Circuit Paul Ricard, Racing Circuit

Circuit Paul Ricard is a French motorsport venue built on a flat plateau near Le Castellet in the Var, around 40 km from Marseille, financed by pastis magnate Paul Ricard who wanted to build a racetrack of his own. It opened on 19 April 1970 and its modern facilities, airstrip and mild winter climate quickly made it a favourite for off-season testing. The circuit is defined by the long Mistral Straight, originally about 1.8 km, which fed into the fast right-hand Signes corner and made the track notoriously hard on engines. After Elio de Angelis was killed in a 1986 testing accident, the Verrerie curves were bypassed and the Mistral shortened, cutting the Grand Prix lap to a 3.812 km club layout. The circuit hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix intermittently from 1971, with the long circuit used through 1985 and the shorter club layout from 1986 to 1990, before the race moved to Magny-Cours. A flexible 2000s redesign gave the venue hundreds of possible configurations, and the headline F1 layout now reinstates a Mistral chicane to manage speeds. The track is instantly recognisable for its distinctive painted run-off, the blue and red abrasive Zones that replace gravel traps, backed by Tecpro barriers. Formula One returned for the French Grand Prix from 2018 to 2022, with Sebastian Vettel setting the F1 lap record in 2019. Today it remains a major endurance and GT venue, hosting the European Le Mans Series, GT World Challenge Europe, the Bol d'Or and Ferrari Challenge. Its flat plateau setting sits at roughly 408 to 441 metres above sea level.

Operated by: Driven International (Liberty Media)