www.crash.net
Catalunya is nothing special but I’d keep it over another street race in Madrid.
Because teams are just tripping over each other for a chance to sign Hulk.
He’s fine where he is. Haas just need to get better at race execution and develop a car that doesn’t chew tires quicker than everyone else.
Spain is one of the more dysfunctional members of the EU - they still had a fascist aligned government into the 1970s after all - so the fact that the country seems dead set on constantly producing new temporary circuits that they can exploit for graft doesn't surprise me. Valencia, the last abandoned F1 street circuit, is in an area that when the circuit operated had unemployment figures north of 30%. By comparison, the US' current official rate is 3.6%. The current unemployment rate in Madrid is almost 3 times that, so it's easy to find justification for public works projects that will employ laborers.
Apparently the mayor of Nice is still pushing for it.
www.motorsport.com
Dijon has hosed F1 before, but they would have to update it. Paul Richard is more than capable but it's a boring track. Personally I'de like to see them go back to Roen!
I’d like for France to have a race, Paul Ricard is decent but it’s just too ugly with too much runoff and too many different configurations. I think it would be regarded better if it weren’t such an eyesore. But that would require major changes from its days of mostly being a test track.Apparently the mayor of Nice is still pushing for it.
If this race were to happen I'm sure it would take the place of Monaco. Wouldn't make any sense to have two street races so close to each other.
I don't miss the French GP at all. They just don't have any good tracks capable of hosting F1 races.
French president Macron backs push for F1 return
I think this is pretty standard practice with a couple of exceptions where tracks were designed to be viewable for free (ex.: new downtown Detroit layout) but it’s another reason why I wouldn’t be caught dead in Las Vegas that week. Ridiculously expensive…all three of the U.S. races are, but especially Miami and especially especially Las Vegas.
I used to run it all the time on SCGT. It must have been terrifying in one of those 60s rolling firebombs.
The giant painted runoffs look horrible. Why can't they just paint those green so at least it's not so ugly?
F1 will return to Hockenheim in 2026 at the earliest and only if Audi pays for it since Hockenheim can't finance the race through ticket sales and won't be getting any money from the government.
www.speedweek.com
Passing would be extremely difficult for modern day F1 cars at Jerez and Estoril.
Didn't they run Estoril in 2020 or 2021? It wasn't worse than Imola.
That was Portimao. Wouldn't mind seeing them return there.
What a beautiful circuit. It's a classic, if they can keep it. A circuit like that can't be cheap to upkeep. They need big events to keep the doors open, but now they have lost their WEC event too. We don't race at places and then they fall away and become shopping centers or condos.
As far as European races go I’d rather run one of those than Imola or Zandvoort. Those are each a poor fit for modern formula cars.F1 will return to Hockenheim in 2026 at the earliest and only if Audi pays for it since Hockenheim can't finance the race through ticket sales and won't be getting any money from the government.
Honestly I'm not even so keen on F1 returning to Germany. The Hockenheim and Nürburgring GP circuits are pretty bland tracks and I'm not really missing them.
IMO the cars are safe enough for F1 to return to the full Nürburgring layout. That sure would have people talking.
Comeback in Hockenheim? Formel 1 will offenbar reden
Kehrt die Formel 1 in absehbarer Zeit nach Deutschland zurück? Offenbar kommt Bewegung in die Sache, wie Hockenheim-Geschäftsführer Jorn Teske andeutet.
They used to race at Estoril until 1996. In 94 they put in a super slow section to kill the speed going into Estoril's final sweeping righthander, and that totally destroyed the track's character. Before that, the last section was terrifying.
racer.com
Mick tested the rain guards and they didn’t work as intended so it’s back to the drawing board.After the last big crash at Spa, this is a real concern. The difference here is they have three consecutive weekends to reschedule before Zandvoort. They can't just blow off the paying spectators and expect when to accept one slow lap under yellow and half points. They can't hose the public again. I'm all for a safe race, but you have to balance that against not ripping people off like that. No easy answers, but they can't keep doing that and expect people to come back.
Anyone have an update on the splash guards?
Don’t complain if F1 doesn’t run in Spa rain - Leclerc
Charles Leclerc says nobody should complain if Formula 1 puts safety first and does not run at times during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend due to the weather. Persistent rain throughout Thursday is…
The buddy I'm going to the USGP with was messaging me yesterday excited about the potential for a wet race this weekend and I reminded him that it wasn't too long ago that Spa called 4 caution laps a race. If Spa is a circuit that no longer can be run in the wet for whatever reason and no one is willing to do the capex required to prevent cars from being spit out into the racing line, then maybe it needs to be axed. I don't like saying that either.
At certain places the trees are so close straights are more like a topless tunnel. The trees form a wind barrier that won't let the air current carry away the mist. Making things worse, ground effects cars tend to "atomize" the water molecules and makes the mist worse, and makes it hang longer.
Imagine paying $1500 for a good seat at Vegas and being sent home after four laps. That would kill a country's GP in one fell swoop. The six car race they had at Indianapolis burned the fans so bad attendance the next year was pitiful, with plenty of local coverage reminding everyone who got screwed, complete with picketing. Yeah, sign me up for that! At the end of the contract Indianapolis was dropped like a brick, and hasn't been back or even in the discussion. You can't hose the fans like that. In the end, Tony Goerge gave everyone a ticket to the next race, but people were still angry then and still angry now.
It used to be 3/4 distance or half points.
From a safety standpoint absolutely, but imagine if they end up like they did in Spa '21. I don't believe people got thier money back on that one, so to do it again two years later earn a death star rating.
COTA isn't lined with trees, so as long as there is no standing water they will probably race. The big problem is the mist, but COTA is pretty wide open with few trees to interfer with wind clearing the mist.
With wrecks in the middle of the road at least you can see and have a chance to avoid it. It's when there is so much spray you can't see anything that it becomes an unacceptable risk.
I hope it won't rain as hard as two years ago. Two washouts in three years would probably kill Spa as an F1 venue. I wouldn't mind some rain though. It could make the race at least a little more interesting since pretty much everyone is expecting a walkover win for Max.After the last big crash at Spa, this is a real concern. The difference here is they have three consecutive weekends to reschedule before Zandvoort. They can't just blow off the paying spectators and expect when to accept one slow lap under yellow and half points. They can't hose the public again. I'm all for a safe race, but you have to balance that against not ripping people off like that. No easy answers, but they can't keep doing that and expect people to come back.
Anyone have an update on the splash guards?
Don’t complain if F1 doesn’t run in Spa rain - Leclerc
Charles Leclerc says nobody should complain if Formula 1 puts safety first and does not run at times during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend due to the weather. Persistent rain throughout Thursday is…
us.motorsport.com
Alpine has announced that Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer is leaving the Enstone outfit after just 18 months in the role
Otmar Szafnauer leaves Alpine F1 team principal role
Timing sure seems a little odd though. Are things at Alpine so bad that people are jumping ship/pushed out mid season?
Mess of a team. At least Rossi is out as CEO, I think he was the worst influence of all.
www.motorsport.com
www.motorsport.com
Good for Zhou but this likely means for the third consecutive season the reigning F2 champ will be sitting on the sidelines without a drive anywhere.Joe Guanyu will be back at Sauber next year.
Alfa Romeo confirms Zhou alongside Bottas for 2024 F1 season
Zhou has turned into a really solid driver and I think it's a testament because people expected him to be a sit filler for Pourchaire. However, Theo has not set the world ablaze for being in F2 for the past three years either. If Bottas decides to call it quits over time, I think Pourchaire and Zhou would make a good pairing.