It actually punishes mistakes, a rarity in the modern era. Even the trained eye struggles to spot the differences between the current layout and the one on which the first race was held. Suzuka is a rare example of a circuit that has stood the test of time. The following year they clashed again, and this time the title went to Senna. In 1989 Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost collided at the chicane, and Prost took the title. Suzuka was famously the scene of two of the most unsavoury championship deciders in F1 history.
#World circuit racer drivers
It instantly became a favourite of fans and drivers alike, and its usual place toward the end of the calendar has led to 13 world champions having been crowned here -some more controversially than others.
It was Hermann Tilke's first full-circuit design, and one of his best.į1 departed in 2003, but will return in 2014.īuilt as a Honda test track in 1962, Suzuka hosted its first Japanese Grand Prix in 1987. Enough of the old Osterreichring's beauty was retained and races tended to be better than average. Now called the A1-Ring, the new track was a shorter, slower, sterile version of the old beast that once occupied the same spot.īut somehow, the little seven-corner circuit worked. Somehow it survived in a form almost identical to the original layout until 1987, when it hosted its last race.Ī decade later, F1 cars returned to Austria and found a very different circuit waiting for them. High-speed corners dominated, with little in the way of run-off or protection from the scenery. Sadly, it was sorely lacking in safety features. It was one of the most beautiful tracks F1 has ever seen, rising and falling though the Styrian mountains in Austria. This circuit started life in 1969 as the Osterreichring, hosting the Austrian Grand Prix for the first time the following year. If F1 ever returns, they're going to need a huge paper bag. Now officially known as Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track, its brightly coloured run off areas have transformed it into one of the most hideously ugly places in the solar system. In recent years the circuit was bought by Bernie Ecclestone and rebuilt as a test facility. Paul Ricard became a shadow of its former self, holding the French Grand Prix a further five times before Magny-Cours took over in 1991. In 1986 Elio de Angelis was killed in a testing accident, and the track was drastically shortened. As with most circuits of its age, safety was its undoing. The original layout featured a number of high-speed corners and the gigantic 1.8-kilometre long Mistral Straight. The event moved around a lot in those days and, by 1985, Paul Ricard had hosted it eight times. It was built in 1969 and first hosted the French Grand Prix in 1971. Using this formula, here are the top 25 F1 circuits of all time.Ĭircuit Paul Ricard holds the distinction of being the only F1 circuit named after the man who paid for it -pastis tycoon Paul Ricard. This score is then used to rank the circuits in terms of their overall contribution to the history of F1. This figure is then multiplied by what I've called "F1 Factor" -a score out of 20 based on a number of things including layout, historical significance and quality of racing -to reach a final ranking score. In this article, I've started with the number of races the circuit has held. How on earth do we even begin to rank them all? Others, like AVUS, Phoenix and Valencia, never had any to lose.Īnd in between we encounter the likes of Watkins Glen, the Osterreichring and Suzuka -all great motorsports venues, but without the same lengthy F1 history as their more illustriously considered peers.
Modified over the years to keep up with the changing face of F1, these circuits never lost their character. Some, like Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and Monza, stand out as true jewels in the sport's crown. Since the Formula One World Championship era began in 1950, 69 circuits have hosted at least one grand prix.
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