The Circuit Paul Ricard will still be making modifications for the 2020 race despite the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, says French Grand Prix director Eric Boullier.
A track that has been roundly criticised for its lack of wheel-to-wheel action, Boullier has announced that planned changes to the circuit are still going ahead, even as the first seven races of the season have been cancelled.
“Just before the pandemic problem, we were ready to announce some changes for 2020, but also for 2021 and 2022,” Boullier revealed to Canal+.
However, Boullier said he would wait a little longer before detailing exactly which changes would be made before this year’s race, and which would have to wait until next year.
“It’s a project that we have developed with the FOM, the FIA and the Paul Ricard circuit. For the moment, we’re going to wait until there’s a little more visibility in our daily lives apart from the confinement to announce other things.
“We have a track that is what it is, but we have found solutions that should effectively improve overtaking, in any case the risk-taking of the drivers, so by definition the show.
“And then next year we’ll have other possibilities for changes, which unfortunately now in the time allowed can no longer be done, but we’ll see in 2021 according to the new regulations [which will not come into force until 2022], we’ll still have the possibility to change the circuit.”
Set to run from 26-28 June, the French GP is currently scheduled to be the third race of the coronavirus-affected 2020 season. However, the race could still find itself a victim of measures taken to curb the spread of COVID-19, particularly with France being among the more proactive countries in trying to tackle the problem, with public gatherings of 1000 or more people banned since March 8.