result Pole Fastest lap Pts Time 1 10 : . 2 8 Drivers’ standings Constructors’ standings Pts Pts 3 6 1 1 2003 4 5 2 2 5 4 3 3 6 3 4 4 7 2 5 5

8 1 6 6 49