What is immediately obvious is that the 2017 French Grand Prix was much faster than the 2016 one.
43'29.793 against 43'51.290, or almost 22 seconds saved over the 28 laps of the race, in completely equivalent conditions. As we can see on the graph, this was not so much at the start of the race where the times were noticeably similar until the sixth lap before widening slightly until mid-race, when the 2017 times started to be about a second lower than those of the previous year.
We can undoubtedly put this to the credit of new surface of the Bugatti circuit, but also to that of the Michelin tires which, instead of deteriorating, allowed constant acceleration throughout the race, Maverick Vinales even setting the best lap in the race during the last lap.
The curves also show a very close race until the 23rd lap between Viñales, Zarco, Rossi and Pedrosa, when Valentino Rossi decided to attack and lead the train. The Italian driver therefore had a perfect race until his small drop in the last lap which led to a frantic comeback ending as we know…
Could he have passed Vinales in the final turns? Yes, undoubtedly, by forcing the passage a little, but note that the latter managed to surpass himself in the last lap, “closing your eyes” and preparing for contact with Rossi, as he declared at a press conference (see here)
Note again that Johann Zarco's soft tires did not fail, his slowdown during the 27th lap being only caused by the desire to secure the second step on the podium...
