What is your impression of Magny Cours?
Pascal Vasselon: It is one of the best races on the calendar because when you go there you know about serenity. You see cows in the fields and everyone is relaxed. People are different and it's a very nice place to go. There is not a large density of people and the whole atmosphere just promotes a nice feeling.
Are you serious?
PV: Absolutely! And not just because I'm French. Last year, I think that Red Bull's race preview was jokingly critical about the track being in the middle of nowhere - someone said it ended up on the front page of Le Monde! I think they said something about it being so quiet that the nearest night club is in Paris. But that's exactly what I like about it, the peace and quiet. You can concentrate on the racing and you are not disturbed. It's a place for racing enthusiasts. The paddock stays busy quite late because there is not much else to do.
Do you stay locally?
PV: Finding hotels is quite difficult and we often stay quite a long way away from the circuit. But we're out in the country, part of real life, and that is part of the charm of the place.
Is there anything special about the track itself?
PV: Not really. I'd say that overall Magny Cours is a very balanced circuit, almost medium in terms of everything. For brakes there is nothing special, in terms of downforce it's in the middle of the range and with tyres it distributes the stresses very well between the front and rear tyres, so it's not a front or rear-limited circuit, you have to take care of both axles. The only thing that makes the set-up a little bit difficult is that you have this very high kerb at the last chicane, where you sometimes see cars with four wheels off the ground. That's what stands out, otherwise it's very balanced with no extremes.
Many times we've team cars start beside each other on the grid. Is that because the car plays a more important role at Magny Cours?
PV: I don't know if statistics support that but it may be that in terms of driver skill there is nothing especially demanding and that in these circumstances the car performance dominates. That doesn't happen at somewhere like Monaco but yes, I suppose at Magny Cours we are leaning towards the machine being dominant.
Is the track especially sensitive to changes in the conditions?
PV: What is special in Magny Cours is surface temperature. The track surface is quite black and black tarmac, as soon as you have the slightest sunshine, has a real rise in temperature. As soon as you have the sunshine in Magny Cours you have 40 degrees track temperature and if you have a warm day you go to 55 degrees. So we often see extreme temperatures there, not because the ambient is hot but simply because of the characteristics and colour of the surface.
Why does it seem to be such a difficult track to race on?
PV: You have some ingredients that you would think would promote overtaking, like a very long straight followed by a slow hairpin. But, before the straight you have the very long, fast Estoril corner where cars cannot follow each other closely without losing front downforce. At Indianapolis for instance, cars can follow each other closely in the banked Turn 13 and onto the straight because they are not at the tyre limit on the banking and don't lose the downforce by following closely. But, in the Estoril corner you are obviously at the car limit and tyre limit and so the cars cannot follow closely. The car in front therefore opens up a gap that is very hard to close enough on the straight to allow an overtaking move under braking for the hairpin. So, we do tend to have some processional races.
How do you think Magny Cours compares with other venues that have hosted the French GP, such as Paul Ricard and Dijon?
PV: You cannot really consider Dijon these days because the facility is totally outdated. But of course everyone remembers it because of that battle between Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve in 1979. It became part of F1 legend. Paul Ricard is up to date but with a different compromise in that it has not been made for spectators.
So overall, you're a big Magny Cours fan?
PV: Yes. Definitely.
