Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Paul Ricard, 2018

French GP traffic problems due to “stunning location” – Brawn

2018 French Grand Prix

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The severe traffic problems many Formula 1 fans experienced getting to the French Grand Prix are a consequence of holding the race in such an attractive setting, according to Ross Brawn.

F1’s managing director for sport acknowledged the difficulties many fans experienced getting to the track during the weekend. Some spectators gave up their attempts to reach the circuit in time for F1 sessions. Others abandoned their vehicles in queues and walked several kilometres to reach the track.

“The location of the French Grand Prix was at the Paul Ricard circuit and it did look stunning for the race,” said Brawn. “However, being in such a remote and beautiful location meant that access was difficult.

“There were issues with traffic congestion which made entering and leaving the circuit challenging at times.”

Brawn pointed out responsibility for improving the situation for next year’s race rests with the event promoter.

“I am sure the knowledge gathered this weekend will be used in order to improve this,” he said. “From our side we are always working to help the promoter, the circuit and the local authorities to achieve good traffic flow on grand prix weekends and let the fans focus on this great sporting spectacle.”

Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer described the traffic problems as “ridiculous” and said one of the team’s guests had been unable to reach the circuit because of them.

“We had a guest who was flying in to have a meeting with me and then flying back,” said Szafnauer. “He never made it to the meeting. He had to turn around and go back to the airport.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “French GP traffic problems due to “stunning location” – Brawn”

  1. The severe traffic problems many Formula 1 fans experienced getting to the French Grand Prix are a consequence of holding the race in such an attractive setting, according to Ross Brawn.

    That would be true if there were a lot of spectators visiting the venue…. the French GP only attracted 65.000 which is, by comparison, about half the attendance Silverstone gets every year.

  2. Hm, while i can see the point of what Brawn is saying, you’d expect the F1 promotor to be a bit more in touch.

    Since the traffic seems to have been catastrophic for many, I think they should rather have some intensive talks and up front planning with the French GP hosts and even ticket refunds would seem to in order for the people with the worst experiences.

  3. Is it any different elsewhere though?
    When I left Hockenheim I was stuck for hours too and roads were closed. I was back in the hotel at midnight.
    When I left Spa I was stuck for hours too and roads were closed. Also home around midnight.
    When I left Hungaroring I was stuck for hours too and roads were closed. Many people had a hard time even making it off the parking because they couldn’t climb a (slightly wet) grassy hill.

    The only places where I could leave just fine were Monaco, Monza and Imola. That was only because I left those on a train. I can’t imaging getting out of for instance Monaco with a car would have been much fun though.

    Plus Magny Course because I managed to find a back route that apparently no one else thought off while the rest of the spectators were all stuck for hours on the highway. Also on the way in, when some neighbours at the stand where I was sitting didn’t even make it in time for the race.

    I read the same drama stories about Silverstone although they probably fixed it a little by now.

    1. The last time Hockenheim had a traffic issue was during the ‘Red’ Schumacher period, so 2006. The last time Imola held a GP was the same year. That was F1’s boom period, and both circuits pulled over 100k spectators, not half that as we had Saturday in France. To put 2006 in perspective: iPhones were still two years away. Times have moved on a touch since.

      1. And times have moved on a lot since I attended the GP at Magny Cours in 1997, I don’t recall any traffic difficulties then (although I left the RN7 before Nevers heading to Cher) and I know the RN7 has been massively upgraded en-route to Paris since then when it took about 2 1/2 hours to drive from Nevers to Paris on light (normal) traffic days, and there is nothing wrong with the scenery around there either.

      2. I’ve been before and after that (between 1997 and 2010) and it was pretty much the same all the time.

        Still, perhaps it’s less now because there are fewer people coming, but still. It all sounds like nothing out of the ordinary.

  4. The airport is visible in same helicopter camera shots as the circuit… so traffic must have been really bad if the Force India guest couldn’t make it to the circuit from the airport!

  5. No, that airport is for private and charter – the FI guest flew scheduled to Marseilles Airport 66km away by shortest route, but not the fastest.

  6. I agree with Ross, having commented to Mrs Ju88sy on Friday that the traffic was only bearable due to the fabulous views across Provence at every corner.

    To those of you commenting that this is normal for a GP….it’s not….we have driven to many including Silverstone and Spa and this was far, far worse…….

  7. They should just blame this on the fans for not being more willing to fly in on their private jets.

    1. @mrvco – CoTD!

  8. Mark in Florida
    27th June 2018, 2:04

    Well if Liberty wants such a picturesque location maybe they could help pave some USA style highways to help the traffic. If the area couldn’t handle 65000 people it must have a very poor infrastructure to start with. It will be very hard to fix this problem unless a ton of money is spent to rectify it. If Miami becomes a race at least the infrastructure is there to handle the traffic and there are 30 hotel’s close to the track.

  9. Guybrush Threepwood
    27th June 2018, 6:26

    Makes me feel not so bad about having to queue for 15 minutes to get on a tram into the city another 10 minutes away in Melbourne on race day…

  10. This is Daily Mail level clickbait

    1. Not being a Daily Mail reader I have no reference for your comment, but reader participation suggests it’s a valid topic and headline.

  11. “The location of the French Grand Prix was at the Paul Ricard circuit and it did look stunning for the race,” said Brawn.

    Brawn pointed out responsibility for improving the situation for next year’s race rests with the event promoter.

    Reduce the fees so the promoter can invest or do without ‘stunning’ locations.

    1. This is a problem that Paul Ricard has had for about 40 years now – there are members of Force India’s team who can recall travelling to Paul Ricard for races back in the 1970’s and, even back then, there were still problems with horrendous traffic jams and overcrowded roads. There have also been a lot of fans who were there in the 1980’s who have said that the traffic jams then were terrible and that they’ve not done anything since then to make the situation any better.

      It’s nothing to do with the fee in this case, especially when it was a problem that has been known about for decades before this race occurred – it’s that the local authorities couldn’t care less about upgrading the road network or finding better ways to alleviate the traffic.

  12. I see, so it’s the ‘stunning location’ and nothing to do with only having one rather inadequate road.

    Presumably, to fix the problem, Liberty will insist that the circuit reduces its stunningness next year. Yes, that sounds very plausible.

    1. Well it wouldn’t be so stunning if they paved the whole place.

  13. Such an expensive ticket for so many problems and so little fun?
    I am a big racing fan but F1 is not worth the ticket anymore.
    You better watch it on TV. You see all the action (in case there is some), comments, interviews, slo mo, close ups, analysis etc. Much much better than going to the track.

  14. Why don’t they have parking locations at a decent distance and then bus people in? That causes way less congestion than having people drive to the track themselves.

    1. @aapje: Exactly. Airbus them in.

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