The organisers of the French Grand Prix are certain there will be no repeat of previous traffic problems, even if this year’s race attracts more spectators.

The championship’s return to Paul Ricard in 2018 was marred by severe traffic jams around the circuit . Eric Boullier, the new managing director of the race, told RaceFans he believes they are now on top of the problem.

“We had some mobility issues in the first year which we have fixed now, totally eradicated,” he said.

The organisers encountered some specific problems in 2018, Boullier explained. “[In the] first year, all of the main problems were on Friday, because on Saturday and Sunday, everybody was at the track more or less on time, even if there was a couple of hours [queuing].

“But Saturday morning or Sunday morning there was no problem at all. I’m not saying [there was] no traffic, no problems at all. The biggest one was Friday and Sunday night when everybody wanted to leave at the same time. So nobody missed the race at all, no one.”

New traffic managements schemes were implemented for last year’s race, which also saw fewer spectators attend.

“The first year there was obviously a lot missed in terms of how to handle this. And all the plans we did last year, even if there was less people coming or attending the race, there was absolutely no traffic issue at all.”

Changes to the organisation of the roads around the track and the relocation of some car parks have helped alleviate the queues, said Boullier.

“We have a guaranteed transfer between the car parks and the track of 45 minutes for the longest and less for the other ones because we are using some [special] F1 lanes for the buses. Doing this we obviously massively dropped down the number of cars circulating around.

“We also have obviously free car parks, car park management is completely different from year one. And to be honest last year we had no traffic at all. Obviously not enough people but if we raise the number of people this year or the coming years, traffic will not be an issue anymore, as long as people don’t try to turn up at the track all together at the same time but use the different options we have put together.”

Further arrangements have been put in place for fans who intend to travel to the track without using cars.

“We also have developed a lot of bus transfers this year so from different cities like Toulon, Marseilles, Nice [and] also from Barcelona, Milan, Geneva, Amsterdam,” said Boullier. “Also we will have some dedicated trains as well for us: Paris, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence with bus transfer to the track.

“So that’s going to be very affordable and very good options if you don’t want to take your car and to enjoy the grand prix without the traffic issue.”

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2020 F1 season