Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that this year's French Grand Prix will be the last to be held at Magny-Cours.

But he believes that the race itself could still have a future at a new venue - potentially in Paris.

Ecclestone replied with a firm "yes" would asked by French newspaper L'Equipe whether Formula 1 would leave Magny-Cours after 2007.

"It's a little bit disappointing because we organised this grand prix and it has never developed in the way that we would have liked it to," Bernie told L'Equipe.

Magny-Cours replaced Paul Ricard as the French GP venue in 1991, but has come under increasing criticism for its isolated location, and lack of facilities and atmosphere.

The French motorsport federation (FFSA) announced in March that it was 'suspending' the Magny-Cours F1 race for 2008 because "not all the conditions necessary for success were met."

Although Ecclestone has been pushing for more grands prix to take place in new markets such as Asia and the Middle East at the expense of traditional European dates, he said the French GP should survive - ideally in a more glamorous location.

"That's why I would like to see something in Paris," he said.

"A beautiful track on the roads of Paris - going up the Champs-Elysées, going round the corner there...

"You can always dream, can't you?

"I'm trying to turn dreams into reality."

Speculation has suggested that a circuit could be created at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport, or the Disneyland Paris resort.

Ecclestone said that the latter plan had its merits.

"Why not Disneyland?" he said.

"It has hotels, you can get there by train, it would be ideal."

Bernie's declaration that Magny-Cours' 2007 GP will be its last makes it extremely unlikely that the French GP will appear on the 2008 calendar, as work has yet to begin on an alternative venue.

The race has been a fixture on the world championship schedule every year bar 1955.

Source: ITV.com/F1 

Sounds like this should be in ITV's Gravel trap section, Press are sooo stupid. HAHA!!!! :lol::lol:

The FIA, the sport's governing body, has announced that McLaren's actions during the Monaco Grand Prix were "entirely legitimate" after investigating whether the team had breached article 151c of the Sporting Code.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis admitted after the race that his team had instructed its drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to ease off and protect the team's second 1-2 result of the season rather than risk retirement by racing each other to the finish.

In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, the FIA cleared McLaren of any wrong-doing in Sunday's race after it's actions had prompted a back-lash in the British press.

"Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren) and its drivers, together with the FIA observer's report and data from the team, it is clear that McLaren's actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary," it read.

In setting out the reasoning behind its decision, the FIA drew attention to the fact that Alonso and Hamilton were on different fuel strategies because of the high likelihood of a safety car deployment.

"It is clear from FIA measurements taken after qualifying that McLaren fuelled Hamilton for five more laps than Alonso," the statement continued.

"This allowed Hamilton the option of a one-stop strategy should the safety car have come out during his first stint."

The FIA said McLaren's decision to pit Hamilton earlier than planned was fully justified to insure against the danger that the Briton would be caught behind the safety car.

"With no safety car during Alonso's first stint, there was a small but finite risk that it would come out during the five laps before Hamilton had to refuel," the FIA said.

"This would have put him behind the field and at a significant disadvantage to any car on a full (as opposed to optional) one-stop strategy.

"For similar reasons Hamilton was called in early for his second pit stop, thus assuring his second place, with or without a safety car."

The governing body pointed out that the fact McLaren was unchallenged at the front of the field not only allowed it to pursue a conservative pit strategy, but made it entirely sensible to do so.

"Had the car in front of Hamilton not been his team-mate, McLaren might (probably would) have decided to risk the safety car and let Hamilton run for as long as his fuel load allowed in the hope that he would come out of the pits in the lead after one of his pit stops," the statement read.

"There is, however, no obligation on them to take this risk in order to overtake their own car.

"Indeed it would be foolish to do so."

Finally the FIA concluded that McLaren was perfectly entitled to take measures to ensure that both its cars made it to the finish.

"It is standard procedure for a team to tell its drivers to slow down when they have a substantial lead," the statement said.

"This is in order to minimise the risk of technical or other problems.

"It is also standard practice and entirely reasonable to ask the drivers not to put each other at risk.

"McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars."

The FIA's closing judgement on McLaren's actions was unambiguous: "They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result."

Source: ITV.com/F1