When the Formula 1 paddock was packed up after the 2008 French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, uncertainty surrounded the future of the race.

But the event was on the following year's draft calendar, and few then seriously believed that 10 years would pass before there was another French GP.

Motorsport was born in France, and it thrived there during its infancy. Irrespective of which competing definition of the first real motor race you favour, it was held in France. The first race to carry the title 'Grand Prix' was staged in the south-western town of Pau in 1901, and five years later Ferenc Szisz won the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, recognised as the first true grand prix, driving a Michelin-shod Renault.

About Edd Straw

Edd Straw is a former Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Autosport, who is now Motorsport Network’s Digital Content Manager.

Originally from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, he joined Autosport in 2002 having graduated from Warwick University. He went on to cover a wide range of categories from club motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship and Le Mans to Formula 3 before switching to F1 full-time at the 2008 French Grand Prix. He then became Autosport Magazine Editor in November 2014.

After becoming Editor-in-Chief of Autosport in June 2016, he took up his current wider Motorsport Network role in October the following year and continues to contribute as a writer, F1 correspondent and as host of The Autosport Podcast.

In his spare time, he was formerly a club racer whose abilities did not match his enthusiasm in a variety of categories ranging from Stock Hatch to the European Ferrari Challenge.