French GP Is Back & At Paul Ricard !

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

Fr0dders

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http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25576

Formula One is coming back to France in 2013 for the first time since 2008, after the Magny-Cours round ran into financial difficulties.
F1 chief exec Ecclestone told the French l'Equipe Magazine that a fee for the GP to go ahead had finally been agreed with the French government, giving a green light for the first GP on the Le Castellet circuit since 1990.

"The deal is done," he told L'Equipe. "We agreed the financial terms with the sports minister David Douillet, in my office on Tuesday. We are still discussing a few things about money: 'You give me this, I want that'. But, for me, there is no doubt, we will sign it now."
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Can't Wait !
 
I was under the impression that the French GP would be alternating with the Belgium GP, but aside from mentioning that the French GP would take place every other year, the article doesn't say anything about Spa.

So is this Belgium/French GP rotation still happening or have I missed the article that said Spa is going to remain on the calendar every year? Or was all just rumours and hearsay that the Belgium GP would only take place on alternating years?
 
I think Spa is still being sorted. I hope they get some stands and things built at Paul Ricard :p
 
Duke said:
I think Spa is still being sorted. I hope they get some stands and things built at Paul Ricard :p
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I hope so, as it will be a huge shame to loose Spa.

Going by this it might not be...

It will be alternating with another race, but as far as I can understand it is not yet decided which race that will be. The original plan was for it to be Belgium, but there seem to be other problems going on there and the latest suggest I have heard is that it could be with one of the Spanish races. If that is the case Belgium will probably disappear completely, which would be a shame. The local politicians in Wallonia need to get themselves sorted out quickly if they want to have a guaranteed future for the race at Spa.
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This could be used to 'save' Valencia as they have already expressed a desire to go bi-yearly due to not making any money.

I hope it doesn't get used to do that though and Valencia is left to die a horrible death, in fire.

Paul Ricard is in no state to hold an F1 race. I assume there are massive development plans that are yet to be anounced. For a start it doesn't even have a pitlane capable of holding the F1 teams, let alone the lack of any grandstands. I'm also not convinced the layout will be any good for F1...

paul_ricard.jpg


Overall, I can't say I'm looking forward to this...
 
Not really. The layout comes from the 70's and the facilities are far from modern in any way.

I'm fairly sure it won't have the transport infrastructure to support any more than a few hundred fans either.
 
Because of the airfield next door, it would be impossible to expand the site southwards, so no room for grandstands or paddock on that side of the track.
Depending on who owns the forest and whether environmentalists would allow its destruction, could mean no expansion to the site northwards either, therefore there won't be any parking as well.
 
Seen as Bernie owns the track it's not like he'll make himself pay any TV rights, or if he does, it'll be a marginal amount. Plus, Bernie's not silly. He knows there's no money these days in selling tickets to GPs, so I doubt he'll even bother.

Based on this, I reckon this GP will just have temporary grandstands like Monaco, have a tiny attendance and pretty much be a TV only race.
 
Spunkey said:
He knows there's no money these days in selling tickets to GPs, so I doubt he'll even bother.
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Really? 150,000 people at Silverstone last year at £200 a ticket minimum = £30m

Ticket sales are the main source of income for race promoters.
 
Exactly my point, Bernie isn't the promoter. He's the rights holder. Therefore he's not going to take the risk of spending a couple of hundred million to expand the land, then planning, design and building new facilities of the track, based on the fact that it may or may not earn £30m a year. I'd doubt it'd even be that much in France, given how relatively apathetic they are to F1 anyway.
 
But its not all Bernie though. From the article it sounds like the promoter is the French government. They are paying Bernie the fee to host the race, and they will be paying the track owners (also Bernie) to hire the circuit. They will have to make some money somehow? At no point is Bernie 'paying himself'.

How it works is someone hires the track, pays Bernie to have a race, and then pays for it all through sponsorship and ticket sales. I doubt very much that Bernie is going to wave either the race fee or the track fee just to get a race there, so the assumption is that the French government think its at least able to break even somehow? A TV only race would make massive loss's for the French government.
 
I'm pretty sure Spa want to host alternating years, they make a loss on the race as it is and struggle to break even throughout the rest of the year.
 
Yep. But Valencia have also expressed an interest to go bi-yearly, and one of the German races wants to drop F1 (can't remember which) meaning the other will be looking for another bi-yearly partner. The details we have suggest they are deciding out of a number of options as opposed to searching for one.
 
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