In an interview with the French edition of Motorsport.com, the mayor of Magny-Cours, Denis Thuriot, says that he has been working for several years for the return of Formula 1 to the Nièvre, where the last F1 Grand Prix was held in 2008.
Since the return of a French Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Castellet circuit has returned to the centre of attention. But the directors of the Magny-Cours circuit, which hosted the event for eighteen consecutive seasons between 1991 and 2008, which was the last race to be held before a long break, have not written off a possible return of F1 to the Nièvre.
Denis Thuriot, mayor of Magny-Cours, made this clear in an interview published this Sunday by Motorsport. The latter claims that he has been talking “for several years” with various players (the President of the Republic, F1 managers, local authorities in the Var region, etc.), in order to bring back a Formula 1 Grand Prix to Nevers “because we are a Formula 1 circuit” and “We have the homologation for five years.”
“I’m trying to get F1 back,”
“And we took a position last year following the cancellation of the Turkish Grand Prix. Now I think that we may have a card to play, including with the cancellation of the Russian Grand Prix, to regenerate a European Grand Prix.”
The mayor intends to take advantage of the end of the five-year contract signed with the Castellet circuit to negotiate a new agreement that would also benefit his circuit, while assuring that he does not want to push aside the current holder of the organisation rights.
“My idea for the French Grand Prix is to try to be complementary between circuits rather than in competition. Today, a Formula 1 Grand Prix costs the local authorities”, he defended.
As Le Castellet’s contract with F1 expires at the end of 2022, Denis Thuriot says he is already ready to make a “joint bid”, while assuring that he is already in the starting blocks, both in terms of infrastructures and drivers’ feedback on the quality of the circuit:
“Quite frankly, if tomorrow we are told that there is a Grand Prix coming up in a fortnight, we are ready.”
Well… let’s hope so. Everything is better than that ugly Paul Ricard circuit.
Both circuit are bad. Ricard is much better than magny. It is like Germany that both tracks are boring
I somehow doubt Magny-Cours’ chances, not to mention not really space for the future anymore considering priorities such as China, Qatar, possibly LV, etc.