© Vladimir Rys5 Facts About The French Grand PrixEverything you didn't think you needed to know about Formula One in France.
Notallgrandsprixarecreatedequal.Someeventsarehugeaffairs,cornerstonesofthesportingcalendar,tentpolesforthelocalregion,inwhicheverythingstopswhiletheraceisintown.Othersarealtogethermorelo-fi:beyondthegatetheracemayaswellnotexist.
This doesn’t necessarily show up on TV and, of course, it doesn’t make the slightest difference within the environs of paddock and pit lane – but get beyond the gate and it’s very easy to tell which is which – and make no mistake, the French Grand Prix is a huge event. There’s a buzz around a French Grand Prix that elevates it beyond being just another date on the calendar.
But of course it is. France is the ancestral home of motorsport, and has a constant presence at the heart of Formula One, providing a constant stream of teams, engines, drivers and sponsors. The races, wherever they go, tend to be impact events – usually with vast, midsummer crowds.
While races come and go, the loss of the French Grand Prix after 2008 was keenly felt in the paddock, and it’s return in 2018 was warmly received. Granted, we could have done without the medieval traffic management and fans would doubtless have preferred a few more thrills on track – but these will come: the French Grand Prix has spectacle in its DNA
Max At Paul Ricard© Vladimir Rys
The ten-year hiatus between 2008-2018, and the cancellation of the 1955 race have pushed the French Grand Prix down to sixth position in the list of most numerous FIA Formula One World Championship events.
Italy and Great Britain are the only ever-presents on the F1 calendar, appearing for the original championship in 1950 and every year since, for a grand total of 71. Next on the list is Monaco with 67 (including 2021), Belgium with 65, Germany with 64 and then France, which will host the 61st FIA Formula One French Grand Prix this week.
The history of the French Grand Prix, however, stretches back a lot further than that. The 1906 French Grand Prix, despite not quite being the first to carry the name, is regarded as the first grand prix, marking the transition in popularity from point-to-point events to circuit racing.
It’s classed as having taken place at Le Mans – but in reality, the 103km triangular circuit covered a vast swathe of the region, with Le Mans at the western tip. The race was won by Ferenc Szisz for Renault. It was a two-day affair across June 26th and 27th, with six laps on each day for a combined distance of 1,238km.
Heading Down The Home Straight© Vladimir Rys
Since the start of the World Championship era, the French Grand Prix has taken a peripatetic tour around France, stopping in at seven venues. The race was originally held on a street track through the fields outside Reims, in 1950, returning in 1951,’53-’54, ’56, ’58-’61, ’63 and ’66.
It alternated with Rouen-Les-Essarts (195252, ’57, ’62, ’94 and ’68), a brief foray to Le Mans (1967) the Circuit de Charade near Clermont-Ferrand (1967, ’69-’70, 1972). Ricard hosted the first of its 17 French Grands Prix in 1971, following that with races in ’73, ’75-’76, ’78, ’80, ‘’82-’83 and ’85-’90, alternating for the most part with the Dijon-Prenois circuit (1974, ’77, ’79, ‘’81, ’84).
The race left Ricard, seemingly for good, and headed to Magny-Cours in central France between 1991-’08, before falling off the calendar, only to return to Ricard for 2018 and ’19.
Painting The French Flag On Track© Getty Images
Perhaps the most famous event in French Grand Prix – or any grand prix – history is the titanic scrap between the Ferrari of Gilles Villenueve and René Arnoux in the closing stages of the 1979 race at Dijon.
They banged wheels, swapped positions half a dozen times and reduced the commentators to paroxysms of amazement.
Villeneuve eventually triumphed – but the driver you really have to feel sorry for is Jean-Pierre Jabouille, taking his – and Renault’s – first grand prix victory, not to mention becoming the first French winner of the World Championship French Grand Prix, 15 seconds up the road but barely featuring in the coverage then or ever since…
Circuit Paul Ricard© Vladimir Rys
The Circuit Paul Ricard has packed a lot into its 16 previous French Grands Prix, with three different track layouts being used.
Up until 1985 the races were held on the original (5.809km) full course, complete with the full Mistral Straight. Between 1986-1990, organisers lopped-off the northern end of the circuit, dropping the length to 3.812km and, in the process, giving spectators more bang for their buck with the lap-count going out from 53 laps to 80.
In the modern era, the race has gone back to something approximating the old track, with a 53-lap race on a 5.842km course. The most significant difference is that F1 today breaks the Mistral Straight in half, with a chicane in the middle.
While perfectly capable of hosting races, the modern Circuit Paul Ricard is primarily a testing track. It’s various cut-outs and diversions offer a potential 167 circuit variations, designed to test… pretty much whatever characteristics you want to test.
Capturing The Colours© Getty Images
The most distinctive features of the track are the striped run-off areas that replace gravel traps (which a test track would like to avoid if has the space to do so). The distinctive red-striped and blue-striped patterns are aesthetically striking – but they are designed to be arresting in a rather different manner.
More abrasive than the regular surface, and thus offering more grip and control, the blue pattern runs around the perimeter of the track, with the red run-off, with even greater abrasion and higher grip, being set further back for the drivers that really, really get it wrong.
