VThis is information that will undoubtedly sadden French Formula 1 fans. In 2023, there will be no French Grand Prix, F1 thus not following up on the contract started in 2018 for races on the Castellet circuit. , in the Var. F1 boss Stefano Domenicali also said at a press conference on Wednesday that discussions were continuing with the promoter of the French GP and that the event could in the future enter into a rotation system with d other Grands Prix. All is not lost for the following years.
“Discussions are very, very open for a great future and a possibility, not next year but in the future, could also be to find some sort of rotation that would allow everyone to be part of the calendar,” said he explained.
France, like Belgium and Monaco, had not yet renewed the partnership with the World Championship for 2023. If the two other Grands Prix mentioned still have a chance of being on the calendar, France is therefore saying goodbye to F1, Formula 1 said on Thursday, confirming a statement by Domenicali reported by the team.
The search for balance
Returning to the Paul-Ricard circuit on the calendar in 2018, ten years after the last edition at Magny-Cours, near Nevers in the center of the country, the French GP is the sixth most contested Grand Prix in the history of F1 since 1950 with 62 editions.
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France, with a very strong motorsport tradition with still two drivers out of twenty, one team (Alpine) out of ten and one engine manufacturer (Renault) out of four in F1, therefore finds itself in the closet, like Germany (64 editions) which no longer has a Grand Prix.
F1, which is now exported to Saudi Arabia, Miami and next year to Las Vegas, seeks to “balance” its races between the different continents, between newcomers and “historic” Grands Prix. Faced with the growing interest in F1 and the new financial standards represented by the new Grands Prix, “history is not enough”, explained Domenicali, according to whom “the presence (of the so-called historic Grands Prix, editor’s note) cannot not be taken for granted”.