Remembering Dijon, Sebastian Vettel's fantasy French GP location

Circuit Dijon-Prenois only held seven GPs and was criticised by some, but still managed to produce some famous moments in F1 history

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MOTORSPORT - F1 1979 - FRANCE GP - DIJON PRENOIS - PHOTO : DPPI GILLES VILLENEUVE (CAN) / FERRARI 312T4 FERRARI - RENE ARNOUX (FRA) / RENAULT RS10 RENAULT -ACTION OVERTAKING - SELECTION

Dijon held only a handful of GPs, but inspired one of its greatest battles as Villeneuve duelled with Arnoux

DPPI

It was a throwaway comment, perhaps, but given its provenance there was no doubting its sincerity. While debate continues about the French Grand Prix’s continuation – and whether its interests might best be served somewhere other than Le Castellet – Sebastian Vettel pointed out that although the loss of its current home would be a pity, France has “other exciting tracks. Dijon is the one I’m thinking about…”

Very Vettel, that.

During his formative years the German cut his teeth on old-school circuits, not least Pau, Monaco, Macau, Spa, Norisring and Zandvoort before it was completely butchered. And ever since he broke into F1 as a teenager, his passion for all manner of bygones has been apparent, whether that be old cars and motorcycles, Monty Python or Beatles vinyl. He recently acquired Nigel Mansell’s world championship-winning Williams FW14B – and even that, somehow, is now 30 years old.

But Dijon?

Start, Niki Lauda (12), Ferrari spa SEFAC, Ferrari 312 B3-74, Ferrari, Ronnie Peterson (1), John Player Team Lotus, Lotus 72E, Ford Cosworth, Clay Regazzoni (11), Ferrari spa SEFAC, Ferrari 312 B3-74, Ferrari, action during the 1974 F1 championship

Lauda leads first ever GP at Dijon in ’74, but Peterson on right in Lotus would win

DPPI

It’s a lovely idea in an appealing location. Dijon-Prenois, to give the circuit its full name, lies in the heart of the Bourgogne region, within a grape’s throw of many noble vineyards. Completed in 1972, it hosted the French Grand Prix for the first time in 1974 – and the lap’s brevity (at fractionally over two miles) didn’t particularly appeal to Motor Sport’s Continental Correspondent Denis Jenkinson, whose personal tastes were more attuned to Pescara or Charade. Describing the opening practice session, he wrote: “It seemed hard to believe that we were at a grand prix. With lap times of less than a minute, it seemed more like a USA oval race – and the circuit called for so little ability that everyone and anyone was within hundredths of a second of each other.”

Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312 B3) eventually qualified fastest in 58.79sec, the last time a driver took less than a minute to secure pole for a world championship grand prix until the Scalextric starter-set version of Sakhir was used towards the end of 2020. In the race, he came home second behind Ronnie Peterson’s Lotus 72 – or, as Jenks put it, “It was all finished in just over 1hr 21min, hard to believe the French GP had just taken place…”

From the archive

The truncated Dijon was used again the following year, for the non-championship Swiss GP, and an extra loop was incorporated in 1976, ahead of the French Grand Prix’s return the following summer. Jenks: “A magnificent increase of 511 metres, and some 14 seconds to the lap time! For all its smallness and ‘village circus’ atmosphere the end result was pleasant enough, especially if you have never experienced anything better. For the Formula 1 race of France, it was more or less adequate and any shortcomings were more than made up by the arrival of summer in the very pleasant countryside of Bourgogne.”

Mario Andretti scored an inherited victory for Lotus in 1977, after John Watson’s Brabham ran dry in the final moments and coasted across the line with a dead Alfa flat-12, and there would be only four more world championship grands prix thereafter: three French (1979, 1981 and 1984) and one Swiss (1982, when Keke Rosberg scored the only victory in the year of his coronation).

One of those, though, was among the most significant in world championship history. It is best remembered for the stirring second-place duel between Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) and René Arnoux (Renault), whose approach to the task in hand would nowadays have led to a fortnight of post-race investigations. From where I was sitting, watching the highlights on a small portable TV in Cheshire, it looked like two blokes capitalising on abundant car control and boundless mutual trust to illustrate just how exciting racing could be – and my feelings about that have never changed.

AUTO - F1 1979 - FRANCE - DIJON PRENOIS - PHOTO - DPPI JEAN PIERRE JABOUILLE (FRA) : RENAULT RS10 - AMBIANCE - PORTRAIT - PODIUM GILLES VILLENEUVE (FRA) : FERRARI - RENE ARNOUX (FRA) : RENAULT

Arnoux (left) and Villeneuve (right) would provide the fondly remembered fireworks in ’79, as Jabouille took victory

DPPI

Up the road, meanwhile, Arnoux’s team-mate Jean-Pierre Jabouille was stroking his way to a comfortable victory. Two years on from Renault’s first grand prix start of the modern era, it was apparent that its turbo V6 was not the blind alley certain rivals had predicted but a wake-up whistle, a signpost to grand prix racing’s future technical direction.

Dijon’s place in grand prix history has thus been brief but significant. It’s unlikely Liberty Media will consider Vettel’s suggestion, but should ever it do so it would be well advised to sit back, enjoy a few bottles of the local produce and leave the circuit untouched.

It’s fine just as it is.

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