F1's Fastest Circuits

Most Formula 1 fans would be aware that the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, home of the Italian Grand Prix, is the fastest Formula 1 circuit on the modern calendar.  It's not called "The Temple of Speed" for nothing!

F1's fastest ever lap was completed there by Juan Pablo Montoya driving a Williams in 2004.  He averaged 262 km/h (163 mph) over one lap.  So yes this beautiful Monza circuit, set in parklands outside Milan, is super fast!

That question answered, how do the other circuits rank?  The table below shows all of the circuits in the 2016 calendar, ranked fastest to slowest.  The figures show the average lap speed of the fastest lap in the race.

Source: https://www.formula1.com

Looking at the figures, Monza - the last of the true "low downforce" circuits left - is clearly a lot faster than the next circuit on the list: Austria's Red Bull Ring.  The revamped circuit - itself an emasculated version of the frightening quick Österreichring - rejoined the F1 calendar in 2014 and finds itself taking second place, knocking-off both Spa Francorchamps and Silverstone.

The Belgian circuit has been largely unchanged since the shorter 7 kilometre layout debuted in 1983.  Silverstone, meanwhile, has existed in a multitude of configurations, with it's latest "Arena" layout debuting in 2010.  It's average speed, however, hasn't changed too much.

During 2016, both Monaco and Brazilian Grand Prix were rain affected races but the historical statistics show that this wouldn't materially change the table rankings above for the former, as the Monte Carlo street circuit is easily the slowest circuit on the calendar.

Brazil's Interlagos circuit, however, would slot itself somewhere between Russia's Sochi Autodrom and Germany's Hockenheimring in dry conditions.  The fastest race lap recorded there under the current V6 turbo hybrid regulations was Lewis Hamilton's 1:13.555 (210.895 km/h) in 2014.

Some circuits with long straights such as China's Shanghai International Circuit and Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit seem to be fast, however their sequences of slower corners or sectors reduce the overall average speed.

Australia's Albert Park is impressively high up the list based on last year's fastest race laps, with the sixth-fastest overall average speed.  It ranks comfortably as the quickest temporary or street circuit on the schedule.

A footnote to this story is that this year Monza is getting even faster should planned changes being completed occur in time for September's Italian Grand Prix. 

Work is underway that will see the field bypass the first Rettifilo chicane.  Instead, drivers will go through a fast right hand kink before the Curva Grande and rejoin the existing layout at the exit of the Curva Grande via a new fast left-right chicane.  The result is expected to reduce the lap time by over one second.

We need a variety of tracks in F1 and we certainly have that.  Overall lap speed is, of course, not everything.  Watching an F1 car fly through the swimming pool complex at Monaco is proof of that!

Thanks for reading, please leave your comments.

Jason Goodacre.

Pep, F1Podcast
https://twitter.com/F1Podcast

Non-Championship F1 Races

Since the official FIA Formula 1 World Championship began in 1950, non-championship races have featured on the Grand Prix calendar.  These races continued to be a major feature on the motorsport schedule well into the 1970s, with the latest non-championship race being in 1983.

With that historic nod, should modern F1 embrace the non-championship race once again?

According to Formula 1's new head of motorsport, Ross Brawn, this is an option for the future of the sport.

"It might be rather optimistic, but you can imagine if we had a non-championship race there'd be a lot more capacity to look at different formats and approaches and see if the fans take to it with much less risk or exposure than we would if we were doing something in the championship,” he said.

With new owner Liberty Media now calling the shots in Formula 1, fresh ideas need to be tried.  A good way to achieve this could be to hold a race which does not affect the World Championship.

"We often had non-championship races in the old days but getting it all to work is another matter.  Brawn added.  "It needs to be commercially viable of course, and that's the challenge. Again, it couldn't just be 'pick ideas out of a hat'. It needs to be properly thought through, but maybe an opportunity."

So what new ideas could be tested?

Shorter race formats is probably a given.  This idea has been mooted many times in the past and sprint races would be a different spectacle: less about conserving the car and more about driving as fast as possible!

More racing action on a Saturday is also very likely.  Other concepts such as reverse grids could also be trialled at a non-championship meeting.  While F1 purists would want the sport to steer clear of gimmicks, non-championship races could explore artificially wetting the circuit (if a circuit was able to offer it).

Non-championship races in the past were often held in locations which were considered exotic, so perhaps these could be a means of trialing new locations. What about a race through a major city, a hill climb, or a race with a truly spectacular backdrop. 

Purists will argue that the current format is fine and should not be changed.  However, if F1 is to increase its appeal and grow, then new ideas need to be tested.  Other sports have benefited from updating and changing their format; with cricket’s move to Twenty20 being a prime example of this.

Formula One does need to evolve as well as cater to a younger audience.  It also has heritage, more than any other motorsport.  So this needs to be respected too.

Non-championship race meetings would provide the means to try new things, while still respecting F1's heritage.

As Brawn says:  "We expose ourselves whenever we make changes like this.  Fingers crossed, it is going to work out but l think it is a good example of where we didn't go through the right principles to begin with."


Thanks for reading, please leave your comments.

Jason Goodacre

Pep, F1Podcast

Daily updates on twitter:  https://twitter.com/F1Podcast

My F1 Collection

My F1 collection started when I was a teenager in the late 1980's.  As a big F1 racing fan, my first purchases were magazines and posters for my walls.  So that was "Prix Editions" magazine and some Alain Prost posters I'd picked up somewhere.  Big Prost fan.

Then I bought some photo's of F1 cars from the Adelaide Grand Prix which were available to purchase via the newspaper.  And that was how it remained for quite awhile: magazines and posters.  "F1 Racing Magazine" replacing the previous title.

The next thing I started to get was a few F1 books.  These were mainly Grand Prix annuals from the mid 1980's and also some VHS videos of seasons in the 1990's.  Later there was DVD's and as always gaming of course.  I've written a separate blog on F1 gaming.

But it was in the early 2000's that I started to buy more and across different categories.  Online shopping was opening up lot's of opportunity!  The first significant purchases were F1 replica helmets.  Over a period of several years I bought Schumacher, Prost then Senna.  They remain the core and much loved part of my F1 collection.  I'm keen to get more.

Then one day I found an F1 stamp with my 3 favourite drivers and I had to own it.  That began an period of about a year where I binge purchased F1 stamps.

And here's the thing about collecting. 

When you collect, you learn about each category or genre you are collecting within.  For example with stamps you learn all about the world of "philately", the study of stamps.  Model cars?  I learnt all about the types, history, manufactures, scale sizes and details of this genre.  Trading cards and games provide a great history of our sport.

There were several items during the next stage that I collected a lot of:  keyrings, badges, cards and some models.  Later my focus turned to collecting F1 books, especially the older ones.  All the while adding to the other categories whenever I found something.

There are several things I've not been interested in collecting.  F1 clothes is one, season DVD reviews is another.  Expense is always a big consideration too - there is a lot of excellent (and very expensive!) stuff out there. 

I'm also strict that it must be F1 or Grand Prix Racing.  No Indy or lower formula open wheeler please.

Here is my collection summary.  The one's in bold I've been concentrating on recently:

What sort of F1 things do you collect?
What are your favourities?

Thanks for reading, please leave your comments.

Pep, F1 Podcast

Daily F1 commentary on twitter:  https://twitter.com/F1Podcast