Paul Ricard Speed Trap: who is the fastest of them all?

Paul Ricard's Mistral Straight is split up by a chicane, but when it comes to top speed, the venue still delivers big speed trap numbers, especially for one team in particular.

Ferrari had the measure of Red Bull in qualifying for the French Grand Prix on Saturday, thanks in part to the skillful slipstream team tactics deployed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and which helped the latter beat Max Verstappen to pole.

But the two teams' very different approaches to the race – inherent to their respective car's design and set-up – may well see a raging bull vanquish its prancing horse rival at the end of the day.

With less drag, Red Bull's RB18 topped the speed trap readings in qualifying as it breezed down the straight at a cool 339.9 km/h, or approximately 6 km/h faster than Leclerc's Ferrari.

However, with more downforce, the Scuderia's F1-75 has the edge over its Red Bull rival in the corners.

But that aero configuration may also load up the Ferrari's tyres and produce more degradation over time relative to Red Bull, and tyre deg might well be the ultimate deal breaker for either team in Sunday's race given the day's scorching temperatures.

• Read also: Verstappen still confident of Sunday success in France

A pre-race favourite to join the fight at the front this weekend, Mercedes' prospects haven't panned out so far, with the team at a loss to understand its increased one-lap deficit to the front-runners in qualifying in France.

But the fact that the bottom four slowest cars on the Mistral straight in qualifying were all powered by Mercedes offers a solid clue of where the W13's weakness lies this weekend.

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