Rétromobile looks at the French touch in F1

In the second part of our interview with Rétromobile director Romain Grabowski, we look at one of the show’s themes: the French in Formula 1. “Thanks to Netflix, Formula 1 is popular with a younger audience. We’ll try to give them a storytelling experience at Rétromobile.”

Next to the themes we discussed in our first article, Rétromobile in Paris (5 – 9 February) always makes room for motorsport as well.

“I’ve always had a soft spot for motorsport and in the two years I’ve been at Rétromobile, we had tremendous motor racing-themed expositions. The first one in 2023 was the celebration of 100 Years of the Le Mans 24 Hours. And last year we had the retrospective on the Dakar rally, one of my favourite events”, says the man who previously worked for the rich-on-motorsport-legacy Motul oil company. Next to that, he participated in a Lada Niva in the 2022 Dakar Classic, just like his dad did in the old Dakar rally.

Netflix effect

“For 2024, we have opted for a particular competition theme at Rétromobile: 60 years of French ‘tricolore’ success in Formula 1. We know that F1 currently resonates strongly with a young audience, a success that is in part due to the ‘Drive to Survive’ series on Netflix. This is a generation that has gotten into F1 through storytelling. We want to reach out to them and invite them to come discover the stories we have to tell covering the history of Formula 1.”

Storytelling

For me, what I want to add to the show is the element of storytelling. We are brought up with stories, they are everywhere these days and this is what we respond to. The challenge is to bring it all together. Last year, we not only had Jacky Ickx’ Porsche 959 from the Dakar rally with us, but Jacky came to the show as well to be reunited with his car. For the best part of an hour, he told stories of the old days. It was a very emotional moment. And it’s precisely this where we want to excel with Rétromobile: bring all the factors together to create a magical moment for the visitors.”

Cars and drivers

The French and F1, that automatically conjures images of Matra, Ligier and Renault. Prost, Arnoux, Cevert, Alesi. Few nations have spiced Formula 1 up in the same way the French did. “We opted to give our French theme a very diverse look, spanning both the older generation of cars and drivers from the sixties on, but to also show the more recent French participation in F1. We have 16 cars confirmed at the moment.”

Matra MS80

Grabowski: “One way to see our theme is ‘Cars with a French driver’. As such, we will have Ferraris driven by René Arnoux and Jean Alesi in the exhibition. Another link can be through the engine, as is the case in the Benetton-Renault Michael Schumacher drove in 1995. Or the Peugeot-powered McLaren MP4/9. And then there are of course the purely French F1s. We’ll have the Matra MS 80 that won the world championship in 1969, the Renault RS 10 that wrote history as the first turbocharged car to win a Formula 1 race in 1979, or the 1988 Ligier JS31.”

Stand21 safety campaign

“We will bring in drivers to the show, like Olivier Panis or Jacques Laffite and do live stories with them, in a setting that is reminiscent of a tv studio. We plan to broadcast these events live on our social media channels. The idea is to bring in as much knowledge on the French side of F1 as we can. That also includes the lesser-known aspects, such as Yves Morizot’s safety campaign with his fireproof Stand21 clothing, or tales from mechanics.”

In Tazio 13, we look at the French in Formula 1 in our own 12-page tribute.

Tickets to Rétromobile are available here.