2019 French GP: FP2 – Analysis by sector (Ferrari, Mercedes & Red Bull)

Mercedes once again showed their superiority over the length of the track, but are they superior in all the sectors found in the Paul Ricard Circuit? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Free practice 2 (FP2) best times per sector

This analysis only takes into consideration the best sector time for each driver as long as it was done in FP2.

Max Verstappen posted the fastest time of sector 1. This is the slowest sector of the track, and Max showed how strong Red Bull is in the medium speed corners. Valtteri Bottas, however, was only 0.015 seconds away from the Dutchman, while Charles Leclerc managed to keep the Ferrari within 1 tenth of the fastest time.

Sector 2 is all about the speed. Long straight with DRS, followed by low to medium speed turns 8 and 9. Mercedes has the two best times of the sector, with Valtteri Bottas doing a 28.063 and Lewis Hamilton a 28.109. As expected, Ferrari is not far off the lead, with both Sebastian Vettel and Leclerc staying around half a tenth away from the fastest time.

Sector 3, a fast sector, dominated by fast and medium speed corners, is where we see a big gap between Mercedes and the other two teams. Vettel managed to do the sector in 40.446 seconds, 3 tenths slower than Bottas’ fastest time, and one and a half tenths slower than Hamilton’s time.

It is interesting to see Red Bull so far behind in sector 3. While this is indeed a fast sector, it is not a straight dominated one. The beginning and the end of this sector must definitely hurt the Austrian team, but you would expect them to be a bit faster, especially after considering that this is a sector highly dependent on aerodynamics, one of the strong areas of Red Bull. On top of that, it is worrying for them to be so far behind in sector 2, a part of the track where overtaking opportunities are found.

Finally, take a look at Leclerc’s and Vettel’s time in sector 1 and 3. Charles was 285 thousands of a second faster than the German in sector 1, while Sebastian was 310 thousands of a second faster than the Monegasque in sector 3. This perhaps suggests that both drivers are running different setups.

Free practice 2 (FP2) average time per sector

Red Bull was on average the fastest team in sector 1, with Mercedes behind  by only 37 thousands of a second. Ferrari was over a tenth behind Red Bull, and 81 thousands of a second behind Mercedes.

Mercedes was the fastest team in sector 2, outpacing the Scuderia by only 35 thousands of a second. Red Bull was very far behind both teams, dropping 3 and a half tenths in this middle sector.

The Silver Arrows were once again the fastest team in sector 3, this time dominating their rivals. Ferrari was on average almost 4 tenths away from the leaders, while the Austrian team was more than half a second away from Mercedes, and 144 thousands of a second separated from Ferrari.

Final remarks

Mercedes looks strong in all three sectors of the Circuit Paul Ricard. Valtteri Bottas had a great FP2 session, and will try to challenge Lewis for the pole position.

Ferrari shows pace in sector 2, however, they struggled in sector 3, dropping over 3 tenths over the fastest time of the section.

Red Bull, as expected, was competitive in sector 1, the slowest sector of the track. They were, however, over 3 tenths away from the fastest time in sector 2, and, interesingly, more than half a second slower than Bottas’ time in sector 3.

Unless something drastically changes tomorrow, it looks increasingly likely that Mercedes will take pole, with the Scuderia battling Red Bull for the second row positions.

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