Circuit of the past · Le Castellet
The circuit at Le Castellet in the south of France was built by businessman Paul Ricard, and in 1971 it hosted the French Grand Prix for the first time — Jackie Stewart won. Its trademark is the Mistral straight, almost two kilometres long. After Elio de Angelis was killed in testing in 1986 the lap was shortened, and until 1990 the races were run on the short layout.
Alain Prost won here four times. After 1990 the French Grand Prix moved to Magny-Cours, and Paul Ricard became a test track, with striped run-off areas instead of gravel. Formula 1 returned in 2018; the last Grand Prix here, in 2022, was won by Max Verstappen after race leader Charles Leclerc crashed.
The lap record is per circuit layout. Calculated by Gridlap from f1db history and the season’s results