Members take off for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of France on the Paul-Ricard circuit in Castellet (Var), on July 24, 2022. In the offices of her office in Nice, Christelle D’Intorni lifts five thick paper folders which she places on the meeting table. Inside, the Les Républicains (LR) deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes reveals bundles of sheets, complete photocopies of the large accounting books of the Groupement d’intérêt public (GIP) GPF-Le Castellet, the legal structure that oversaw the Formula 1 Grand Prix between 2018 and 2022 on the Paul-Ricard circuit (Var). In her colorful files, one for each fiscal year, Christelle D’Intorni has all the revenues and expenses recorded by the legal entity that hosted the car race and that was placed in judicial liquidation on March 21. These documents, which this lawyer by profession has carefully scrutinized, highlighting with a pink highlighter the lines that seem problematic to her.
“The amounts are exorbitant,” she exclaims, multiplying examples of expenses whose recipients are unknown: meal expenses at “La Truffe noire” for 53,159 euros in July 2018, invoices for 10,816 euros from the luxury pen manufacturer Montblanc in January 2022, an expense report from a single employee of 4,153 euros in March 2019, airplane tickets to Dubai for 8,600 euros in November 2018. There are also recurring expenses at the Castellet hotel, a prestigious five-star establishment in the region. An entry dated July 5, 2018, shortly after the first edition of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, shows a disbursement of 30,748 euros for “guest accommodation.” “What is shocking is that travel expenses continue to increase and that we find luxury expenses for colossal sums whose connection to the GIP raises questions,” rages the deputy.
The former mayor of the rural town of Rimplas (Alpes-Maritimes), in the heart of the Mercantour, began to look into the file in July 2023, when the Nice-Côte d’Azur metropolis, of which she is an elected official, was called upon to vote a charge of 5 million euros, interest included, for the dissolution of the GIP GPF-Le Castellet. The decision to dissolve then seems obvious: Formula One Group, the company that commercializes the prestigious car competition, has decided not to renew the contract with the structure. The subsidiary of the American conglomerate Liberty Media has changed strategy, turning to otherwise lucrative markets for various reasons, in the United States, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar.
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