VTEC.net Honda F1 Prixview - French GP at Magny Cours - 2002

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The upcoming race at Magny Cours in France marks the beginning of a very busy week for the teams. The race will take place on July 21, with the German GP taking place at the revised Hockenheimring on July 28. Following this pair of races will be the FIA's mandated three week shutdown, making that 10 day period the storm before the calm, as it were.

EJ11's on track at Magny Cours!

Last year, Jordan Honda had a decent race, with Jarno Trulli bringing his EJ11 home in fifth place, good for a brace of points. Heinz Harald Frentzen had a tougher time, spinning a couple of times due to difficulties with his traction control system and, ultimately, bringing his car home in 8th place. BAR had a tough time last year, with Jacques Villeneuve being knocked out on Lap 5 by a loss of electrical power, and Olivier fighting to bring his 003 home in 9th place.

Giancarlo Fisichella in his EJ12

Last year, the teams started off the season strongly, but then went backwards as the year went by. This year, the teams seem to be doing the opposite. Jordan (although reasonably quick) were hamstrung through most of the first half of the season with reliability troubles and unforced errors, while their erstwhile brothers at BAR were plagued with poor reliability and a sub-par package.

Both teams fought through restructuring management changes and have kept up the battle for improved pace. It should be no suprise, then, that in the last five races, the two Honda teams have begun showing the fruits of their efforts! Jordan have utilized their potential by pulling in six points and BAR have greatly improved their pace, tallying five points in soaring fashion with a 4-5 finish under changing weather conditions at last weekend's British Grand Prix!

Panis rides to fifth at Silverstone!

BAR and Jordan have indeed shown great improvement, but the gap from them to the front runners is still at least one full second. Winning a race or getting on the podium may be a bit difficult this year but if they continue their steady improvement, it may be plausible by the end of the season. The good results through this, the middle of the season, should help bolster the spirits of the factories! Hopefully, it will also bolster the checkbooks with new sponsorships!

Everyone loves to score!

Information on Honda's developments is a bit scarce right now. There's no doubting that they've improved the overall performance of the engine in the last few weeks, and they bring new parts and revised components to every GP. However, insofar as major new development parts are concerned, there's no indication of exactly when those pieces might be introduced. Hopefully they'll be able to give a few more horses to BAR and Jordan this weekend, as Magny Cours has some sections that are aided greatly by high revs and power!

Villeneuve in the wet at Silverstone

Magny Cours is an interesting track, in its setup, presenting fast, sweeping corners, tight bends, and a rather short pit-in and pit-out distance. As a race, it has seen a few exciting moments, including a Jordan Mugen-Honda win in 1999 and the 2000 "one digit salute" pass by David Coulthard over M. Schumacher at the hairpin. Largely, the race tends to be processional until a driver makes a mistake, has a bad pit stop, or retires.

Takuma Sato in the pits at Silverstone.

The big questions posed to the field this weekend will be related to the tires. Last weekend, at Silverstone, the Bridgestones dominated over the Michelins. In the wet, there was no comparison between the two; Bridgestone got it right. However, both Bridgestone and Michelin had teams burning up lots of miles on tire programmes this past week during testing. So, will it be wet? Will Michelin have more durable tires for their teams? Will Bernie Ecclestone be able to land his chopper?! It'll be a case of "wait and see" for this coming weekend!

TV Schedule for the U.S.

All U.S. Coverage will be exclusive to Speed Channel

Friday Practice

7:00 am
FORMULA ONE PRACTICE French Grand Prix

10:00 pm
TAPED REPLAY FORMULA ONE PRACTICE French Grand Prix


Saturday Qualifying Coverage

7:00 am
FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING French Grand Prix

12:00 pm
TAPED REPLAY FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING French Grand Prix


Sunday Race

7:30 am
FORMULA ONE French Grand Prix

8:00 pm
TAPED REPLAY FORMULA ONE French Grand Prix

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ONWARD HONDA!!!