The Paul Ricard Circuit is situated in Le Castellet, France, a few kilometres from the Cote d’Azur. It has hosted 16 editions of the French Grand Prix, the first in 1971, won by Sir Jackie Stewart in a Tyrrell.
After a long absence, the Formula 1 circus returned to Le Castellet in 2018, signalling the revival of one of the classic events of the World Championship.
FEATURES OF THE LE CASTELLET CIRCUIT
In the intervening years, the Paul Ricard circuit made its name as a test track (not for official F1 tests) thanks to its many layouts, featuring low, medium and high speed corners. The circuit used for Formula 1 is 5.8 kilometres in length and features 15 corners.
One of the most iconic points on the Castellet track is Signes corner, which is taken flat out at 290 km/h. In the past, journalists would stand here to see who could take it fastest.
Stats and facts:
The longest streak of different winners at this track came between 1971 and 1986, when a different driver won in all of the ten races held in that period.
The smallest win margin at this track came in 1975, when Niki Lauda won by just 1.59 seconds. The largest win margin was in 1989, a race in which Alain Prost won by 44.017 seconds.
The French Grand Prix at this circuit has been won by less than five seconds three times, in 1975, 1978 and 1980.
From the 16 races held so far at this track, 27 different drivers have finished on the podium.
From 16 races here, the polesitter has finished on the podium 12 times.
The lowest grid slot a podium finish has come from at this track is seventeenth, which happened in the first race at Paul Ricard in 1971, when Emerson Fittipaldi finished third. That’s the only time a podium finisher at this track has started from outside the top eight on the grid.
The 1973 French Grand Prix is the only time that none of the top three qualifiers finished on the podium here, while the 1982 French Grand Prix is the only time the top three qualifiers all finished on the podium.
The largest gap between the fastest and the slowest car in qualifying at this circuit is 11.942 seconds, which was the gap between polesitter Keke Rosberg and slowest driver Stefan Bellof in 1985. The smallest qualifying spread here is 3.700 seconds, which separated Lewis Hamilton in Q3 from Lance Stroll in Q1 last season.
The smallest pole margin seen at the Paul Ricard circuit came in 1989, when Alain Prost took pole by 0.025 seconds. Meanwhile, the largest pole margin is 2.308 seconds, which is the margin Prost took pole by in 1983.
On average, pole at the Paul Ricard track is taken by 0.488 seconds.
A race at Le Castellet circuit has been won from pole on ten occasions and has been won from the front row of the grid eleven times.
1980 and 1985 are the only occasions where the polesitter has gone on to finish on the podium without winning the event.
Just four races here have been won from behind the front row. No race at the track has been won from third on the grid.
The furthest back grid slot to win a race at the track is fifth, which has happened twice, in 1973 and 1985.
There have been 992 Grand Prix laps raced so far at the Paul Ricard track.
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