On Friday, 6 July 1990 the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet celebrated its 20th birthday by hosting the French Formula 1 GP for the final time. It was the seventh race of a season that was panning out as expected, with another great duel between Ayrton Senna for McLaren and the champion Alain Prost who, over the winter, had moved to Ferrari and was fresh from victory in Mexico. The Frenchman had already won in Brazil, home of his rival, while Senna had triumphed in Phoenix, in the USA, Monaco and Canada.
