French GP: Qualifying report

Would anyone be able to deny Kristoffer Holm the pole position at Magny-Cours? That was the question on everyone's mind as the cars rolled out for the final qualifying segment. Holm had just dominated Q2 with a phenomenal 1:12.205 lap and with a seven tenths gap to the others, he was the main favourite for pole position.

In Q3, Mattias Holkedahl set the early pace with a 1:13.8 lap and with that lap time he remained at the top of the time table until the very end of the session when favourite Holm stepped forward. In the dying moments he overtook the lead with a 1:13.6 lap which was enough to get the pole position. Also Niklas Rudi was able to sneak past Holkedahl, with a 1:13.7 lap moving him up to second place.

Locksey didn't look quite as quick as usual and he had to settle for fourth, although still in a good position to keep his podium streak running. Adrian Holm in the second Renault finished fifth while Ekroth was sixth in the first of the Hondas. But the cheering in the Honda garage was for Mörtsjö who finally made it to Q3 and he looked much happier than in a long time. "I'm 1.6 seconds behind the pole sitter with a lap I'm not even happy with, so things are looking good for the race. For now I feel happy in tenth place, but next time I will be aiming higher", the Swede said after the session.

Christian Waltgård found himself distanced a bit by his teammate as he finished seventh, ahead of Jonas Andersson who seems to have closed in a bit on the drivers around him compared to earlier races. The only McLaren in Q3, Jonathan Grönqvist, finished ninth.

Benjamin Bonneville is first of the drivers outside the top ten. The Canadian did a good job in Q2, though he was still half a second from advancing to Q3. Martin Lindeberg put his Toro Rosso just a tenth behind Bonneville in twelfth, while Markus Tynkkynen's qualifying was heavily affected by electronics issues, leaving him 13th on the grid.

Ainis Noritis did not take part in qualifying but he will participate in the race. The Toyota team has said that both drivers will drive the race but with no Toyota cars on track neither on Wednesday nor Thursday, their participation is in some doubt.

If you are looking for more action, Saturday will be the day. Warmup will commence at 11.00 CET, followed by the 70-lap race.

French GP: Starting grid

* Kris Locksey's fastest laptime in Q2 has been dismissed due to going outside the track.

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French GP: McLaren stays on top in FP2

It was McLaren on top of things again during the second free practice session at Magny-Cours. This time it was Jonathan Grönqvist who finished first, only some 6/100 of a second slower than Tynkkynen's fastest lap in FP1. The two Renaults with the Holm brothers were next, and they set some truly impressive race pace lap times early in the session. Rudi in the Super Aguri also looked good, running on medium fuel loads for quite some time. The second McLaren with Tynkkynen behind the wheel was P5 but failed to impress as much as in FP1. Ekroth in the Honda was P6, and he too seemed to struggle finding yesterday's lap times. Ferrari had Kris Locksey on the circuit today, and he immediately looked strong, setting some truly impressive lap times that closely matched the Renaults.

Andersson in the Force India was P8 and he too impressed in race pace, hinting that Force India is rapidly closing in on the bigger teams. The two Williams cars with Waltgård and Holkedahl were P9 and P10, clearly evaluating their race setup with long stints. They will no doubt be challenging for points or maybe even podium places, judging by their pace. P11 was Lindeberg in his STR. Considering the lack of track time for him, he set some quite good lap times but seemed to lack a bit of stability. Mörtsjö in the second Honda was on longer stints, and even though the lap times weren't as quick as those by his team mate, the swede is looking stronger and more committed than in a long long time. Will he make it into Q3 today perhaps? Last man was Bonneville in the BMW, who definitely started to look better than during FP1. He still seems to have difficulties getting to grips with the car though, but with a bit of work he definitely will be someone to look out for.

French GP: Tynkkynen tops time sheets in FP1

It was the McLaren of Markus Tynkkynen that finished at the top of the time sheets after the first free practice session at Magny-Cours. The finn seems to have carried his great pace from Canada back to Europe. He was roughly two tenths ahead of Waltgård in the Williams, followed by Holm, Ekroth, Adrian Holm, Grönqvist, Mörtsjö, Rudi, Andersson, Bonneville and finally Noritis. Rudi was quickest in the beginning of the session, but wasn't able to improve his times as much as the other teams. The Super Aguri looked a little unstable at times, leaving room for work tomorrow. After technical problems, Honda's Hans Mörtsjö finally made it out of the pits, and he looked stronger than for quite some time, especially on low fuel runs. Holm was strong as usual, even though the Renault was very twitchy in the beginning of the session. Younger brother Adrian looked to be pretty much on pace with Kristoffer, both setting good times on high fuel loads. Grönqvist in the second McLaren focused more on longer stints and looked strong in race pace. Andersson and Ekroth were also on a similar assignments, both looking quick in race trim. Bonneville and Noritis were trailing behind the others a bit. Both the BMW and the Red Bull looked like they were lacking a bit of grip and overall stability.

The temperatures were slightly lower than expected, so the foreseen issues with the soft tyres were not as severe as the teams had expected. It's clear however that the tyre wear may affect the race strategies, so time will tell who will use what compound on Saturday.

French GP: Magny-Cours set to offer hot race

The weather forecasts for the upcoming French Grand Prix race week all indicate that the heatwave that has been going on since last week will continue, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius or even higher. This is by far the highest temperature this year at a location where the soft rubber compound has been used, so it is with a bit of uncertainty that the teams are looking forward to the first practice session on wednesday.

Competition wise, Ferrari are 18 points ahead of Renault in the constructor's championship and Locksey leads the driver's championship by 6 points, but the french squad has been looking quite strong lately so the Scuderia has a big challenge ahead of them, trying to stay on top of things. With Bohlin still prevented from driving due to his injury, times are tough for the italian squad, but Locksey has been brilliant so far this season and is likely to give everything he can to stop the Renault boys.

On the technical side, Bridgestone has been developing new tyre compounds but they are still regarded as experimental and will most likely not be used before the summer break. A few teams have been testing them with mostly good results, and the evaluation process will continue until enough input has been gathered. The FIA has the final word on whether or not to proceed with the process of introducing them.