French Prime Minister to visit Le Castellet

29/03/2012

A visit to Le Castellet, the former Paul Ricard circuit, by France's Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, has added to speculation regarding the country's return to the F1 calendar.

Although it gave us Grand Prix racing, France hasn't hosted a round of the Formula One World Championship since 2008. While Le Castellet host 14 races between 1971 and 1990, the event subsequently moved to Magny Cours, which hosted 15 races between 1991 and 2008.

While there have been a number of false starts since then, the sport has found new popularity in the country what with three Frenchman lining up on the 2012 grid.

Fillon will visit Le Castellet tomorrow (Friday) and it is widely expected that an announcement regarding the French Grand prix will follow, indeed, Le Parisien claims that the circuit will host a round of the world championship from next year, alternating with Spa Francorchamps. It also claims the annual fee payable to the commercial rights holder will be less than 20 million euros (£16.7m).