Formula One Features — June 2007

This weekend's French Grand Prix will be the last to take place at the Magny-Cours circuit, famously located in a remote part of the country to which it has always been difficult to attract spectators in sufficient numbers to pay the increasingly onerous costs of staging a major international event.

Our sport's annual swing through North America kicks off this weekend in Canada, with the US race to follow just one week later. It's a confoundedly inconvenient pair of races for teams whose cars aren't performing up to scratch and which desperately need the time at home to get them sorted out. But as Mike Doodson relates, these two races provide an opportunity for team bosses, drivers (and even an occasional journalist) to let their hair down in a convivial atmosphere conveniently far from home.