One has to smile sometimes when you hear Bernie Ecclestone in action. The other day he told a German magazine that it was logical to have a French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours on June 23. In F1 terms, yes, it is logical. The F1 circus will be coming home from Canada after a race on June 9, with no Race in New Jersey on June 16, as had been planned. The next scheduled Grand Prix is the British GP on June 30 and so on paper the June 23 race in France would be perfect.
Except for one tiny little detail. The Le Mans 24 Hours, France’s biggest motor racing, takes place at Le Mans on June 22-23. To put the French GP up against this would be decidedly daft as it would mean that French race fans would have to choose between the two and both would therefore suffer.
Talk about stirring the pot…
The most likely outcome of all this (if there is one) would be a race at the end of August at Paul Ricard, but as the promoters of the idea do not have the money needed it is all rather academic at the moment.
Not to mention the number of people writing, commentating, talking, standing by or even taking part at Magny-Cours, who are expecting to race at Le Mans next year.
Do you know if the Magny-Cours promoters have any more money?
I wonder if an F1 race at Magny-Cours would make Le Mans suffer all that much. It is a different type of event and many people have to plan well ahead with accommodation, etc and many are people from the local area, enjoying their own annual party. In fact, I expect the considerably increased exposure the race would get in the media would probably suit the Auto Club de l’Ouest just fine. It has been getting a bit tired lately.
Would it be too late to move Germany back a week and then there would be room for a France/Britain twin race on the 30th June/7th July?
I think the British GP has already been moved forward a week from 07/07 to avoid a clash with the Wimbledon mens’ final
There was a clash this year with the final, was there actually a noticeable impact on the ratings?
Hard to say when the Sky deal has, for the most part, crippled the BBC’s ratings even for live races. Because of the clash, the BBC put the Wimbledon men’s final on BBC One, while the GP went on BBC Two (they had put the pre-race waffle on BBC One). BARB projected viewing figures of 2.86m for the 2012 race on BBC Two, plus 0.455m on Sky Sports F1, while the 2011 race got 4.94m on BBC One.
Viewing figures comparisons for 2011 vs 2012, up to the Italian GP, can be found at http://www.f1revs.com/2012/09/bbc-sky-italian-gp-viewing-figures.html .
Difficult to tell. The BBC / Sky deal has seen the combined UK TV viewing figures for Formula 1 well down across the season so far.
do the same fans watch f1 that attend Le mans? My experience says probably not…..
In my experience there’s quite a lot of overlap.
Why would they not? I certainly do. I watch a lot of racing.
When Bernie speaks, look 180 deg. from where he’s pointing at and guard your pockets!
Good point about conpeting against the 24 hrs of Lemans.
I always enjoyed the race at Magny Cours. Hope they go back someday.
Could they not push the British GP to June 23 and the French on the 30?
There’s still the little issue of a Le Mans clash.
How about a race at Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans on the date Ed Greenhalg or end of august suggested. There wil be stands and motorsports fans so it would be a good track but add a new section from the Sarthe beccause it is a littlle short
Well don’t stop there, how about the whole track – F1 qualifying 2pm Saturday, race 5.30pm Sunday or something with the 24 Hours from 4pm-4pm in between! Of course this isn’t going to happen, but it would be pretty amazing!
Bugatti Circuit doesn’t exactly look interesting for F1 though. It isn’t much of a track in my opinion, and definitely not worthy of getting F1.
The full Le Mans track wouldn’t be all that interesting for F1 either I think, as only the Esses and the Porsche Curves look like corners I would like to see an F1 go through.
Qualifying would be interesting though, as there wouldn’t be time for two runs…
There must have been a deep belief that New Jersey could deliver a race in 2013. So much so that there wasn’t some contingency already in place.
There will be no driver/commentators left for F1 if they clash with Le Mans.
The Le Mans fan is a different type of chap (or chapess) to the F1 fan. with F1 agitating for shorter races because of the “modern” attention span of viewers, the thought of a whole 24 hours is another planet, a different way of life. So I doubt may of each fan base will desert their normal sport.
It might be interesting to see the attendance figures for a Magny-Cours GP vs le 24 Heurs de Mans. Also to compare the entrance and stand prices etc.
No Berne has nothing to do with Paul Ricard he said so recently.
so it must be true.
Magny-Cours, with all due respect, is in the middle of nowhere. As for attendance figures, not sure about how much Magny-Cours was pulling in its last few F1 years, but Le Mans nowadays has a consistent race weekend crowd of around 250 thousand people, of which 50-70 thousand are British. It’s certainly one of the biggest sporting events in Europe in terms of on-site attendance. As for the Le Mans fan base vs the F1 fan base, there is still a certain amount of overlap and there always will be.
As for magny-cours being in the middle of no where ? If it is then where would you put Ricard,thats really no where! I suggest that you buy a map.
‘Normal Sport”? So the fact that I have not missed an F1 race all season, yet somehow have avoided missing a WEC race either doesn’t make you think.
I’ll happily watch 2 races at once, the F1 on the TV and WEC online, but not for Le Mans, that gets my TV for the whole 24 hours. NOTHING interferes with Le Mans.
I’d happily skip whatever F1 race was on that weekend, and so would 99% of the F1 watchers in an online group I’m part of because F1 is a procession that I have trouble paying attention to, Le Mans is 24 hours of excitement.
Sorry if I’m asking the obvious here Joe but who are the promoters you mention at the end?
Magny Cours
Joe you silly man, there would be no clash as The Bernard would no doubt insist the Le Man organizers to move their date!
There will be 2 or even 3 time more spectators at Le Mans then at Magny-Cours because endurance racing is the finest art of motor racing.
Well I’m an F1 fan and have been for almost 20 years but lately I’ve become a big fan of the LM 24 Hour. I’d have to say, in the event of a conflict, I think I’d be leaning towards the 24.
To further the idea of holding the 24 and the GP at the same venue, how about adding the F1 cars to the 24 as a 5th class?
Ze french and ze english … Napoleon times
Ecclestone as Wellington?
Maybe Ecclestone as Talleyrand?
“In politics one needs to hitch
One’s wagon to a star
A toast to Minister Talleyrand!
Survival is his aim
A man from whom ‘Duplicity’
Could be a middle name
Allegiance to a governmenet
Doesn’t mean a thing
He’d be pleased with revolutionaries
Delighted with a King:
One has to be detatched
One has to be devoid
Of any sentimental ties
If on’es to be employed
Essentially, eventually
All leaders are destroyed”
What are you talking aboutI have raced single seaters since 1981.
When you have the same credentials,then talk too me!!
“We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France.”
I keep threatening to get it printed out in four in high letters, framed, and stuck up in my office.
Could it also be that if BE is talking to the press about Magny Cours, he could really be throwing his weight behind Le Castellet? Hmmmmm.
That is a wise comment.
As i recall the FIA has already asked the ACO to move Le Mans to the 23rd, so not much chance of another move.
From what we saw at Valencia and Abu Dhabi you can never be sure that races that are usually snooze fests are always going to turn out that way, but putting the go-kart track of Magny-Cours up against the spectacle of La Sarthe probably isn’t the best idea in the world.
Wrong height!
How about a replacement event at Indianapolis? A possible French GP on the day of the LeMans 24 hours talked about publicly by Bernie may just be a matter of negotiating with another circuit to raise the price.
I don’t know, miles from anywhere in the middle of the countryside with its cows and muddy fields, hours from the capital city. That’s the problem with Silverstone – oh, sorry, Magny-Cours!