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Charles Pic digest

Nationality: French, Born on February 15th, 1990; Lives in Avignon (South-East of France)

2004: Karting Junior ICA, French Championship, 3rd

2005: Karting Junior ICA, European Championship Western qualification race winner; 3^rd in European Championship Final; Margutti Trophy winner; Italian Junior Championship runner-up

2006: French Formula Campus Renault Elf Championship, 3rd (2 race wins, 2 pole positions)

2007: Formula Renault 2.0, 3^rd in Eurocup (1 race win, 5 podium finishes, 2 pole positions), 4^th overall in French Championship and Rookie runner-up (4 overall podium finishes, 1 pole position)

Charles Pic, Tech 1 Racing driver, FFSA French Circuit Team member

Formula Renault 3.5 Series, 8^th & 9^th rounds, Hungaroring July 5-6 2008 

Sweet and sour 

Hungary saw Charles Pic back in the Superpole and picking up some championship points. He was going extremely well in open practice and qualifying but by the end of the weekend the French youngster was forced to make do with a disappointing 9^th place which was well below his expectation. 

Unlike at Monza, Spa, Monaco and Silverstone, Charles started with the advantage of already knowing the Hungaroring, having raced there last season in a Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup event. Of course things happen more quickly in a 3.5 litre car but Charles made the most of his prior knowledge of the circuit and was soon kicking up the dust on the Thurday. The 1’32’’561 lap he clocked was not bettered by anyone during the two days of testing. 

When the time came to qualify for the Superpole runoff, Charles sailed into it with the 4^th fastest time in Group B. He was 4^th over the line in the Superpole session but his best lap was docked because he didn't slow down enough for the yellow flag. So in the end he was only 8^th. However, the main thing was that he qualified for a spot on the front four lines of the grid in both races. In fact he was in pole position in race 1 thanks to the reverse grid rule. 

At 2:45PM sharp the lights went out for Saturday's race. Charles' rear wheels spun as he dashed out of the blocks and two cars seized the opportunity to get ahead of him going into braking for the first bend. The Tech 1 Racing driver held on to 3^rd for several laps before losing it to team-mate Julien Jousse. Then it was Marco Barba's turn to attack him, and everyone started wondering what was up with Dallara-Renault No. 2. After the race, team manager Simon Abadie came up with the reason.  "We found out that Charles had a slow puncture and that was what spoiled his race." So that's why Charles spun while he was still well in the running for a podium place. The incident put him at the back of the pack and eventually back in the pits, when he had to abandon the race three laps from the end.

On Sunday, the Hungaroring audience reached the remarkable figure of 120,000. Charles didn't want to come away empty-handed, especially as he badly need some championship points going into a summer break that would keep him away from the track for eight weeks. That decided him to play safe and he eventually came home 9^th, which gave him two points. 

The next meeting is at the Nürburgring next August 30-31. Charles not only knows this circuit, he has also won here. It was here at the foot of the Eifel Hills that the young driver from Montelimar first hit the headlines in 2007 with his maiden victory in international racing. He certainly wouldn't say no to the taste of Champagne on his lips again!

Oh, Perfidious Albion! 

The Frenchmen who crossed the Channel with a view to conquering the sceptred Isle's Formula Renault 3.5 battalions didn't fare to well... and Charles Pic was no exception. The young man from Montélimar came away from Silverstone with nothing to show for all his effort and gritty determination. However, it's only a battle he has lost, not the war. 

Yet Charles had started the British leg of the World Series by Renault well enough, clocking the 2^nd fastest time in the third session and coming 4^th overall in open practice on the Thursday and the Friday. But he had to dig deep to pick up the 5^th fastest time in his qualifying group. "I tried my best to improve my position in the final lap but the back wheels lost adherence in the fast Maggots bend and I went off on the grass, damaging both suspension triangles and the underneath of the car. Coming 5^th qualified me for the Superpole run-off but unfortunately there wasn't enough time for the team to get the suspension properly set up in time for the start of the session." 

Twelve cars take part in a Superpole run-off but only the first eight are guaranteed a place at the four front rows of the grid of the two races. This proved to be an impossible task for Charles, despite his best efforts to attack throughout the session. As a result, he started Race 1 in 12^th place on the grid and further disappointment was to follow. After a lacklustre start, the recent Monaco winner never seemed to be on the pace and had to make do with a modest 15^th spot at the finish, a result which automatically dropped him down to 16^th on Sunday's start grid. 

The FFSA Team France driver had a much better end to the weekend although you might not think so looking at the results of Race 2. A radio transmission fault meant that Charles was unaware that team-mate Julien Jousse was already in the pits when he came in for a tyre change, so he lost 15 seconds. He nevertheless managed to clock the second fastest lap in the race in superb style.  This was reassuring both for driver and team, although it did cause a few regrets because with that level of performance they might have expected to come away from the meeting with more to show for their efforts.  

In the championship standings, team-mates Charles Pic and Julien Jousse are both sitting on 31 points. That's a coincidence! 31 is the number of the French 'departement' that Tech 1 Racing team calls home. Measured on that scale, however, leader Giedo Van der Garde's 84 points conjure up the sunny Vaucluse! Not to worry, the second half of the season only starts in Hungary, so there is plenty of time for the leading rookie of the series to make up time. See you all in Budapest next July 5-6!

Formula Renault 3.5 Series, 5^th round, Monaco May 24-25 2008 

Pic peaks in Monaco

It’s no exaggeration to say that after taking pole position, clocking the fastest lap in the race and taking the chequered flag for victory in the Monaco GP curtain-raiser, Charles Pic was the prince of Monaco in his maiden race there! At just 18, the Tech 1 Racing driver is the season's only rookie and only French driver to have won a Formula Renault 3.5 race so far. 

The thing which most caught people's attention was the ease with which he mastered a circuit that he didn’t know under decidedly awkward weather conditions. He snatched pole position during qualifying with an amazing final lap, flying home a full 1’’313 ahead of his closest rival. “The track was wet at the start of the session so we were all on rain tyres. Then we saw that some drivers had mounted their slicks and improved their times. After coming into the pits I only had a single lap in which to go for it before the final flag. In times like this you need all the confidence you can muster, so having a perfect set up is vital. I really must thank the team for all the work they put in to provide me with a car that ran cleanly and reliably all weekend. " 

That said, the way Charles controlled the race was worthy of an old hand. Time-wise nobody managed to get within half a second of his fastest lap. The young FFSA Team France driver said "I attacked hard in the opening laps in order to open up a gap between myself and championship leader Giedo Van der Garde. When the safety car cancelled out my gap I repeated the same strategy after the restart. I lost a bit of time getting past a back-marker because I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks." Still, at that time Charles was still holding a comfortable lead but it was once again put in doubt when the safety car had to make another sortie. This time however three cars were stranded in the Massenet turn. Since the 44-minute threshold had passed the race officals decided to red-flag the race. Charles' victory was unequivocal and not as unexpected as all that, given that he was already on the podium in Monza in his very first Formula Renault 3.5 outing! 

He received his trophy from the hands of Carlos Ghosn, President of Renault Nissan. Not only is this spectacular result good for Charles in terms of his reputation but it also does him no harm as far as the championship standings are concerned. He is lying 3^rd in the current standings going into the next round at Silverstone next June 7-8. "I'm not thinking about the championship for the moment. I still have such a lot to learn. The main objective at Silverstone will be to avoid making mistakes."

Formula Renault 3.5 Series, 3^rd and 4^th rounds,

Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) May 3-4 2008 

Charles comes a cropper at Combes 

No sooner had they returned from Monza than the Formula Renault 3.5 Series drivers headed off to Francorchamps for the second round. A good crowd enjoyed a sunny weekend for this 'World Series by Renault' race which was contested at one of the greatest F1 venues. After picking up a podium place in Italy, Charles Pic was on his way to more points in Belgium when the fates intervened to decide otherwise.

This was the Tech 1 Racing rookie's first taste of the 'Ardennes toboggan' but he soon showed his mettle by clocking the 2^nd fastest time in open practice, just behind championship leader Van der Garde. "I drove as much as I could in the morning so that we could work on the data acquired. This enabled me to make rapid progress from the second session onwards. The results were satisfactory after practice so I thought I was able to qualify for the SuperPole." This is a new feature that was introduced at Spa. The six fastest from each qualifying group go on to race against each other in a final session. The eight best times decide the front four grid rows for the two main races, the first of which is run in reverse order and the other in standard fastest first order.

Charles managed to stay in the top six on Saturday morning but he just got pipped at the line in the final qualifier and came in 7^th. "It's a choker to miss the SuperPole for the sake of 82 thousandths of a second at the flag but that's motor racing."

Since he was only starting 13^th the aim was to get amongst the points by finishing in the Top 10, so as to be close behind the eight SuperPole starters in race 2. He managed to avoid a collision at ‘La Source’ bend and climbed two spots. Quick in the first fast portion of the circuit, Charles slipstreamed to good effect on several occasions in the long straight coming out of the Raidillon bend. He climbed several places this way. Lying 8^th a third of the way through the race, Charles was going well when Spanish driver Marcos Martinez halted his progress. "He was slipstreaming me going into the Combes chicane and tried to take me on the outside. I held him off by braking late but he shot straight on and blocked the centre of the bend. There was no way I could have avoided him. We touched wheels and my car overturned and rolled. This was galling because the team had done a great job to get us up to scratch after the qualifying session."

Charles' task in Sunday's racing was made harder having to start in 20^th position on the grid. His race included a mandatory pit stop, which the Tech 1 driver opted to take in Lap 6.  “I had already made up 4 or 5 places by the time I came in for the pit stop. I have the team to thank for a particularly speedy tyre change. Thanks to them I was able to rejoin the race in 9^th place. Then as I was trying to get past di Sabatino I ran a bit too wide round the left hander following the ‘Brussels’ bend and lost three places. Unfortunately I finished the race two places off the points."

Charles will encounter different conditions in the next round, which will take place on the prestigious Monaco circuit. A single Formula Renault 3.5 Series race will be run as a starter for the Formula One Grand Prix on May 24-25.

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