The Circuit de Pau-Ville winds around public roads in the city centre, making it a rare example of a genuine street circuit still operating at the upper levels of European single-seater racing. Its character draws frequent comparison to Monaco: narrow, unforgiving, with little room for error and significant elevation change. Cars run with greater suspension travel than on purpose-built facilities to absorb the more undulating road surface. The outright unofficial all-time lap record was set by Andrea Montermini in a Reynard 92D during 1992 qualifying, at 1:08.600.
After Formula 3000 vacated Pau at the end of 1998 — when the series restructured all its rounds to support Formula One grands prix — the FIA established the new European Formula Three Cup in 1999, with Pau as its host. Benoît Tréluyer won the inaugural edition. When the French and German national F3 championships merged into the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2000, the Pau round remained on the calendar and grew in stature.
Two victories stand out from this period. In 2001, Anthony Davidson won from pole position in a Carlin Dallara-Honda and went on to take the Euro F3 title that season. In 2005, Lewis Hamilton won at Pau, three years before his Formula One World Championship.
In 2006, Formula Three returned as part of the British Championship rather than the Euro Series; Romain Grosjean, not a regular British F3 competitor, won both races that weekend.
After a three-year absence during which touring cars headlined, the Grand Prix was revived in 2011 under the banner of the International Trophy, with a reduced entry list. The event became part of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship from 2012, when Raffaele Marciello dominated qualifying and the sprint race to win at eighteen years of age. From 2014 to 2018 the FIA F3 European Championship was the headline formula, cementing Pau's place on the premier European F3 calendar.
For 2019 and 2022, Euroformula Open replaced FIA F3 as the headlining formula series at Pau. The 2020 running was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no race was planned for 2021.
Among the drivers who won the Formula Three race at Pau across its various editions, Lewis Hamilton (2005) and Anthony Davidson (2001) are the most prominent who went on to Formula One success. Romain Grosjean's 2006 victory also foreshadowed a long F1 career.
The Pau Grand Prix's history predates most of motorsport's iconic events. The circuit hosted the French Grand Prix in 1930, and the annual Pau Grand Prix itself was inaugurated in 1933. Its Formula Three chapters represent just one segment of an event that has welcomed Formula One world champions including Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Jackie Stewart across its long history. The street circuit's unbroken connection to the city and its willingness to rotate through multiple formulae gave it a resilience rare in European club and international racing.
Financial difficulties beset the Association Sportive de l'Automobile Club Basco-Béarnais (ASAC BB), which organises the event. The 2024 race was cancelled as the organisation faced unpaid dues of approximately €150,000 and entered safeguard proceedings before the Pau Judicial Court in October 2024. A return in the 2025–2027 window was discussed, though the race's future remained uncertain as of the court proceedings in December 2024.