Circuit Paul Ricard

Circuit Paul Ricard

Le Castellet
Route type:	permanent race track
Opening:	April 19, 1970
Formula 1 venue :	1971-1990; since 2018
Time zone:	UTC + 1 CEST
Track layout
Route data
Important events:	formula 1
Route length:	5.842  km (3.63  mi )
Curves:	15th
Audience capacity:	90,000
Records
Track record: (Formula 1)	1: 32.740 min. ( Sebastian Vettel , Ferrari , 2019 )
https://www.circuitpaulricard.com/en/

Coordinates: 43 ° 15 ′ 2 "  N , 5 ° 47 ′ 30"  E

The 5.81 km long route opened in 1970 (parts added later are shown in gray)

The Paul Ricard circuit is completed in 1970 Motorsport - race track near the southern French town of Le Castellet in the Var ; about 20 kilometers from Bandol on the Côte d'Azur . The facility forms a complex unit with the nearby Aéroport International du Castellet and is known in motorsport circles as Le Castellet because it is located on the territory of the municipality of the same name. The official name of the race, test and experimental track has been Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track ( Paul Ricard HTTT for short ) since February 2001 .

The course was initially considered to be a pioneering safety-related achievement and a pioneer of the later so-called "retort routes" because of its run-off zones, which were not yet common at the time . In 2006 the FIA - "Institute for Motorsport Safety" awarded the facility as the first recipient of the FIA Institute Center of Excellence Award because of its exemplary safety concept .

history

The foundations for the construction of this clockwise racetrack were the purchase of around 1,000 hectares of land on a plateau between Toulon and Marseille in 1962 and the construction of the largest private airport in Provence by the French Pastis producer Paul Ricard . From June 1969 to April 1970, he had a 5.81 km long race track built next to the airfield, which was opened on April 19, 1970 with a sports car race in the 2-liter class and initially used primarily for motorcycle races. Between 1971 and 1990, Formula 1 hosted the French Grand Prix here , sometimes alternating with the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois and Charade . From 1991 these Formula 1 races took place only in Magny-Cours . The Circuit Paul Ricard continued to host important motorsport events such as the long-distance motorcycle classic Bol d'Or (from 1978 to 1999), the French races for the motorcycle world championship (from 1972 alternating with Le Mans , Charade and Nogaro ) or the FIA European Truck Racing Championship.

The Toyota Formula 1 team used the course as a "home test track"

After the end of the Formula 1 era on this route, however, major investments were not made (as was the case after 1972 at the Aéroport du Castellet airport), in November 1997 the owner and namesake Paul Ricard died and in May 1999 the heirs sold the entire area for around 11 million US dollars to the French company Excelis SA , which belongs to the APM 1 family foundation run by Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone . The managing director of this company is Philippe Gurdjian , who has already organized some of the Formula 1 races on the track. Since then, Gurdjian has acted as director of the race track, the airport and the nearby hotel complex Hôtel du Castellet in the spirit of Ecclestone . After the purchase, significant investments were made in all of these areas; including a profound conversion of the racetrack into a test track. In this context, a contract was signed with the newly founded Toyota Formula 1 team , which included the construction of its own test center on the site. Toyota started using the new facility from October 2001, from February 2002 it could also be used by other teams and since then has been a popular test site for participants in the Le Mans 24-hour race , especially during the winter break . Until August 2006, the converted route was not approved for spectators; on August 19 and 20 there was again a public racing event for the FIA GT championship after around seven years ; but with only 1,000 entry tickets or paddock passes. A 5.791 km long variant of the route was used.

In the 2018 season , a Formula 1 race was held on the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first time since 1990; this was the first time since 2008 that the French Grand Prix took place. In 2020 , the French Grand Prix was canceled by the organizers in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

particularities

Henri Pescarolo was one of the designers of the Circuit Paul Ricard

The Circuit Paul Ricard was designed and built in just ten months with the help of racing drivers Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise and impressed in its original form with its unusually long Mistral straight (around 1.6 km). Until then, only the racetracks at Le Mans (with the Hunaudières straights) and Reims had something similar to offer, although outside of the racing events they were public highways or national roads . That is why Paul Ricard was and is a popular test track for the participants in the Le Mans 24-hour race. The slight right-hand bend at the end of the straight can be fully driven as a "courageous bend" and is called Signes after the nearby temporary residence of the track builder Paul Ricard. At the opening of 1970, the plant was considered a new standard for track management and security, with time still rare Curbs (some four-color painted in blue, white, red and yellow) and large gravel - run-off areas .

Over the years and with the increasing speed of the racing cars, however, the limits of these safety measures became apparent: On May 14, 1986, Brabham BMW driver Elio de Angelis had an accident during test drives on the Circuit Paul Ricard. The accident occurred on a fast section of the track in the area of ​​the combination of corners Esses de la Verrerie after a rear wing of the Brabham BT55 broke off. De Angelis died of serious injuries the next day in a hospital in Marseille . After that, this part of the route was no longer used; a new link shortened the Mistral straight to around one kilometer and the total length of the then so-called Grand Prix circuit to 3.813 km. As early as July 6, 1986, the new track layout was used at the Formula 1 French Grand Prix.

In the years that followed, the track continued to distinguish itself, among other things, as a training ground for young racing drivers. The Winfield Racing Schools trained later champions here such as Patrick Tambay , Didier Pironi , Alain Prost , Jean Alesi and Olivier Panis . The Larrousse (Formula 1) and Oreca ( Formula 3000 ) teams were at home here for a while. The lap record was before the current conversion at 1: 08.012 minutes (average speed 201.829 km / h), 1990 driven by Nigel Mansell in Formula 1 - Ferrari 641 .

The new course

The renovation after the change of ownership and the turn of the millennium is said to have employed over 1200 people from engineers to construction workers at times, according to the operator. The new system includes the section of the route used before 1986; With the optional new chicanes and connecting pieces, around 180 route variants should now be possible in order to test and train completely different conditions. The length of the route can be varied between 6.105 km and 826 meters, the width is between ten and twelve meters and a total of 15 right and ten left turns are available. The new route operators had a sophisticated system of successive asphalt strips built by the German architect Hermann Tilke , among others, on a total of 25 hectares of run-off zones . Among other things, due to the addition of tungsten in the surface layer, these have different high coefficients of friction , most of which are far above those of the actual roadway. This enables them to reliably brake Formula 1 racing cars from high speeds without damaging the vehicle or injuring the driver. This saves the teams testing there time and money that they would otherwise need for recovering and repairing cars involved in an accident. The asphalt strips are also color-coded so that, together with the red and white painted curbs, a distinctive route is created. The prices for track rental (also for club events) are the highest in Europe and are up to 100 percent higher than the tariffs for other international racetracks .

statistics

All winners of Formula 1 races in Le Castellet

No.	year	driver	constructor	engine	tires	time	Route length	Round	Ø pace	date	GP of
1	1971	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell	ford	G	1: 46: 41.680 h	5.810 km	55	179.700 km / h	0July 4th	France
2	1973	Ronnie Peterson	lotus	ford	G	1: 41: 36.520 h	5.810 km	54	185.264 km / h	0July 1
3	1975	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	Ferrari	G	1: 40: 18.840 h	5.810 km	54	187.655 km / h	0July 6th
4th	1976	James Hunt	McLaren	ford	G	1: 40: 58,600 h	5.810 km	54	186.423 km / h	0July 4th
5	1978	Mario Andretti	lotus	ford	G	1: 38: 51.920 h	5.810 km	54	190.404 km / h	02nd July
6th	1980	Alan Jones	Williams	ford	G	1: 32: 43.420 h	5.810 km	54	203.016 km / h	June 29th
7th	1982	René Arnoux	Renault	Renault	M.	1: 33: 33.217 h	5.810 km	54	201.215 km / h	July 25th
8th	1983	Alain Prost	Renault	Renault	M.	1: 34: 13.913 h	5.810 km	54	199.767 km / h	Apr 17
9	1985	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	BMW	P	1: 31: 46.266 h	5.810 km	53	201.325 km / h	07th of July
10	1986	Nigel Mansell	Williams	Honda	G	1: 37: 19.272 h	3.813 km	80	188.062 km / h	0July 6th
11	1987	Nigel Mansell	Williams	Honda	G	1: 37: 03.839 h	3.813 km	80	188.560 km / h	05th July
12	1988	Alain Prost	McLaren	Honda	G	1: 37: 37.328 h	3.813 km	80	187.482 km / h	03rd of July
13	1989	Alain Prost	McLaren	Honda	G	1: 38: 29.411 h	3.813 km	80	185.830 km / h	0July 9
14th	1990	Alain Prost	Ferrari	Ferrari	G	1: 33: 29.606 h	3.813 km	80	195.761 km / h	08th of July
15th	2018	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	P	1: 30: 11.385 h	5.842 km	53	206.026 km / h	June 24th
16	2019	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	P	1: 24: 31.198 h	5.842 km	53	219.846 km / h	23rd June
-	2020	canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Record winner
Driver: Alain Prost (4) • Driver nations: France / Great Britain (5 each) • Constructors: McLaren / Williams (3 each) • Engine manufacturer: Ford (5) • Tire manufacturer: Goodyear (11)

literature

• Peter Higham, Bruce Jones (Translator: Walther Wuttke): Race tracks of the world , Heel-Verlag (Königswinter, 2000), ISBN 3-89365-890-4

Web links

Commons : Circuit Paul Ricard  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official homepage, English version
• Formula 1 statistics for Paul Ricard

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Schmidt: "Course fluctuations" ( Sport auto , issue 6/2007, pages 111,112)
2. ^ "Paul Ricard presented with Center of Excellence award" ( Memento of October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (f1.automoto365.com on December 11, 2006, English)
3. ↑ FIA-GT page on the first public international race on the new course (English)
4. ↑ Formula 1 returns to France in 2018 , motorsport-total.com from December 5, 2016; Accessed December 24, 2017
5. ↑ http://www.motorsport-total.com/formel-1/news/offiziell-grosser-preis-von-frankreich-in-le-castellet-abgesagt-20042705
6. ↑ Essay on the death of Elio de Angelis in 1986 (on research-racing.de, English / German)
7. ^ Project presentation on the website of Hermann Tilke ( memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
8. ^ "The Talented Test Track" ( Memento from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (fiainstitute.com, undated, found on November 27, 2007, English)