About Paul Ricard
The Circuit Paul Ricard is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, near Marseille, with finance from the eccentric pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit is known for its distinctive blue and red runoff areas, known as the "Blue Zone" and "Red Zone".
These runoff areas use a high-grip abrasive surface made of asphalt and tungsten to slow cars down without the need for gravel traps, setting a new standard for track safety. The layout can be configured in over 160 ways. The most prominent feature is the 1.8 km Mistral Straight, which is often broken up by a chicane in F1 configurations.
The track is highly technical, with a mix of low, medium, and high-speed corners. Signes corner, taken flat-out at the end of the Mistral straight, is one of the fastest corners in F1. While criticized by some for its "parking lot" aesthetics due to the striped runoffs, it serves as an excellent test venue due to its safety features and weather consistency.