F1 Qualifying Predictions: French Grand Prix 2018

The French Grand Prix has officially returned to the Formula One calendar and the first and second sessions of Free Practise are out of the way.The most notable feature of the two sessions wasn’t any particular car or driver, but probably the complex nature of the Paul Ricard circuit. The track utilizes blue and red painted run-off areas that, along with the different circuit layout combinations, might cause slight dizziness at first glance.The red stripes are the more abrasive and gripping of the two, and both are supposed to slow down high-speed cars that might take a detour from the regular piece of tarmac.However, the first practice was brought to a halt by Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber spinning off and the colourful lines were not enough to stop the car from hitting the barriers and catching fire. Thankfully, the Swedish driver climbed out of his car and walked off.The weekend is setting up to be an exciting one as not all drivers have experience of racing at the Paul Ricard.To top it off, the driver’s championship is shaping up quite nicely, with only one point separating the top two contenders, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.It remains to be seen whether either of the two would show up and claim the win on Sunday or whether it would be snatched from them by someone else entirely, but either way, the race promises to be an exciting affair.Let’s have a look at five predictions for the qualifying session on Saturday: #5 The Frenchmen have a collective good weekendThe French drivers would be looking forward to driving in front of the home fans and would be hoping for a satisfactory resultThree Frenchmen would be racing in this year’s French Grand Prix- Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean. All of them would be looking forward to driving in front of the home fans and would be hoping for a satisfactory result.Haas have shown improvement during Friday practice and luck might be turning a tide for Grosjean who finished sixth during both the sessions. If he were to have a smooth drive on Saturday, he could acquire a top ten grid position.Gasly has also shown speed and might feature in the list of Q3 drivers if things were to go as per plan for the Toro Rosso driver. The 22-year-old has been continuously impressive this season and he would be likely to put in a good performance in his homeland.However, it seems to not be a weekend to rejoice for the third Frenchman. While Force India would be hoping for Ocon to secure a competitive position, it is looking dubious with Ocon running in the bottom half of the group.

F1 Qualifying Predictions: French Grand Prix 2018

#4 McLaren bad to worse