French GP's Paul Ricard Excited for Alternating F1 Calendar Spot
Apr.20 - Renewed rumours about two circuits alternating single annual calendar spots in Formula 1 are giving hope to axed French GP host Paul Ricard.
As the sport's calendar aggressively expanded, some traditional hosts including France and Germany were priced out of the market.
Former race host Hockenheim is now hopeful that talks with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali about a race alternating idea could revive the German GP.
"We would only tie up the enormous resources needed to hold a Formula 1 race every two years whilst retaining the image and status of a Formula 1 circuit," Hockenheim boss Jorn Teske told Auto Bild.
"In that respect it is absolutely ideal."
And now, former F1 driver and new Paul Ricard president Jean Alesi also sounds very keen on the race rotation idea.
"Perhaps now in Europe there will be a new way of having F1," the Frenchman said on the Eurosport program Les Fous du Volant, "with one country alternating with another.
"It will also help to save money," Alesi added. "Maybe Spa or an Austrian GP or Imola will alternate with us.
"Everything is on the table."
The former Ferrari driver says the biggest problem with France's F1 demise was not purely financial, but also political.
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"In Formula 1 today there are 32 countries asking to have grands prix," Alesi revealed. "But there are only 23 grands prix.
Jean Alesi & Charles Leclerc (2022 French GP)
"So F1 has people almost on their knees in front of them saying 'please, please come - we welcome you with open arms'. But that is not the case in France," he smiled.
"In the last five years, apart from the covid year of course, we had a very successful grand prix that was nonetheless shunned by our politicians.
"I'm not talking about in the region, because it's thanks to them that F1 was able to come back. But not having a president on a Formula 1 grid is frowned upon today," said Alesi.
"Now, it's normal when you go to any grand prix that if it isn't the king there then it's the prime minister. So if we don't have the president, it's wrong.
"Everyone else uses F1 to convey the image of their country."
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Yeah Hi , Is that Silverstone, We are thinking about alternating Us one year You the next what do you think? Hello, Hello, are you still there??, Hello,Heh Monsieur Alesi , they said there thinking about it lololololol
"Now, it's normal when you go to any grand prix that if it isn't the king there then it's the prime minister. So if we don't have the president, it's wrong.
Has this muppet been to SS recently , go throw a banger Jean
Spa is the greatest circuit on the planet where the men are sorted out from the boys. IMO it would be sacrilege to sacrifice Spa for another circuit! Why not sacrifice a Middle Eastern track instead?
France and Germany both should be on the agenda, even if they must alternate. But not at the expense of Spa! Or Silverstone either, for that matter!
smokey, your thoughts are mostly spot on. I would change the second word in your post from 'is' to 'was'. Spa was a real race track, the best ever built, but is rapidly becoming just another F1 venue sanitized and castrated. Is Japan now #1?
Sorry Brits, but Silverstone is not even the best race track in England. But it is the mother of F1 and deserves our reverence and respect. A flat track on an old airfield has over the years become the mecca of our sport. Hail, 'stone.
We can debate the direction of F1, but boy do I ever miss real race tracks with their individual idiosyncrasies.
Agreed but SS is the fastest and oldest and blah blah blah , oh and the Hamilton straight, we should be gifted a race every year just for that, visually i prefer oulton park and even Brands, but Oultons on my doorstep, and who couldn't love a track with a corner called Knicker brook lol Spa is
de tuned but its not whether france,germany or uk should have a race , there's two things here state finance in the rest of the world for tracks (but not Stone), and then there's Mickey Mouse petty cash money the Arabs can pay, its past, fairness and historical, liberty dont seem to care , the futures $$ coloured
Shrop', we've been talking about this since 2016 when Bernie took the billions. Liberty is a massive publicly traded media company with shareholders who demand a ROI. They are not racers. Thus we have the 'show'.
BTW, IMO Brands is the best you've got...great track.
But whether F1 is willing for a Paul Ricard return, even biannually, given the general trend towards city circuits & the Le Castellet area is difficult to access due to its remote location.
The rotational format is also less financially viable than holding annually & this proved critical to Nurburgring & Hockenheim over time.
Germany gets state assistance to run the races always have, and now the States turned the tap off or says fee is too high, but Stone NEVER gets state funding which is stupid considering 70/80 % of teams and the hundred or thousands of knock on jobs and yet our Gov always refuses Well... don't say we told you so
Owned I believe by Johnathon palmers Co oh I'm with you there hence why all the changes to force more profit out of it all Bernie had to was satisfy the banks ' badically' whatever was left was enough for the business