Motor racing in Pau dates to 1900, when the Automobile-club du Béarn organized the Circuit du Sud-Ouest, a 300-kilometre road race running Pau-Tarbes-Bayonne-Pau as part of the city's Semaine de Pau festival. The French Grand Prix was held in Pau in 1930, and the annual Pau Grand Prix was inaugurated in 1933, won by Marcel Lehoux in a Bugatti with snow still on the ground.
There was no Pau Grand Prix in 1934. When the race returned in 1935, the route was modified to bypass Beaumont Park, and the pits were moved to a new location. This revised circuit alignment is the route that has been used continuously since, making the 1935 layout the foundation of the modern Pau street circuit. The modifications produced a course that, in character and layout, has drawn consistent comparisons to the Monaco Grand Prix circuit.
The 1937 event applied revised Grand Prix regulations restricting cars to 4,500 cc normally aspirated or 3,000 cc supercharged engines. The 1938 Pau Grand Prix became one of the most celebrated pre-war races in France: René Dreyfus in a Delahaye 145 defeated Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang sharing a Mercedes-Benz W154, with Dreyfus completing the race without a pit stop while the Mercedes pair required one. It was a rare symbolic French victory over the dominant German teams of the era. In 1939, Hermann Lang again featured, defeating teammate Manfred von Brauchitsch.
Racing halted during World War II. The Grand Prix returned in 1947, and the 1947 and 1948 editions were considered particularly dramatic. In 1948, the young Nello Pagani won ahead of Raymond Sommer, Philippe Etancelin, and Jean-Pierre Wimille. In 1949, Juan Manuel Fangio dominated — starting from pole, setting the fastest lap, and winning.
Jean Behra won in 1954 in a Simca-Gordini before a record crowd, dueling Ferrari's Maurice Trintignant at a time when French manufacturers were diminishing in international competition. The 1956 race was cancelled following the Le Mans disaster of 1955, which prompted a broader safety review across European motorsport. Improvements to the circuit in 1957 addressed both safety and competitor facilities.
Jim Clark became closely associated with Pau, achieving his first victory in a Formula One car at the 1961 Pau Grand Prix and returning to win three more times in 1963, 1964, and 1965. Clark's Pau wins formed part of the broader dominance he demonstrated throughout single-seater racing during that era. Other winners of the Formula Two period — which the race adopted from 1964 to 1984 — included Jochen Rindt (three wins: 1967, 1969, 1970), Jackie Stewart (1968 in a Matra Sports), and future and former World Champions such as Graham Hill, Denny Hulme, and Emerson Fittipaldi.
The Pau Grand Prix adopted Formula 3000 in 1985, with Alain Prost becoming a co-organiser of the race that year. Jean Alesi won in 1989 after a race restarted four times due to successive problems on the grid. Juan Pablo Montoya won twice in the Formula 3000 era, in 1997 and 1998.
The race switched to Formula Three in 1999 following the withdrawal of Formula 3000 from non-Grand Prix venues. Among Formula Three winners at Pau was Lewis Hamilton in 2005. The event adopted World Touring Car Championship format from 2007 to 2009, then returned to Formula Three. It has been included in international motorsport listings as one of the finest street circuits in the world.
The 2.769-kilometre layout runs through the city centre of Pau on closed public roads, producing a bumpy and technical surface requiring greater suspension travel than is typical at purpose-built circuits. The race has operated across Grand Prix, Formula One, Formula Two, Formula 3000, Formula Three, sports car, and touring car regulations over its history. A separate 3.030-kilometre club circuit, the Pau-Arnos, exists approximately 20 kilometres to the west of the city and operates independently.