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.
