After a decade-long absence this weekend marks Formula 1’s return to France, home of motor-racing, the baguette and the nonchalant shoulder shrug. Motorsport Week previews the event and provides the key statistics.
History
The French Grand Prix was first officially held in 1906, after several events held under private entities, with Ferenc Szicz (a statue of whom is present at the entrance to the Hungaroring, incidentally) victorious for Renault, with the roads around Le Mans used for the circuit layout.
The roads near several major cities played host to the event across the coming decades, with a handful of interruptions – most prominently the outbreak of the two World Wars.
Reims and Rouen shared hosting duties in the early years of the official Formula 1 World Championship through the 1950s and early 1960s, while in 1967 a visit was made to Le Mans, on the smaller, and unloved, ‘Bugatti’ circuit.
Clermond-Ferrand was preferred for four races (1965, 1969-70, 1972) but Paul Ricard emerged as the favoured venue.
Paul Ricard was first used in 1971 and split hosting responsibilities with Dijon-Prenois (which itself also held the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix) until it became the sole venue from 1985 to 1990.
For 1991, the event switched to Magny-Cours but a worsening financial situation prompted organisers to withdraw after the 2008 running.
Magny-Cours and Paul Ricard both hosted F1 testing while new projects were evaluated, with a race near Disneyland Paris mooted and a new circuit at Flins-Les-Mureaux planned – but neither came to fruition.
Instead, it was confirmed in December 2016 that Paul Ricard would return to the schedule and host a round of the 2018 championship, re-starting the French Grand Prix after a 10-year break.
Somewhat fittingly, Friday’s first day of track action will be exactly 10 years to the date since race day of the 2008 event!
Circuit
The Circuit Paul Ricard – also known as Le Castellet, after the commune in which it is based – was built in 1969 in the Provence region under the guidance of the eponymous pastis magnet, near to Marseille, and only a couple of hundred kilometres away from Monaco.
Formula 1 will use the 5.842km layout at Paul Ricard, with a chicane to break up the long Mistral Straight, and plenty of strikingly blue-and-red run-off for drivers, scientifically designed in order to reduce car speed.
The lap begins with the medium-speed long-radius left-right complex at Verriere, which leads into a slower right-left sequence and then the long Sainte-Baurne turn, before a flick left at L’Ecole, signalling the start of the Mistral Straight.
A left-right chicane will break up the Mistral Straight while the fastest corner on the circuit is the sweeping right-hander at Signes, which leads into the double right of Beausset.
A sequence of medium-speed corners, before the final tight right turn at Virage du Pont brings the drivers around for another lap.
“It’s been my dream for years to be racing in front of my home crowd and now I will finally experience the fantastic feeling of a home Grand Prix,” says Force India’s Esteban Ocon.
“When the race was announced, it was the best news from the whole of last year and I’m really looking forward to it.
“I am very proud of the work of all the people involved in bringing the French Grand Prix back and I hope the event will be a success.”
What happened in 2017?
Well, there was no French Grand Prix in 2017.
The most recent French Grand Prix, held at Magny-Cours, was won by Felipe Massa, who led a Ferrari 1-2 after Kimi Raikkonen’s exhaust came loose during the race.
The most recent French Grand Prix to be held at Paul Ricard – which came on the shorter circuit – featured a remarkable performance by the minnow Leyton House squad.
Ivan Capelli led until an engine issue three laps from home promoted Ferrari driver and local hero Alain Prost into the lead – though Capelli still secured an astonishing podium result.
Prost’s victory was his fifth of six secured at the French Grand Prix, though his record tally was later surpassed by Michael Schumacher, who set a new benchmark with eight wins at the same event.
All eight of Schumacher’s French Grand Prix wins came at Magny-Cours, achieved in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Louis Chiron claimed five victories – all in the pre-F1 era – while Juan Manuel Fangio and Nigel Mansell both took four wins in the country in their respective careers.
The absence of the event from the calendar means that only F1’s two most experienced drivers – Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso – have tasted victory in the country, albeit at Magny Cours.
Raikkonen triumphed for Ferrari in 2007, two years after Alonso delivered a home win for Renault en route to his maiden world title.
The majority of the other drivers have experience of Paul Ricard in recent years, either through time spent in junior formula or in recent Pirelli tyre tests.
Other details
Tyre supplier Pirelli has nominated the Ultrasoft (purple), Supersoft (red) and Soft (yellow) tyres for this weekend’s event.
The tread depth of the tyres, as it was in Barcelona, and will be again at Silverstone, will be slightly lower, due to the recently-laid smooth yet high-grip surface and the characteristics of the circuit.
Either the Supersoft or Soft tyres must be run for one stint of the 53-lap Grand Prix, should dry conditions prevail.
There will be two DRS zones, one located along the pit straight and the other on the back straight.
Formula 2 and the GP3 Series will return to action following a four- and six-week break respectively.
The race start has been pushed back by an hour in order to avoid a clash with the World Cup fixture between England and Panama, with the rest of the weekend also falling in line with such an approach.
Weather forecast
Friday: Sunny spells, 29°c
Saturday: Risk of showers, 23°c
Sunday: Sunny spells, 24°c
Timetable: (GMT+2)
Friday 22 June
FP1: 12:00 – 13:30
FP2: 16:00 – 17:30
Saturday 23 June
FP3: 13:00 – 14:00
Qualifying: 16:00 – 17:00
Sunday 24 June
Race: 16:10 (53 laps or two hours)
What next?
The Red Bull Ring at Spielberg will host the ninth round of the season, the Austrian Grand Prix, from June 29 to July 1.