Qualifying: Saturday, June 19th, 8:00 a.m. CST (ESPN2)
Race: Sunday, June 20th, 8:00 a.m. CST (ESPN)
Ahhhh, the French Grand Prix: home to the largest concentration of fashionable, rude, chain-smoking, Formula 1 fans on Earth. This weekend kicks off the first triple-header of the season and begins a frenzied run into the summer break in August.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton remain separated by only four points in the drivers standings, while Red Bull holds a 26-point lead over Mercedes in the constructors.
The Track
Toto, we are not in Baku anymore. After two straight grand prix at street tracks, F1 returns to its regularly scheduled race track programming in France.
With its even mix of high, medium, and slow speed corners, Circuit Paul Ricard draws many comparisons to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. And, like Barcelona, the site of the French Grand Prix is a popular testing site for the teams in the off-season.
If you feel yourself starting to sweat after reading the words “testing site” and “like Barcelona,” I can assure you the feeling is perfectly normal. Yes, Circuit Paul Ricard features acres of run-off areas that fail to adequately punish mistakes. No, we will not see much overtaking this weekend. Yes, a cold towel and DayQuil will help slow the fever.
Is Circuit Paul Ricard the most inspiring F1 track? Nope, but c’est la vie. Like with time, we must never wish away a grand prix.
The Venue
Hosted in the south of France, just east of Marseille, this week’s grand prix takes place in one of the most scenic locales on the F1 calendar. Marseille is the oldest city in France and the third-most populous after Paris and Lyon.
According to Wikipedia, foreigners refer to the Mediterranean port city as the “Detroit of France,” a burn so harsh that I now regret my crack in the intro. However, I imagine the residents of Marseille feel just fine with their choice of home.
Beyond the Paddock
One of Marseille’s favorite sons was Paul Cezanne, a painter who played a pivotal role in art history. Cezanne honed his craft during the time of Impressionism, a period made famous by Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and Edgar Degas, among others. The impressionists obsessed over light and used it to depict emotion, time, and movement.
The Cubists (think Picasso) began to gain popularity near the start of the 20th century. Cubism was defined by its more three-dimensional, geometric style relative to Impressionism.
Paul Cezanne received the baton from the Impressionists and handed it to the Cubists. His work took cues from those of the past while inspiring the artists of the future. Picasso even went as far as to call Cezanne “the father of us all.”
Cezanne paid tribute to his hometown with one of his most famous pieces: The Bay of Marseille, a painting that perfectly straddles the line between Impressionism and Cubism.
Currently housed in the Chicago Institute of Art, the museum has this to say about the piece:
Cézanne divided the canvas into four zones—architecture, water, mountain, and sky. Although these four elements are seen repeatedly in Impressionist paintings, Cézanne’s work is very different from that of his fellow artists… Filling the canvas with shapes defined by strong, contrasting colors and a complex grid of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines, he created a highly compact, dynamic pattern of water, sky, land, and village that at once refers back to traditionally structured landscape paintings and looks forward to the innovations of Cubism.
Miscellaneous Cool Stuff
Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean takes us around the track at his home grand prix
All the rumors are suggesting George Russell will replace Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes next year
The complete works of Paul Cezanne