The #FrenchGP has been run #OnThisDay 6 times, including in ’76, at the proper old Paul Ricard, whose 1.1-mile (1.8km) Mistral Straight was followed by the super-high-speed Signes right-hander. James Hunt (McLaren, car #11) won, lifting himself into world championship contention.

#HappyBirthday Jan Magnussen, only 52 despite his son Kevin being an #F1 veteran of 185 GP starts. Jan was - & is - a fine driver, a 4-time class winner at Le Mans & the most dominant #F3 driver of all time (14 wins out of 18 in ’94). Kev has always had better hair though.

Beautiful Keith Sutton pic of Roland Ratzenberger, in the Simtek S941, at Imola, in ’94, doing what he loved for the very last time. Ratzenberger was born #OnThisDay 65 years ago.

#HappyBirthday René Arnoux, 77. Pic: en route to his maiden GP victory, at Interlagos in ’80, in one of my favourite #F1 cars of the time, the beautiful cab-forward long-tailed Renault RE20.

There are many good things about having worked for the Aston Martin #F1 team, as I did in 2021 & 2022, but none was better than getting to know Seb Vettel, whose 38th birthday is today. So #HappyBirthday to a mega F1 driver; a clever man; a chummy chap; a wit; & a very nice guy.

The #FrenchGP has been run #OnThisDay 9 times - the earliest in ’27, the latest in 2005. The driver-car combo of John Watson & Brabham BT45B was one of the fastest of the ’77 #F1 season, yet no wins eventuated. Pic: his unluckiest near-miss came at Dijon #OnThisDay 48 years ago.

RT @Cadillac_F1: We’ve teamed up with Keanu Reeves to host a brand new docuseries following our story in full, from day one to debut in 202….

RT @diagonalcomms: Our team visited Silverstone last week for our client, @Cadillac_F1 🇺🇸🏎️. We brought over 20 journalists to the team's b….

RT @diagonalcomms: Before round five of the @BTCC season at Oulton Park, our team organised for Un-Limited Motorsport's drivers Nicolas Ham….

Spotted in this morning’s #Metro: why do so many media insist on referring to the UK’s premier tennis tournament by the first half of its post code? Shall we #F1 folk start referring to the #BritishGP as NN12?!

The #F1 #FrenchGP has been run #OnThisDay 7 times - in ’50, ’61, ’67, ’72, ’78, ’95 & 2000. The ’78 race is rarely hailed as a classic, but it should be, for James Hunt’s 3rd place was truly heroic. Click to read a @Motor_Sport column I wrote about it.

Remembering David Purley, who died in a light aeroplane #OnThisDay 40 years ago. A quick man, he started 7 #F1 GPs, his last Dijon ’77 in a Lec CRP1 (pic). He won the George Medal for trying vainly to save his friend Roger Williamson, whose car was on fire, at Zandvoort, in ’73.

Remembering Reg Parnell, born #OnThisDay in 1911. He drove 6 GPs, best result 3rd in the first ever championship #F1 GP, Silverstone ’50. Underrated IMHO, he won several non-championship F1 races & was a sports car ace. Pic: Maserati 4CL, pre-championship F1 race, Zandvoort, ’48.

RT @PeterDWindsor: I took this pic at a Snetterton test in April, 1967. That's Richard Attwood talking to the owner of the smart F2 Cooper-….

Yesterday was Ralf Schumacher’s 50th birthday. A fast man, if inevitably always operating in his big bro’s shadow, he never seemed to be having much fun back in the day, even when he was winning #F1 GPs. Click below to read my brand-new @Motor_Sport column.

RT @Motor_Sport: How would you rate Ralf Schumacher's #F1 career?. @TheBishF1 suggests he was faster than you remember .

#AnorakFact: one of the all-time greats, Achille Varzi (pic) was the first man to win the #TargaFlorio & the #MilleMiglia in the same year (’34). He scored many great victories &, later, he became addicted to morphine. He was killed in an Alfa at Bremgarten #OnThisDay in ’48.

Robert La Caze raced an #F2 Cooper in the ’58 #MoroccanGP (pic); then he went skiing, becoming Moroccan champion; then he ran a garage in Marrakech. #AnorakFact: he was the oldest living #F1 driver from the death of Paul Pietsch (2012) until his own death #OnThisDay in 2015.

The #F1 #FrenchGP has been run #OnThisDay 6 times, & the best of them was the ’79 race, won by Jean-Pierre Jabouille but starring Jabouille’s Renault team-mate René Arnoux & Ferrari’s Gilles Villeneuve. Watch & enjoy!.

Remember Jim Clark like this, in a Lotus 25, at Reims, #OnThisDay in ’63, en route to grand chelem victory 1min 4.9sec ahead of the field, having never been headed & having driven fastest lap, a day after having taken the pole 0.7sec up on the 2nd-placed man. Pic: Bernard Cahier.