The Alternative Formula One Calendar

Bram

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Seeing the same boring track names on the calendar again it makes me wonder what other tracks would you like to see having an F1 event.

Please motivate your answer how you came to your selection.

- Which tracks should be removed?
- Which tracks should be added?

The current calendar for 2013
Albert Park, Australia
Sepang, Malaysia
Shanghai, China
Sakhir International, Bahrain
Barcelona, Spain
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
Silverstone, Great Britain
TBA, Germany
Hungaroring, Hungary
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Monza, Italy
Marina Bay, Singapore
Yeongam, Korea
Suzuka, Japan
Buddh International, India
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
Circuit of the Americas, United States
Interlagos, Brazil
 
yup same old same old every year. the order the races are in is exactly the same as last year too (with the exception of the races that have been dropped of course)! they could at least mix it up a bit and put some of the races in a different order. i know there are logistics and stuff like that that need to be taken into account, but i'm sure they could work something out!
 
Manolis Sigoulakis, i highly doubt Kyalami would make a return, i don't think it's up to current F1 standards and i think it would cost too much to get it up to standard.

there has been talk recently of holding a street race in Cape Town, South Africa. last i heard they want part of the track to go through the Cape Town Football/Soccer stadium that was built for the World Cup and is currently sitting completely unused except for the odd international music concert :roflmao:

here are two different proposed track maps for the Cape Town grand prix:

c529159ed5724be79b198c576b653e84.jpg


3303588739.jpg
 
These are non-negotiatable:
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
Silverstone, Great Britain
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Monza, Italy
Marina Bay, Singapore
Interlagos, Brazil
Edit: Forgot Suzuka >.<

Then, additionally:
Adelaide can rotate with Melbourne (both are nice tracks and we can't leave the Aussies without a race).
A1 Ring Red Bull Ring
Watkin's Glen
Imola (with some small alterations to make overtaking possible)
Estoril (just a better version of Catalunya :p)
Kyalami (the old version please)
Circuit of the Americas (was a nice race, so why not keep it)
Zandvoort
I am torn between Hockenheim and Nürburgring for the German Grand Prix. The Nürburgring has a nicer layout but I live only 20km away from the Hockenheimring :/

Then we've got three more slots, so they can alternate between the following, kinda nice, but not that overwhelmingly great tracks:
Sepang, Malaysia
Shanghai, China
Hungaroring, Hungary
Buddh International, India
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
Magny Cours
Brand's Hatch
Yeongam, Korea (nice track, it's unfortunate that Red Bull is so good at it)

I'm not going to go into the specifics of the order, because the European races need to be together, flyaway races should be close etc. and because of that, there is not much wiggle room anyway.
 
Nordschleife
Monaco
SPA Franchorchamps
Suzuka
Potrero de los Funes
Monza
Silverstone
Tsukuba - for the fun of seeing F1 cars on that small track
Interlagos
Bathurst
Long Beach
Zandvoort
Zolder
Buddh International Circuit
Oulton Park
Montreal
Melbourne
Austin
Singapore
Nordschleife
Would obviously be awesome to run Nordschleife, but are modern F1 cars even able to drive on that track with all the bumps and jumps etc.? I know Singapore is bumpy too, but I think Nordschleife is a whole different level. I could imagine it might be a problem with the hard springs and high rake of today's cars...
 
Would obviously be awesome to run Nordschleife, but are modern F1 cars even able to drive on that track with all the bumps and jumps etc.? I know Singapore is bumpy too, but I think Nordschleife is a whole different level. I could imagine it might be a problem with the hard springs and high rake of today's cars...
yea my idea would be for teams to have Nords-cars.

Current rideheights they say can´t cope with it but i think there are ways around it.
 
That is something that is going to change someday, i think.. There is such a limits to trackdesign now due to those vehicles not being able to cope with anything but clear weather and perfectly smooth tracks. And when they've had about 15 years of those conditions, the car design is really on it's limits. 10cm minimum ground clearance would sort a lot of issues and give variance to tracks... Can't remember now but was it suppose to be 6cm now. Anyway the center of gravity is sooo low that anything but smooth, dry tarmac is out of question.. Again resulting to them getting most corners with full throttle. But that's off topic, continue with the original programming.
 
Yea looks awesome, but a re-pave would be ideal.

Would love to see F1 go back there. Amazing place. Would really put the danger back in F1.

Quick info from Wiki regarding the runs,

During the unofficial practice for the 1974 F1 Grand Prix, Niki Lauda drove a lap of 6:58,2 in hisFerrari 312B3. This is the alltime-fastest lap on the classic Nürburgring before the rebuild, even faster than his 1975 qualifying time (6:58,6).[114][115]
On 28 April 2007, Nick Heidfeld drove a BMW Sauber F1.06 Formula One car around the Nordschleife, on a BMW publicity day in combination with a VLN 4h endurance race.[116] For safety reasons, BMW announced that the car was slowed with hard demonstration tires, maximum ride height, and 275 km/h top speed limited by the transmission. Heidfeld drove three laps on the combined Nordschleife and short GP-track, as used in VLN races, with a track length of 24.433 km (so comparison with older records is difficult).
The official lap time released by BMW Sauber was declared to be 8:34 (thus ca. 30 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche 996 turbo in VLN). The German press duly reported this lap time, yet criticized BMW. In each lap, Heidfeld slowed down once to pose for a slow video truck, at Schwedenkreuz on the first lap 1, Kesselchen in lap 2, and Döttinger Höhe in the last lap. The two time spans in between the three passes of Heidfeld were clocked by some fans around the track, first Wehrseifen to Wehrseifen in about 7:28, then 7:22 from Klostertal to Klostertal, which is over 50 seconds quicker than the fastest current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in VLN. This translates to an average of about 200 km/h (120 mph), similar to Bellof's record, but considering the slow GP section, Heidfeld probably was faster on the Nordschleife, close to 6 minutes. Fans who respect the official record of the late Stefan Bellof settle for an "estimated 6:12".[citation needed]
Road & Track magazine reported Heidfeld's lap was a 5:57 or 5:58 (for the Nordschleife only), breaking the track's six-minute barrier for the first time in history.[117] However, their times were done by measuring the speed in some corners, and then calculating a lap time, and not timing a full lap. Heidfeld has since expressed his desire to repeat the experience with less restriction.
According to formula oneF1 Racingmagazine of June 2006, BMW engineers had estimated that a BMW-Sauber F1.06 could lap in under 5:15.8[118]which equals to an average of 237 km/h (147 mph).
 
Ok, So really, You need to go to all the continents, Antarctica is probably too much of a stretch so we'll ignore that, Even though it'll still get a bigger crowd than Bahrain. You need to cater for the fanbase, Which the majority is in Europe, So the most races go there. And you need to go to the biggest populations available, So the US and China are in.
The marquee events are requisite, No matter how crap the racing, Plus the current idea of building tracks for cars is completely wrong, It should be the other way round, Forcing teams and drivers to use the ability and skill to get the best suited car for that track on that day.
Taking all this into consideration, Let's go with, in no particular order:
Australia: Bathurst or Phillip Island
USA: Laguna Seca/Road America
Monaco: err, Monaco?
Singapore: Marina Bay (I believe, At this point, This is a marquee event that F1 can't afford to lose)
China: Shanghai most likely, But they can quickly whip up a new circuit if they wanted to
Brazil: Interlagos
Argentina: Potrero de los Funes
Japan: Suzuka
Canada: Either Montreal or MoSport
Belgium: Spa
Germany: This would be Hockenheim but they buggered it up, So Nordschleife
UK: Either Brands Hatch or Cadwell Park
France: Charade
Spain: I'm actually tempted to say Aragon, So I will
Czech Republic: Brno deserves a race in my opinion
Africa: This is tricky, as I don't believe any track in Africa really would be good for a race, So let's go with the easy answer of Kyalami
 
Ok, So really, You need to go to all the continents, Antarctica is probably too much of a stretch so we'll ignore that, Even though it'll still get a bigger crowd than Bahrain. You need to cater for the fanbase, Which the majority is in Europe, So the most races go there. And you need to go to the biggest populations available, So the US and China are in.
The marquee events are requisite, No matter how crap the racing, Plus the current idea of building tracks for cars is completely wrong, It should be the other way round, Forcing teams and drivers to use the ability and skill to get the best suited car for that track on that day.
Taking all this into consideration, Let's go with, in no particular order:
Australia: Bathurst or Phillip Island
USA: Laguna Seca/Road America
Monaco: err, Monaco?
Singapore: Marina Bay (I believe, At this point, This is a marquee event that F1 can't afford to lose)
China: Shanghai most likely, But they can quickly whip up a new circuit if they wanted to
Brazil: Interlagos
Argentina: Potrero de los Funes
Japan: Suzuka
Canada: Either Montreal or MoSport
Belgium: Spa
Germany: This would be Hockenheim but they buggered it up, So Nordschleife
UK: Either Brands Hatch or Cadwell Park
France: Charade
Spain: I'm actually tempted to say Aragon, So I will
Czech Republic: Brno deserves a race in my opinion
Africa: This is tricky, as I don't believe any track in Africa really would be good for a race, So let's go with the easy answer of Kyalami

Good list that,

And you definitely need one in India, so you'd probably add Buddh.

99.9% of Africa unfortunately do not care about F1, and the 0.1% that do care are in South Africa - where the government currently has more 'important' projects, like building a $30 million bunker for the president to hide from when 'terrorists' strike.

So, forget Africa. We don't deserve it.

Tiens Van Zyl will know what I mean ;)
 

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