Will Magny-Cours host its last Grand Prix this year?

The French motor sport federation said it had decided to take the race off the schedule "because the conditions of a successful event are not guaranteed".

It blamed poor access to the Magny-Cours track, near Nevers in rural central France, weak attendances and insufficient accommodation.

The FFSA said it would reassess the situation at its next meeting in July.

It said if the race did not take place next year, it hoped the race would return to the calendar in 2009, but not necessarily at Magny-Cours.

The track, which has hosted the race since 1991, has had problems raising funds for the race in recent years.

It is an unusual situation for a race organiser to announce its event will not be on the F1 calendar at this stage because F1's governing body the FIA does not usually publish even a provisional calendar until October of the previous year.

Ecclestone has said it would be a "dream" to have a Paris GP

France held the first Grand Prix in history in 1906, and its world championship date ranks with Italy, Britain, Belgium and Monaco as one of the sport's traditional venues.

Only Italy and Britain have been on the calendar every year since the start of the world championship in 1950, but France has held a race since 1955.

F1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone is keen to have more races away from F1's European heartland.

And the absence of France next year would also free up a slot for the expected return of the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy following an absence this year for track improvements.

Ecclestone has a stake in the Le Castellet track near Marseille, which hosted the French GP from 1971 to 1990, but it has similar access problems to Magny-Cours.

Ecclestone has recently spoken of "a dream dating back several years" to have a Grand Prix in Paris.