Formula 1 confirmed to AFP on Thursday that there will be no French Grand Prix in 2023 and therefore the contract that began in 2018 for racing at Circuit Castelet (VAR) will not be pursued.
F1 chief Stefano Domenicali also said at a press conference on Wednesday that discussions were continuing with the French grand prix promoter and that the event could in the future enter into a rotation scheme with other grands prix.
“The discussions are very open to a great future and the possibility, not next year but in the future, that it might also be to find some kind of rotation that allows everyone to be part of the calendar,” he explained.
France, like Belgium and Monaco, has not yet renewed its partnership with the 2023 World Championships.
Formula 1 said on Thursday that if there is still a chance for the other Grand Prix races mentioned in the calendar, France will bid farewell to Formula 1, confirming Domenicali’s statement reported by L’Equipe.
Back at Paul-Ricard on the calendar in 2018, ten years after the last edition at Magny-Cours, near Nevers in the center of the country, the French Grand Prix was the sixth most competitive Grand Prix in F1 history since 1950 with 62 edition.
France, which has a very strong motorsport tradition with two drivers out of 20, one (Alpine) team out of ten and one engine factory (Renault) out of four in F1, therefore finds itself in the closet, like Germany (64th edition) That no longer has a Grand Prix.
F1, which is now exported to Saudi Arabia and Miami and next year in Las Vegas, is seeking to “balance” its races between different continents, between new arrivals and “historic” racing.
Faced with the growing interest in Formula 1 and the new financial standards represented by the new grand prix, Domenicali explained that “history is not enough”, and according to him “the existence of (the so-called historic grand prix, editor’s note) cannot be taken for granted”.
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