Preview / FRANCE LE Castellet

21/22/23 June 2019

Summary Cyril Abiteboul / Rémi Taffin / Nico Hülkenberg / Daniel Ricciardo / Academy / Track Notes / History

Friday 21st June 2019 Saturday 22nd June 2019 Sunday 23rd June 2019 Free Practice 1 11:00 - 12:30 Free Practice 3 12:00 - 13:00 Race 15:10 Free Practice 2 15:00 - 16:30 Qualifying 15:00

CYRIL ABITEBOUL

France is clearly an important milestone. Not only is it our home Grand Prix at Le Castellet, but also the opportunity to demonstrate a further improvement in our competitiveness.

We enter the French Grand Prix on the back of a strong team result in Canada. We demonstrated our ability to recover from a disappointing start to the season in a controlled and professional manner.

The execution of the weekend was good with Daniel and Nico delivering strongly in both qualifying and race. The result, and the manner in which we achieved it, should give us the confidence and motivation to push on through a demanding period of races with five Grands Prix before the summer break.

France is clearly an important milestone. Not only is it our home Grand Prix at Le Castellet, but also the opportunity to demonstrate a further improvement in our competitiveness.

While Canada, a power sensitive circuit, underlined the gains made in engine performance, France will see the introduction of several development items on the chassis. One thing is clear: we cannot dwell on Montréal and to aim for a repeat of that result and keep striving to reduce the gap to the front.

Pride and joy

After a strong outing in Canada, Engine Technical Director Rémi Taffin reflects on that success and outlines the blueprint to continue the form ahead of the highly-anticipated home race for the team at Le Castellet.

What are the demands of Circuit Paul engaged with our season now, but we have How special is the French Grand Prix for Ricard from a power unit perspective? more hard work to get through. We want the team, Renault and especially for the From an engine perspective, the demands to take fourth place back and move clearly Viry-based staff? are close to those of Montréal, however, ahead of the rest. There’s a very good feeling in the team, at Paul Ricard there are more medium to especially after Montréal. Staff members

high-speed corners. That’s something to How satisfied are you by the progress enjoyed that race – maybe for the first time Rémi Taffin take into account when setting up the car. made overall this season? this season. That’s a real boost for the team Renault F1 Team Engine Technical Director We demonstrated in Montréal the package We knew we had the performance in heading into our home race. When you can deal with long straights and big braking the engine right from testing and race race at home, you can feel the warmth of zones. The target on the power unit is to one. Overall, we had a good winter, the people and their energy and pride. At run as much as possible and be reliable conducted a lot of work on that front, but the same time, it also gives you an extra to allow the team to evaluate the chassis we were caught by two incidents in the motivation to deliver, albeit with a bit of upgrades we will bring. first two races. We showed our ability to added pressure. react to that. We introduced upgrades How well did the car deliver in Canada, in Barcelona, counter measures to our especially regarding the power unit? problems, and from there showed we could Montréal is an engine sensitive, high- firstly, be reliable, and secondly, show the powered track and it was pleasing to see performance of our power unit. good performance from the car. For the first time this season, we were able to see We have a good baseline but we know our whole package performing throughout there’s a lot more to do and more is still the entire weekend. What counts is doing to come. We could say in Montréal we it again and we have a great opportunity in were satisfied because we were where we France, our home race, to repeat that and targeted to be, at the front of the midfield. deliver to the same level. We clearly have There’s a very good feeling in the team, especially after Montréal. Staff members enjoyed that race – maybe for the first time this season. That’s a real boost. Q&A

NICO

renault F1 TEAM

Nico Hülkenberg returned to the points in Canada after a superb Sunday performance led to his seventh-place finish. Now the German is aiming for more at this weekend’s French Grand Prix at , the team’s home race.

What are your thoughts on Circuit How special is the team’s home What’s the feeling in the camp Paul Ricard? Grand Prix? after Canada? I’ve driven a lot of laps there in the past It’s obviously very special for Renault and Hard work always pays off. It was good to in different machinery, including last year the staff members. Last year was the first see such a strong team effort and a solid for my first French Grand Prix. The circuit French Grand Prix in 10 years and we had result at the end. We’ve underachieved at has a nice flow to it and the characteristics a lot of attention on us, but also a lot of previous races, sometimes through technical are maybe quite similar to the last round support from the French people. I think it faults or human error, so I feel we’ve always in Montréal with long straights, high top- was a big success overall and the whole had the potential for good results, but we speeds and big braking zones at the end of weekend went well. The atmosphere was haven’t scored points. Finally, we had a them. Sector one is quite tight and there great in and around the track, which is smooth and clean weekend to get points was some excitement at Turn 1 on race day always cool to see and motivating. We have on the board. It’s hopefully a turning point last year. Sector two brings a long straight a spring in our step and a bit of momentum in our season. We have some upgrades for into a sharp chicane and then sector three heading into the team’s home Grand Prix. this race, I’m excited for those, and hopefully begins with the very fast run through Everyone is carrying that extra level of they will add performance to the car to help Signes, which is a lot of fun, and a flowing motivation to do a good job, even more us close the gap to the front teams. We complex of turns to the start-finish straight. so after a successful race last time out. have a good package; the car is performing Hopefully this season we can do even better consistently and I’m feeling optimistic for than last year. Paul Ricard.

We have some upgrades for this race, I’m excited for those, and hopefully they will add performance to the car to help us close the gap to the front teams.

NICO

Q&A

DANIEL

renault F1 TEAM

Daniel Ricciardo sealed his best finish in Renault colours last time out with a sixth-place finish in Canada, all after qualifying a spectacular fourth on the grid. The Australian is growing in confidence in the Renault R.S.19 as it all begins to click into place.

How challenging is Circuit Paul Ricard? What’s the post-Canada mood? Are you excited for your first home Grand We’re coming into Paul Ricard on the back of It was great to see the positivity on Prix with the team? two non-permanent race tracks in Monaco everyone’s faces after the race. We entered I’m really looking forward to embracing the and Montréal where the walls are tight and the season with a lot of expectation on French atmosphere and hopefully doing the there’s little room for error. The risks are us. I think we’re really starting to come up team proud. I know it’s a significant race for a lot lower for France as it’s a very open and show our true pace. I’m glad the team them and how much it means to everyone circuit. It’s maybe a bit tame in comparison, enjoyed a strong weekend as it’s been involved. The target for France has to be but nevertheless, last year’s race was pretty stressful at times, but we kept working repeating the form of Canada. The team had cool and thrilling so it makes up for it! and now I’m optimistic this is the start of good pace at Paul Ricard last year, so there’s There are some long, technical corners to heading on the right path. There’s clearly certainly a good feeling there. We have some get through, which are a challenge. There a lot more work to do to catch up to our upgrades, which should mean the start of a are plenty of overtaking opportunities expectations, but fighting with the front trend of our true pace. It’s coming along well around the track to send one, so we’ll be three for a part of the Canada race was a and, as the car gets better, I’m also growing aiming to be in a position to make the most lot of fun. in confidence and I’ll keep getting of any chances. better with it.

We have some upgrades, which should mean the start of a trend of our true pace. It’s coming along well and, as the car gets better, I’m also growing in confidence and I’ll keep getting better with it. ACADEMY

FORMULA 2

Aitken, Hubert and Zhou ready for Ricard.

Renault F1 Team Test Driver Jack Aitken and Academy duo Anthoine Hubert and head to Circuit Paul Ricard, France, for round five of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship this weekend.

All three drivers enter the round inside the top seven of the championship with Jack fourth on 62 points, Zhou in fifth, eight points down on Jack, and Anthoine seventh on 46 points following his maiden Formula 2 victory last time out in Monaco.

Last season, Anthoine won his first GP3 race in Le Castellet in his title-winning year.

Anthoine Hubert

“It’s my home race; the one I’m most looking forward to this season! I like the track, the French atmosphere and the region. We are on a great curve of improvement with the team with still many things to learn and to improve. We will try to make another step forward in France and get some big points again and, why not, a podium! It would be great to stand there one year after winning in GP3!”

jack Aitken

“After a bit of a break to rest and learn a few things, I’m really looking forward to getting back on the track. This is the start of a busy run of races, so we’re looking to going out there and building some momentum this weekend!”

Guanyu Zhou

“I’m super excited to be back in Paul Ricard as I have good memories there. In my first season in Formula 3, at the first round, I was on the podium! I like the track, it suits my driving style well and I aim to keep the momentum going after strong rounds in Spain and Monaco. I’m hoping for another good weekend!” ACADEMY

formula 3

Back to the track for Fewtrell, Lundgaard and Yifei in France

Renault Sport Academy’s Max Fewtrell, Christian Lundgaard and Yifei Ye will race for the second time in 2019 as the FIA Formula 3 Championship goes to Circuit Paul Ricard for round two.

Christian enjoyed a memorable debut in the series in Barcelona, Spain, with second place in race one and sixth in race two as he sits second in the championship.

Max finished both races in Spain comfortably in the points with fifth and eighth with Yifei – signed to the Academy in April – missing out on scoring.

Yifei won four from four races at Le Castellet in 2016 on the way to winning the French Formula 4 title, while last season, Max, Yifei and Christian made up the Paul Ricard podium at the opening round of the .

Christian LundgaarD

“I can’t wait to get back in the car and race again. It’s been a long break where we’ve done a lot of preparation to get back in the game! We’re second in the standings after the first race, which is very positive and proves where we deserve to be.”

MAX FEWTRELL

“I’m really looking forward to getting out to Paul Ricard. We have a point to prove now after Barcelona where we finished fifth and eighth as those were not the results we wanted. We need to fix the problems from there and aim for some podiums and wins to get our season going. I’m aiming to step up the game!”

Yifei Ye

“I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming race in Paul Ricard, it has been a long time since the first round where we had a rough weekend after an unlucky qualifying, which compromised our two races there. We did a good job at winter testing in Paul Ricard and have worked hard together as a team so we are confident to come back and achieve great results.” TYRE SELECTION