Described at the time as an “earthquake”, the shockwaves expected by the disappearance of the French Grand Prix from the Formula One calendar have taken an awfully long time to make themselves felt. When the race finally takes place at Paul Ricard this weekend, a full decade will have passed since the last one was held at Magny-Cours.
France held the first grand prix in 1906, was integral to the establishment of organised motor racing and had been host to Formula One every year bar one since the championship began. Yet in 2008 the financial realities of modern F1 afforded it no special treatment and, unthinkable as it must have seemed to French fans, the sport simply took its leave. What was expected to be a short absence became a long wait and its return is understandably being celebrated.
It was that race in 1906 with its prize of 45,000 francs that gave the world the grand prix and France would host a further 85 before organisers of the F1 meeting were forced to drop it, unable to continue absorbing annual losses of close to £2m. The then president of the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile, Nicolas Deschaux, said he hoped the cancellation would “act as an earthquake and provoke some reaction from the state and private companies in France”.
The reaction did not prove to be swift but with its slow gestation has come an optimism that the race has a long-term future. The event has a five-year deal and is promoted by a public-private partnership backed by the regional government, who see it as an investment. The arrangement is notably similar to the one under which Spa on Wednesday extended its contract to 2021.
Renaud Muselier, president of the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, says he expects it to generate “almost €65m in economic benefits” and 500 direct and 1,500 indirect jobs. The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, who is president of the French GP organisation, also highlighted the expected returns to “ensure a considerable uplift in our tourism economy”.
They have the backing of Liberty Media too, which is keen to re-establish F1 in a market where it has previously been strong. Paul Ricard may be somewhat isolated geographically but Liberty have chosen to host this season’s second F1 Live event in, Marseille, 30 miles from the circuit.
Despite its location, Ricard is a good choice. Although it hosted 17 GPs, Magny-Cours was never taken to the hearts of French fans. This weekend, the race will be run on the full, classic version of the track at Le Castellet, rather than the truncated layout used after Elio de Angelis’s death during testing in 1986. The circuit hosted 14 races between 1971 and 1990 will run to 3.63 miles, including the 1.1-mile Mistral straight, which will once again lead into the flat-out glorious Signes right-hander.
The straight has been broken up by one chicane, an effort to offer a non-DRS overtaking opportunity, and the configuration was approved by Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso when presented to them.
The organisers see a future for the meeting there but France’s racing past is also rich and widespread. On a trip to visit forgotten tracks, inspired by the book Autodrome – The Lost Race Circuits of Europe, I discovered F1’s lingering legacy across the country.
There was then the frankly terrifying prospect of racing round the edge of a volcano – cliffs to one side, a sheer drop to the other – in the mighty challenge of the 5.1-mile Charade circuit at Clermont-Ferrand, so demanding it provoked motion sickness in some drivers. The super-fast triangular blast of the first track to host F1 in France, at Reims-Gueux, is a series of public roads now, the pits and grandstand stand as silent sentinels beside the D27. While Rouen-Les-Essarts, considered by many drivers to be the one of the best circuits in Europe, with the majestic Virage des Six Frères sequence, can only be discerned as once hosting five GPs after some scrabbling through undergrowth.
They all attracted huge crowds in their heyday and, with three French drivers as well as Renault on the grid, there is no shortage of home interest in the race’s return. Organisers are expecting to sell out their estimated 65,000 capacity at Ricard. It has been a long time coming, now all they need is a race that does justice to the wait.
Renault will be under scrutiny, of course, but they will be the focus of attention before a wheel has turned after Red Bull announced they were dropping them as an engine supplier and switching to Honda next season. It marks the end of a remarkable relationship. With Renault engines Red Bull took 57 wins and most notably four drivers’ and constructors’ championship doubles between 2010 and 2013 – a period of success overshadowed by the increasingly fractious relationship of recent years.
Red Bull’s decision is bold given Honda’s recent form but eam principal Christian Horner is confident the Japanese manufacturer will bridge the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari. McLaren, it must be noted, were similarly optimistic. Renault’s managing director, Cyril Abiteboul, responded by saying he hoped to make them “regret their decision”, outperforming them on track – verbal sparring that will doubtless be rejoined at Paul Ricard.
