France Approve New Project for F1 Track

After months of discussing several sites for the construction of a future F1 track, the French government seems to have finally agreed on a new venue to be built at Flins-Les Mureaux, north east of Paris. As confirmed by the French authorities, the designer of the new circuit will be French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte – and not Hermann Tilke, as assumed.

Wilmotte will benefit from the help of British company Apex UK on building the track. The project will cost around 112 million Euros, with the financing yet to be disclosed by the French politicians. The finalization of the constructions is due to happen somewhere around early 2011, as the circuit will reportedly be able to host F1 races from as early as the same year.

According to the French media, the new track will consist of a one-kilometer straight line and will have an overall length of approximately 4.5 km. The Flins-Les Mureaux region was picked by the French authorities from 4 potential sites, with the main focus being on overall costs.

The news comes only days after the French media reported a meeting between former F1 champion Alain Prost – considered to be a key figure in bringing F1 back to France – and French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the prospect of building a newer, cheaper track to host F1 races in the near future (as an alternative to the old, expensive venue at Magny-Cours).

This latest decision from the French politicians also comes as a solution to the “Yvelines F1 - La vallee de l'automobile” project earlier this year. The Parliament then voted against building an F1 track on the Flins-sur-Seine region (in the department of Yvelines, near the French capital) as the circuit would have been built on an important farming land.

While agreed upon by the French authorities, the new project is still pending the approval of Ecclestone in the days to come.