A mission to examine “the conditions for a return of Formula 1 in France” was entrusted by President Emmanuel Macron to Christian Estrosi (Horizons), who had requested it, according to a letter from the Head of State to the mayor of Nice consulted Tuesday by AFP. France has disappeared from the F1 calendar since the Grand Prix du Castellet, the last edition of which was held in 2022.
According to this letter dated June 16, Mr. Estrosi, who had relaunched the event on the Var circuit between 2018 and 2022, now has the mission, jointly with Nicolas Deschaux, president of the French Motorsport Federation (FFSA), to “examine the conditions which would allow a return of Formula 1 in France”. “Our country must be able (…) to reconnect with Formula 1, for the pleasure of all. It is a challenge of attractiveness for our country, of the influence of our automotive industry and of innovation to support the decarbonization of the sector”, assured Mr. Macron.
As part of this mission, Mr. Estrosi, a former motorcycle pilot, will be able to “study the various possible location options on national territory”, specified the President of the Republic. The conclusions of the mission must be presented “at the end of September, so that the government and the local authorities concerned can take decisions to support such a project on an informed basis”.
This announcement comes as the Public Interest Group (GIP) which managed the Grand Prix de France and was chaired by Mr. Estrosi could not be dissolved due to a deficit of 27 million euros. Initially scheduled for December, the dissolution of the GIP was postponed following protests from its members in the face of this financial situation and before the closure of an audit scheduled for the end of July.
A breakdown of the sums to be paid by the various contributors (including the Paca Region, the departments of Var and the metropolises of Toulon and Nice) in order to absorb the deficit has certainly been established, but, on the eve of a new meeting of the GIP scheduled for Wednesday, protests have again appeared, especially from the Var department. Eric Ciotti, president of the Republicans and deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, for his part denounced in a press release on Monday the desire of Mr. Estrosi, his former LR ally, to “fill the hole in the debt of the Grand Prix de France with the money from Nice and metropolitan taxpayers”, the metropolis normally having to allocate “more than 5 million euros to the GP Interest Group of France”.
