French GP project ditched

Dec.2 (GMM) Organisers of a new venue for the French grand prix have pulled the plug.

After the demise of the Magny Cours event, and also the alternative Disneyland Paris project, it was reported earlier this year that the latest Flins-Les-Mureaux foray had also struck political trouble.

“I really feel that we were not as supported as I had hoped,” Alain Schmidt, president of the Conseil General of the French department Yvelines, is quoted as saying in French language reports.

Schmidt was elected last July.

“Having consulted all the stakeholders, I have decided, in agreement with the conseil, to abandon construction of a formula one circuit,” he added.

The reports said a return to Magny Cours or a project called Le Pole Val de France, in the Sarcelles/Val d’Oise region, are the next best hopes for France’s return to the F1 calendar.