France's only ever F1 World Champion Alain Prost has underlined the importance of his country hosting a grand prix – and he argues the key to the race's future there is Paris.
The Circuit de Nevers in Magny-Cours will host its final French Grand Prix this coming weekend, having been a fixture on the F1 calendar since 1991. The track has proven almost universally unpopular, however, amongst drivers, fans and team personnel, due to its bland nature, difficulty of overtaking and rural inaccessibility, isolated as it is miles from any big city or airport.
The sport's supremo Bernie Ecclestone is unwilling to renew the circuit's contract beyond its expiration this year, instead pushing for a race to be held either in, or near to Paris, with Euro Disney mooted as a potential new venue [see separate story –
click here]. In any case, Prost contends, a grand prix that has taken place every year since the inception of the F1 World Championship all the way back in 1950 – save for 1955 – cannot afford to slip off the schedule as easily as that.
“It's important for a country like France to have a grand prix,” the six-time French Grand Prix winner underlined in an interview with the
Associated Press. “It's not just a race, but an event, and it represents a lot for the car industry in general.
“It's not my decision, though. In the end it's the economy that decides – Bernie Ecclestone and the manufacturers – but what we absolutely have to keep is the historic grands prix in Europe. That seems very important to me, because I think it would be a mistake to have none. Formula 1 was built here and there are lots of European constructors, so we must keep this identity.
“France is a historic country in that sense, with its constructors, engineers and drivers. We must keep a grand prix, although whether it be in Magny-Cours or around Paris is another discussion.
“It's true it would be easier around Paris because it represents what Formula 1 wants nowadays in terms of prestige and hotel capacity, but it won't be for 2009 because it is too early. It would only be for 2010, and then what happens in 2009? The questions can only be solved after June.”
The 53-year-old clinched the F1 drivers' laurels on no fewer than four occasions – 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993 – and for a long time held the record for number of points scored with 798.5, until Michael Schumacher subsequently broke it.
He acknowledged the need for the sport to move with the times, and though a Magny-Cours spokesman has refused to confirm whether the circuit will indeed welcome its last French Grand Prix this year – recent reports suggest the local government is so keen to retain the event that nearly $50 million USD has been promised to improve it – Prost suggested the capital would be the better option.
