The FIA Formula 1 World Championship heading to the South of France again French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard. The circuit, 25 miles east of Marseille, is often ridiculed for its vast oceans with its distinctive tiled track areas and its multitude of alternative track layouts. Even so, I would place Paul Ricard in the broad list of circuits that make good races for every type of vehicle except modern Formula 1 cars. Paul Ricard won all the time in a good match, but France could do better.
The Grand Prix de France is the oldest automobile race in the world. The first edition of the race was held in 1906 or 1895, depending on whether you asked the Automobile Club de France. It doesn’t feel, though, that the Grand Prix that has hosted every other Grand Prix has the same gravity as other motorsports prestige events, like the Indianapolis 500 or the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That is partly due to the lack of a truly permanent home like its counterparts across Europe. Spa and Belgian Grand Prix or Monza and Italian Grand Prix are examples that immediately come to mind. However, the French Grand Prix yes a house.
Reims is a city of historical significance in the famous wine-producing region of Champagne. For a thousand years, the kings of France were crowned in Reims Cathedral. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Western Allies received the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at Reims. And on 14 occasions between 1938 and 1966, the French Grand Prix was held on the Circuit de Reims-Gueux, just six miles west of the cathedral.
Reims-Gueux is the spiritual home of the French Grand Prix. The last iteration of the circuit was 5.15 miles long. The course features three high-speed corners and two straights over a mile long. The final cornering line was used by Nationale 31, a two-lane motorway extending from Reims to Rouen in Normandy, the site of the end of the first auto race in 1894. The site went down in the history of both the country and the sport.
Mercedes-Benz returned to the post-World War II Grand Prix at Reims midway through the 1954 season. Juan Manuel Fangio, five-time world champion and 1954 French Grand Prix winner with Mercedes, including Reims in part of the final season part-time. In 1958, Fangio participated in the Argentine Grand Prix in his home country, trying his hand at the Indianapolis 500 for the first time and racing the French Grand Prix. At that time, the French Grand Prix was still considered one of the most prestigious races in the world, equal only to Le Mans and Indianapolis.
Everything changed after the last Grand Prix at Reims in 1966, when the race turned to Le Mans. The first paragraph of Motor sports The report on the 1967 French Grand Prix ends with this sentence: “This year the Grand Prix de l’ACF not only lapsed, it stumbled.” I should have made it clear that the race was moved to the new Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans, which is still the home ground of the MotoGP French Grand Prix today, not the Circuit de la Sarthe used for the 24-hour race.
Circuit de Reims-Gueux and Circuit de la Sarthe have an indescribable French character. Their use of narrow, somewhat rural public roads is reminiscent of the seemingly old days of city car races, such as Paris-Rouen in 1894. These circuits also create a style. Unique high-speed racing, rewarding both the daring successes of driving skills and technologically advanced machines. The Bugatti Circuit is not like that. Many people call the 1967 race the “Grand Prix of Car Parks,” which you might call the race at Paul Ricard today.
The 1967 French Grand Prix would be the last to be organized by the Automobile Club of France (ACF), the body lauded for creating organized motorsport. The 1968 race will be arranged by controversial manager Jean-Marie Balestre and his Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA), who still work to this day as well as manage all of the car’s racing. France. Figuratively, Balestre gutted the race, stripping it of its traditional name, the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France. The FFSA calls its race simply the Grand Prix de France.
While the old bunker building is still in Reims, Formula 1 and FFSA seem to have no intention of moving the races back. As the world championship continues to move into more lucrative markets, it would be nice to go back and revive some of the original spirit that captured the imagination of the masses in the first decade and second of Formula 1.
