Sainz looking over his shoulder at Le Castellet

After having a strong lead in the championship, Carlos Sainz (DAMS) has seen Roberto Merhi (Zeta Corse) catch right up.

The gap is now just 16 points and while the two drivers have yet to battle one another directly on the track, the fight between the two Spaniards could intensify at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Who will have the psychological and points advantage at the start of the season finale at Jerez?

Championship outsider Pierre Gasly (Arden Motorsport) will have home track advantage and, more than ever before, aim for his maiden victory to keep his title hopes alive. The French driver won in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 here last year. His former rival, Oliver Rowland (Fortec Motorsports), will try to get the better of Pierre Gasly after finishing behind the Frenchman twice at the Hungaroring.

Returning to the top five in the general classification after the preceding round, Will Stevens (Strakka Racing) will have his work cut out to hold his current position against Sergey Sirotkin (Fortec Motorsports) and Norman Nato (DAMS). While the Frenchman hopes to continue the momentum that took him to the win last week, the Sauber F1 Team reserve driver wants to bounce back following a non-points scoring weekend in Hungary.

For the others, the race for the title is already over. Zoel Amberg (AVF) and Marlon Stockinger (Lotus) must, however, respond to keep their positions after a disappointing meeting. They will be up against Jazeman Jaafar (ISR), Matthieu Vaxiviere (Lotus) and Marco Sørensen (Tech 1 Racing), all of whom entered the top 10 in Budapest.

Pole winner at the Paul Ricard Circuit last year, Luca Ghiotto (International Draco Racing) would like to create a surprise to move up the general classification, as would team-mate Pietro Fantin, Matias Laine (Strakka Racing) and Beitske Visser (AVF).

As for William Buller (Arden Motorsport) and Oscar Tunjo (Pons Racing), they will want to build upon their strong qualifying performances, just like Meindert van Buuren (Pons Racing), who had his best race of the year with a fifth place result last Sunday.

After scoring points in his maiden race, Esteban Ocon (Comtec Racing) returns to the venue where he won his first race in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

And finally, Nicholas Latifi (Tech 1 Racing) and Cameron Twynham (Comtec Racing) will be looking to pick up their first points of the season.