The 2022 French GP is only the fourth race of the five-year Ricard deal signed by Bernie Ecclestone and announced in December 2016, during that curious brief period between the arrival of Liberty Media that autumn, and the ousting of Ecclestone in January 2017.
The race was skipped during the first Covid year in 2020, when – like Wimbledon – the organizers claimed a hefty insurance pay out for not running their event.
This was at a time when other organizers such as Austria and Silverstone were pulling out all the stops to support the sport and run races. One can speculate that the Ricard promoters didn’t do themselves any favors with F1 by taking the option, although to be fair it happened before Domenicali joined.
The race has been absent before – there was a lengthy gap between the last event in Magny-Cours and the return to Ricard – but nevertheless it’s bad news for the sport as a whole, and especially for the Renault Group.
“I don’t know that it’s not on the calendar next year,” said Alpine Cars CEO Laurent Rossi. “But yes, I would be very disappointed. And I’m not talking about it as the manager of a French team, or even as a French citizen.
“I think France is a racing stronghold. It’s been giving a lot to the sport. It has a big audience, a big fan base. I think it would be a little bit kind of unfair, I would say to remove a big milestone like the French GP from the calendar. I think it would be odd but I’m hoping that it will stay.”
Recent Paul Ricard races have been eventful but the track is set to be chopped from the F1 calendar
DPPI
So what is the longer-term future for the French GP? A street race in Nice has been touted as a possible option, although some see that idea as a ploy to put pressure on the Monaco organizers to sign a better deal.
Local hero Esteban Ocon says he has talked to Domenicali about ensuring that his home race will return.
“Of course, F1 has high demand at the moment,” he said at Ricard. “We all know that many different countries are asking for a grand prix to take place in their country. And we can’t be at every place, unfortunately.
“I had a chat with Stefano, and I saw what he said in the press as well. And my point is that, yes, France has a place in F1, we say ‘grand prix’ everywhere we go, and that’s French. And we have a huge motorsport community and car community in general.