Which race tracks should be revised?

[raymondu999]

I think though we need to remember that there are several more "geeky" f1 fans that love analysing the lines that drivers take and strategy etc and overtaking is of little or no consequence to them.

[gridwalker]

What is wrong with trying to facilitate both?

[Steven]

First of all, I am surprised to see that turn 7 at Abu Dhabi isn't causing more action. Driver are taking a deep line into the corner to get on the throttle early for the straight. As such, a following car should be able to take it deep as well while taking the inside line. Sure there's a risk of a re-pass on the straight, but when you don't try, you don't get anything. A possible solution could be to widen turn 7 there, and make turn 5 and 6 a right-left chicane, rather than the inverse as it is now.

Then, Barcelona. Obviously the teams love it as it's a great car performance indicator. I wouldn't change much, but making turn 1 and 2 just a little bit sharper (towards 30km/h decrease) could be enough to allow for some overtaking.

Monza I think right now is fine. The suggestion of getting rid of some chicanes will never stand, it's considered too much of a security risk. Turn 1 is actually pretty good compared to the chicanes we have seen there in the past.

As for Korea, I wouldn't judge too much on it yet considering the circumstances there. What I did find though was the confusion in the twisty section. I found it particularly hard to know at which turn the cars were based on TV images. Maybe it's just a little bit too much corners.

Also, I'm very much opposed to introduce even longer straights than we have already. The Hockenheim back straight proves long enough to have some overtaking if you have a good few leading and trailing corners. Seeing cars run straight on for 20 seconds is just boring...

[gridwalker]

As for Korea, I wouldn't judge too much on it yet considering the circumstances there. What I did find though was the confusion in the twisty section. I found it particularly hard to know at which turn the cars were based on TV images. Maybe it's just a little bit too much corners.

They just hadn't gotten around to building any landmarks yet : when most of the place is a barely disguised building site, do you really want to be studying the landscape very hard?

[FW17]

Maybe one of the reasons why Abu Dhabi had so little action on track last year and this year is all the teams were at the end of their engine usage. This race could have at least brought in the action of Bahrain if it was one of the first few race of the season.
Jean Todt should relook into regulations before making changes to tracks.

[wrigs]

First of all, I am surprised to see that turn 7 at Abu Dhabi isn't causing more action. Driver are taking a deep line into the corner to get on the throttle early for the straight. As such, a following car should be able to take it deep as well while taking the inside line. Sure there's a risk of a re-pass on the straight, but when you don't try, you don't get anything. A possible solution could be to widen turn 7 there, and make turn 5 and 6 a right-left chicane, rather than the inverse as it is now.

Turn 7 isn't seeing much action because there's a chicane right before it. The braking distance going into turn 7 is very, very short and the speeds are low, which means that outbraking someone to go side-by-side into the corner is virtually impossible. If the cars were allowed to skip the chicane (like they did during the cleanup from the Schumacher-Liuzzi incident), I can almost guarantee you would see more overtaking there.

Then, Barcelona. Obviously the teams love it as it's a great car performance indicator. I wouldn't change much, but making turn 1 and 2 just a little bit sharper (towards 30km/h decrease) could be enough to allow for some overtaking.

I doubt you could find many drivers who consider Barcelona a favourite track. I don't think tightening turn 1 and 2 makes much difference. The problem with overtaking there right now is that regardless of whether you try to go for an inside or outside pass, you will either be compromising your line through turn 2 or you will find yourself on the outside going side-by-side into turn 2. Going deep into turn 1 isn't really an option either.

Also, I'm very much opposed to introduce even longer straights than we have already. The Hockenheim back straight proves long enough to have some overtaking if you have a good few leading and trailing corners. Seeing cars run straight on for 20 seconds is just boring...

Clinically straight isn't interesting, I agree. But having naturally fast sweeping sections and altitude changes can be interesting while still serving the same purpose as a straight.

There are a few problems with modern Formula One tracks. First is the tendency to use chicanes quite a lot. The purpose of a chicane is to slow down the cars for safety reasons. It was never intended to provide good racing, exciting TV or exciting driving for the drivers. In that sense, chicanes should be a tool to slow down older racetracks when the speeds are deemed to high for safety reasons. That's why it's completely ridiculous to see chicanes on modern, purpose-built Formula One tracks.

The second problem is the number of medium-speed turns that seem to dictate similar compromises in car-design and setup from all teams. It's no secret that Formula One cars have trouble following eachother due to the turbulent air and the cars' dependancy on aerodynamic grip. Fast tracks reduce the severity of this problem, because the cars will have to depend more on mechanical grip than on medium-speed tracks. Especially tracks with a high average speed and a few low-speed corners I think will be a good mix.

The third problem is safety. Motorsports are inherently dangerous and unsafe. We shouldn't fool ourselves to believe that we can protect ourselves from any accident. The drivers themselves know the risks and the choice is theirs in the end, so perhaps it's time to lower the safety standards a bit in terms of run-off areas, average speed and so on.

[010010011010]

I was looking at the 3d of the texas track and it seems to have a good elevation change which is encouraging. To me the two key ingredients for a track are Scenery and Elevation Change.Think about it, most good tracks have both, or one to the extreme. The rubbish ones have neither.

Forests are always good too for some reason

[alberto222mx]

I know that this isn´t really about the tracks, but, revise the schedule, in wich season of the year every track is visited. Almost every F1 fan loves wet races, but this year we've seen races with the risk of not being started or finished entirely because of heavy rain and lack of light.

[wrcsti]

almost all the newer circuits. They all follow the same format. Long straight, slow 90* turn, med straight, 2 sharp 90* turns, med straight, yet more sharp 90* turns, one good sweeper, straight, 90* turn then finish line. Like i said, not all are like this, mostly the newer ones.

[Steven]

Then, Barcelona. Obviously the teams love it as it's a great car performance indicator. I wouldn't change much, but making turn 1 and 2 just a little bit sharper (towards 30km/h decrease) could be enough to allow for some overtaking.

I doubt you could find many drivers who consider Barcelona a favourite track. I don't think tightening turn 1 and 2 makes much difference. The problem with overtaking there right now is that regardless of whether you try to go for an inside or outside pass, you will either be compromising your line through turn 2 or you will find yourself on the outside going side-by-side into turn 2. Going deep into turn 1 isn't really an option either.

Barcelona is the typical track where you can measure your car against previous years or competitors. It has all types of corners, and that is also the reason why it's widely used during tests. It's not a driver performance indicator, so a popuplar track for teams, less for drivers.

The problem again with "sweeping straights" is that cars lose downforce when running behind one, hence requiring them to go off the throttle and reduce their chance of overtaking at the end of a straight.

Also, turn 1 as at Circuit De Catalunya has a much too high entry speed. It makes it too risky to attempt an overtake there, which is why I'm proposing to make it just a bit slower. Possibly still an overtake won't stick, but attempted passes are better than nothing, and will eventually lead a succesful one when done well.

[wrigs]

Then, Barcelona. Obviously the teams love it as it's a great car performance indicator. I wouldn't change much, but making turn 1 and 2 just a little bit sharper (towards 30km/h decrease) could be enough to allow for some overtaking.

I doubt you could find many drivers who consider Barcelona a favourite track. I don't think tightening turn 1 and 2 makes much difference. The problem with overtaking there right now is that regardless of whether you try to go for an inside or outside pass, you will either be compromising your line through turn 2 or you will find yourself on the outside going side-by-side into turn 2. Going deep into turn 1 isn't really an option either.

Barcelona is the typical track where you can measure your car against previous years or competitors. It has all types of corners, and that is also the reason why it's widely used during tests. It's not a driver performance indicator, so a popuplar track for teams, less for drivers.

The problem again with "sweeping straights" is that cars lose downforce when running behind one, hence requiring them to go off the throttle and reduce their chance of overtaking at the end of a straight.

Also, turn 1 as at Circuit De Catalunya has a much too high entry speed. It makes it too risky to attempt an overtake there, which is why I'm proposing to make it just a bit slower. Possibly still an overtake won't stick, but attempted passes are better than nothing, and will eventually lead a succesful one when done well.

That's why Circuit de Catalunya is a great track for testing, not so much for racing.

If it requires that much slip from the tyres, it's not so much a sweeping straight anymore. What I'm thinking of is something like the long sweeping section after turn 1 at Watkins Glen. Or, for instance, the section between Variante del Rettifilo and Variante della Roggia at Monza. Or the section between Lesmo 2 and Variante Ascari (or if you straightened Ascari to be a single corner, the run from Lesmo 2 all the way to Parabolica). You can have corners and elevation changes to create variation for both the crowd and the drivers without having use all of the available grip.

That's the problem with medium-speed curves: because they require so much of the available grip, the cars, when going through these turns, are absolutely dependant on aerodynamic grip. Low-speed corners don't have this problem since the cornering there relies on mechanical grip, which is very consistent. High speed corners, like the ones I mentioned above, that don't use all of the available grip don't have the problem either.

[natehall]

I would bring back the old hockenheim ring, watching the cars squirm to slow down for the chicane's and another car squirm as they try to shove it up the inside

[Green Genes]

While I understand the requirement for safety, there has got to be a medium ground between crashing to death and zero penalty for getting a turn wrong. The only part of the Abu Dhabi track I enjoyed watching was turn 19 with its wall on the exit. Reminded me of the wall of champions.

Everywhere else the drivers just have a parking lot of pavement. If they got the corner wrong they might not even lose time off their lap. Boring tracks could be spiced up without even changing the lay out if only there were more corners that make or break a lap, where taking it even a little cautious costs significant lap time, and taking it even marginally wrong costs you big time. Not a crash, not even a gravel trap, but anybody behind should definitely be able to get by. There are too many consequence free corners.

[ringo]

We're getting back the old bahrain right?

Other than that, singapore and valencia needs some more passing oportunities.
I'm cool with the other tracks.