Bourdais: F1 can't afford to lose French GP

Bourdais, who is embarking on his rookie season with Scuderia Toro Rosso, says that renewed French interest in the race this year has boosted the expected attendance by 12%.

But while he accepts that Magny-Cours is unlikely to be part of the future of the French Grand Prix, he believes organisers should work with the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to keep the circuit on the calendar until a suitable replacement is found.

"I think there have good negotiations with the French government," he said. "France is a big nation, a big car producer and we need a French Grand Prix - it is as basic as that.

"It doesn't matter whether it is here or somewhere else. But if we are going to do it somewhere else then we are going to need a bit of time, and it is probably not going to happen overnight.

"Most definitely there is doubt over it for next year, but I personally hope that we will still be here in 2009, because we can't afford to have a blank year and not come to France. That would drop the interest, so we will see what happens."

Bourdais added that Magny-Cours is currently France's only race-ready grand prix venue and that there are few alternatives available until a new venue is created.

"The Le Mans Bugatti circuit is not an F1 track and I don't think the ACO is very interested. They have a lot of events to put together already and there is really nowhere else where you could run a proper race.

"Paul Ricard is now very atypical and unusable for a F1 GP so it would have to be a new site and that is why I'm saying you need a bit of time. Because it is a huge undertaking, you need to find the right place, you need to build it and it is going to take some time.

"They are looking at it very closely and we will see what happens."

Bourdais reckons that any future option would likely be based near the capital Paris.

"Well it won't be Paris, Paris," he said. "But I think it is probably the best option, but like I said it is still very complex. There are a lot of people involved, it's huge amount of money to find to get the project done, so let's wait and see."