“I will do everything I can to keep it on the calendar”: French Formula 1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon defended the French F1 Grand Prix on Friday, threatened with disappearance in favor of new races.
To discover
Formula 1: the calendar for the 2022 season
Formula 1: manufacturers' classification
Formula 1: drivers classification
“I am very happy to discover new circuits, but to see the Grand Prix de France threatened (its presence on the 2022 calendar is currently not guaranteed, editor’s note), I will do everything I can (…) to try to keep it on the calendar,” defended Ocon, on the sidelines of the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.
"It's very special for us to go there every year," continued the Alpine rider.
Same story with Pierre Gasly: "As a Frenchman, I will always support the Grand Prix de France (...), the motivation, the energy, the atmosphere, it's something you can't feel only in his native country".
And to continue: "I really hope that we can see the GP of France in the next few years".
If the decision depended only on the AlphaTauri pilot, "I would have already signed the contract", he assured.
The French GP returned to the F1 calendar in 2018 on the Paul-Ricard circuit in Castellet (Var), after ten years of absence on French land.
If, according to Gasly, "no Grand Prix is safe" from disappearing today - "because the popularity of F1 is so high" - "it's great to see the new circuits like Miami, Vegas, all these super entertaining places ”, added to the calendar, however rejoiced the Norman.
At the end of March, the Formula 1 championship promoter announced the arrival of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, thus marking the third F1 race in the United States for next season after the GPs of Austin and Miami - including the first edition will be contested on May 8th.
The announcement of this race comes at a time when the calendar for the 2022 season already includes a record total of 23 Grands Prix.
If several of the races contested this season are not yet guaranteed to be on the calendar next year, Stefano Domenicali had assured earlier in March that there is "potential to go up to 24" Grands Prix in a season. .
The Concorde Accords governing F1's governance and revenue distribution currently limit the number of races per season to 24.
hdy/ob
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
