By Adam Tate, Associate Editor
The French Grand Prix is poised to make a surprise return to the Formula One calendar in 2018, after an absence of a decade.
The race, last hosted by the rural Magny-Cours circuit in 2008, will come to the Paul Ricard circuit, where the French Grand Prix was previously held between 1971 and 1990.
The track is owned by Bernie Ecclestone’s family trust, but the F1 supremo has insisted that they will rent the circuit to the event promoters for the Grand Prix in order to ensure everything will be above board.
Pirelli has recently tested their 2017 prototype tire compounds at the track with Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull.
A press conference is expected Monday at the Automobile Club de France in Paris where details of the contract, expected to run through 2022 will be unveiled.
The race is expected to fill a mid summer time slot in July, similar to what the troubled German Grand Prix has recently held.
Though other historic venues are at risk of falling off the Formula One calendar it is great to see France, the birth place of auto racing as we know it, rightfully take its place back in the world championship.
