Eric Boullier announced as Formula One French Grand Prix Managing Director

French GP

Boullier announced as French GP Managing Director

Boullier determined to ease access to Paul Ricard

Sam Hall

Monday 27 January 2020 18:57

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Former McLaren boss Eric Boullier is appointed as Managing Director of the French Grand Prix and has immediately laid out a plan for easing the congestion problems that have plagued the event over the past two years.

While the on-track action has been lacking in quality since Formula One returned to France in 2018, the main problems have been getting people into the venue at all.

One narrow road leads to the Paul Ricard circuit and, as the venue is more regularly used for testing than hosting large scale race events, this is not usually a problem. However, with the global appeal and relative ease of getting to France from the majority of Europe, the lack of access becomes a huge problem when Formula One roles into town.

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As well as focusing on the local travel disruptions, Boullier announcing plans for shuttle buses and carpooling incentives the Frenchman also revealed plans to help fans from further afield to reduce the traffic problem.

In a press release, these plans were listed as; -Free shuttles from 5 towns close to the Paul Ricard circuit with an additional stop at the La Ciotat SNCF railway station;

-Development of a carpooling application with the possibility of using a priority lane and a reserved car park;

-Shuttles from Marseille, Toulon and Aix-en-Provence during the entire event;
-Shuttles from Arles, Avignon, Draguignan, Gap-Tallard, Manosque, Nice, Saint-Raphael and Salon de Provence on Saturday 27 June and Sunday 28 June;
-Shuttles from major cities such as Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Montpellier, Perpignan and Valence (Sunday only);

-International shuttles from Barcelona, Milan, Turin, Amsterdam and Eindhoven with a special offer of three nights camping and two days of Grand Prix;

Various changes to the circuit are reportedly being made but, with no official word on this subject, we are unable to accurately report whether this is fact at this point.