French GP vs Spa in 2013

http://www.speedweek.ch/Formel1/news/23463/Frankreich-GP-Die-Grande-Nation-darf-hoffen.html

Starting in 2013 Le Castellet will be hosting the French GP again: It will have the race every other year alternating with Spa.

An official announcement is expected this month.

 

Spa obvioiusly is in Belgium, so what will the event be called?

 

Le Castellet is a great track no offense, but I wouldn't give up Spa for the world. It should replace the European GP at Valencia instead IMHO... Silly move if you ask me if things turn out that way, missing Spa from the calendar. It's one of very few "original" F1 tracks along with Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, Montreal (Hockenheim-ish), and Sao Paolo. Giving up Spa would IMO be throwing away a bit of F1 heritage.

Spa should definitely be a UNESCO world heritage site.

 

Castellet is a nice track, but a F1 race in Paris would have been tidy!

 

They are not throwing away Spa, but simply alternate the race. Which makes probably also a lot of financial sense as Spa seems to be not self sustaining.

 

Think I understood that too , but IMO Spa should be on the calendar EVERY season. However, as you say, financial troubles... I do find that a bit strange though, since the season calendar for Spa seems to be really packed every year. CC are there, just about every endurance series in Europe. Local GT races, as well as international single-seaters. Maybe the course fee just doesn't sustain maintenance costs?

Any sheiks or oil-billionares interested in a new motorsports adventure?

Get rid of Valencia it's nothing but a visually pleasing location.

 

When it's at Le Castellet it'll be the French GP (there's no notion of returning to Magny Cours). When it's at Spa in alternating years it'll continue to be the Belgian GP.

 

Is Spa not self sustaining? Or the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa? If Spa itself is not self sustaining then it would seem that taking away it's signature event every other year can't help. Would one F1 event every other year just put more pressure on it? Agree with the others. Spa is by far the best F1 track still on the calendar (I just wish they didn't "fix" the Bus Stop Chicane, I hate that layout now).

 

Spa is the best track, it should be guaranteed to be on the calendar every year.

 

+1

It should be given honorary status like Monaco.

 

France is the cradle of GP racing, it should be guaranteed to be on the calendar every year as well.

 

Magny Cours was logistically at a very unsuitable location. Being in the middle of nowhere it was 2 hours from the nearest location for the teams to lodge their crews (I have heard), basically in the middle of farmer France. Long way from airports etc. with unsuitable roads. Much the same deal with Fuji.

 

Herman,

True for Magny-Cours...it is in the middle of nowhere; its choice was entirely politically motivated, to please the former french president Mitterrand, who used to be elected here.

BUT believe me, being French, having a Grand-Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard does'nt make sense to me from a traffic point of view, at least between end May and end September. Paul-Ricard is on the Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera, where traffic is a real nightmare (at best...) during June, July, August and September, as half the french population is having holidays here. I think that it would be much worser than in Magny-Cours for queues when leaving the circuit...hours and hours of stop and go.

I still have my doubts about the whole scheme, not to mention that I really hate having Spa only every other year, which I think is a shame.
Basically, I think the the re-introduction of the french Grand Prix is politically motivated; we have presidential and general elections this year, so...but if you want to know whether France still wants its Grand Prix, well...frankly speaking, I think most people don't care about it. France maybe the cradle of motor-racing, but whether we like it or not, the general opinion is now against motor-racing, and against having a Grand Prix.

And, by the way, the general opinion is also against sports car, against cars, etc...

best

 

Seems like your spot on!

 

That sounds like the politicians *want* a French GP? I'd give those guys my support!....

Even Le Mans!? I thought that was a part of being French!

I agree with everyone else though - Spa should be on the calendar every year and twice if possible!

Cheers,
Ian

 

best,

 

A politician concerned about popularity!? Surely not! [Seems they're the same the world over - Make promises to get elected and then "forget" what they promised.....]

As French as, well, French bread!..... But this position seems to be at odds with the politico's wanting a GP - If the public at large is against it, or at least neutral won't they follow suit?

+1

Cheers,
Ian

 

I suppose with Grosjean now at Lotus, and a couple of other young drivers in then frame for the next couple of years it makes sense.

 

Ian,

Just a few more words: the "Le Mans 24h" have been left untouched partly because the french prime minister, François Fillon, comes from this place and is (we are told) a motorsport enthusiast. There have been pictures of him driving fast cars, but due to the general climate being decidely "anti-automobile" he feels rather uneasy about this. This summer there even was an information that he has been lent a Ferrari during his holidays by some Ferrari top brass, and he immediately issued a communiqué saying that, OF COURSE, he does not make enough money to own one. I appreciated this, having a 328 GTB AND a 328 GTS myself, and comparing incomes, well...his are higher than mine.
As already said, owning a sports car (even an old one) is getting more and more difficult these days here...

As for the french Grand Prix, I never was convinced that they were actually doing real efforts to have one re-instated. There is an old french saying that says that, in politics, if you really want to get rid of a problem, you create a committee, or a working group: that's the best way to kill the beast...
Well, they created at least three, and perhaps four, for the next-to-be french Grand Prix.
The one about a Grand Prix in the streets of Paris was clearly a non-starter from the beginning; the "greens" in the municipal council were, and have always been, dead against it, and have a strong influence (which, in fact, considering that Paris is choked to death with cars, is not bad, after all: this city has not been designed for cars...)
There was another one for a new circuit to be build in the northern suburbs of Paris; the problem was there is no money from the municipalities here. Paris itself would have the money, but not the suburbs.
Then you had another one for a circuit in the south suburbs, even talking about revampering the old Monthlery track at one time.
Those two were competiting against each other; Alain Prost was in one, Jean-Pierre Beltoise with the other (please don't ask me who was with which one...)
Then there was one for re-vampering Magny-Cours, and one for the Paul Ricard (Gosh! that actually makes at least FIVE committes; Belgian beers are really too strong...)
But at no time did we have the impression that everybody was pushing in the same direction: to find a way to have a french Grand Prix back.
If a Grand Prix really is organised at Paul Ricard, fine by me; except the traffic problems here, and that I would not like to be deprived of Spa every two years, but we have been told that Spa has been in the red for quite some time.

As for Romain Grosjean, he actually has "double nationality": he is French and Swiss. I am sure he benefited from Total's sponsorship (this is fine by me) but I don't think there is any correlation between this and a would-be french Grand Prix.

And, to close this rather long post, it seems that Genii Capital and Eric Boulier were hoping for Renault to increase its presence in the LRGP team, and that they lobbyed for it this summer, but Renault was clearly not amused, neither interested. (Besides, Boullier's strategy/long term vision seemed somewhat blurred and difficult to make out these days, don't you think?)

Best

 

nerofer, your knowledge of much of what is going on internally in France and being able to convey it to us here is really a great help. Thanks for that!

 

Hey, if the French don't want him, I'm damn sure the Swiss will be delighted to call him their own. I only wish his racing license was from Switzerland, oh well.

 

Racing began in France, which is why FIA is in France. So, it makes sense to have a race there. But, I wouldn't give up Spa (one of the greatest, albeit muddy for spectators, tracks) every other year. Instead, it should be swapped with Valencia (unless it's raining in Spain). Afterall, Spain has Barcelona. Don't take away Spa every other year.

 

I think everybody agrees that Spa is the best track on the calendar. The way I see this proposal is not "to take away Spa" but to make it economically viable by having it only every other year. The article refers to the two German GPs, which are also lacking support and by having the race only every other year in a particular region, they seem to be able to survive.

Spa has been off the racing calendar in the past because it didn't bring in enough visitors, which is pretty understandable given the hassle those pour souls have to go through (traffic jam, few covered grand stands, few hotel options, parking hassle) .

 

Andreas,

I also think that you would have to put in the economic equation the fact that Spa, the Nürburgring and Hockenheim are very near from each other (Spa is only 120 kms - about 80 miles - away from the Nürburgring) so these three Grand Prix are more or less in the same geographic region and attracting the same visitors.
Again, I would hate to loose Spa, but from an economic point of view, I think that the logic would be a Grand Prix on one of these circuits every three years...and I fear that, in the near future, somebody would think just along these lines. Except in Germany, Europe is now turning very autophobic...look at what is happening right now in Italy, for all of places (there is a thread in the "Ferrari Discussion -not model specific")

Best,

 

Unfortunately, "+1".

Indeed. Better a race at Spa (etc) every few years than not at all - If they have to rotate for it to make economic sense, then unfortunately, so be it. It would be a sad day, but losing Spa, even Hockenheim and/or the 'Ring completely would be even worse.

Cheers,
Ian