F1: Spanish Grand Prix Set to Return in 2020

beckett929 · Aug 2, 2019

This is great news if they return by ditching that @#$%^&* stupid chicane in the downhill run onto the front-straight!

dale223223 · Aug 3, 2019

NDG said:
Removing myself from possibly politically backed comments, I think this track is still a classic. It's not much worse or better than Melbourne regarding track layout. It's always a welcome track on my list.

To people local there or near the place, I just wish you all the best, and may your favored track be included in the calendar sometime in the future. I also wish Imola back, but WTF. I don't know politics and noise annoyance situation of locals back there. So I'll just stay in front of the tele, keep my opinions to myself.

Good boy.

alice3d · Aug 3, 2019

I am happy for the people who go to the event, but it's usually a bore.

AngryWolfCorey · Aug 3, 2019

Seculi said:
Are they going to smarten the #### up and stop having the race at the most ungodly hour for Spanish people. (mid day)
And make sense by moving it to a dusk/night race.
Always they start at 14:00 and always they complain about the heat, while never there is any Spanish person alive around noon.
It`s like the organisation has actually never been in Spain, and just go directly from the airport to the circuit, and go straight home after the GP has finished.

Also add some tarmac to the first corner and make the apex a lot sharper so one could effectively overtake ?

Maybe because it is also a test circuit have some relocatable curbstones to be able to change 1-3 corners.

Anyway there are a couple small changes that can make a lot of difference, if there is any will to make it a lot better.

While I agree organizers should be more open to local or traditional habits, unfortunately we live in the era where the networks & the sponsors mainly call the shots proving the age old adage "he who holds the gold makes the rules..."

Seculi · Aug 3, 2019

AngryWolfCorey said:
While I agree organizers should be more open to local or traditional habits, unfortunately we live in the era where the networks & the sponsors mainly call the shots proving the age old adage "he who holds the gold makes the rules..."

It`s not really a local habit, Spanish people do it because it`s common sense/logic.
Spanish use siesta as a solution to a problem, not because they`re a bit specific.

GuitarTech · Aug 3, 2019

It's good that Spain is still going to be there next year. I'd like to see F1 getting back to having exiting races at challenging tracks. I'd like to see Portugal come back, I'd like to see the Nürburg Ring back in the F1 calendar. It's fantastic that Zandvoort is back, and if the F1 circus don't want to do more than 21 races a season (which I can fully understand), how about dropping some of the micky-mouse Tilkedromes in the middle and far east? I wouldn't miss them at all, especially Bahrain, what a borefest that is.

Bernie did a lot of damage in his last 10 years in the job, with his never-ending greed for more and more $$$$$, at the expense of the fans. It's going to take a few years to get F1 back on track, I really hope Liberty Media manage it.

aphidgod · Aug 4, 2019

Seculi said:
It`s not really a local habit, Spanish people do it because it`s common sense/logic.
Spanish use siesta as a solution to a problem, not because they`re a bit specific.

Keep this in mind, though - the attendance at this year's Spanish GP was 160,000. I got bored looking up TV ratings after two, but the US audience was 645,000 and there were over 1.5m viewers in the UK. Add in the rest of the world and you begin to understand for whom the schedules are being made. (Hint: it's not the locals.)

egl92 · Aug 4, 2019

Seem right that Spain stays on the calendar, but the venue is very boring. Why not chance Catalunya for Jerez or Motorland, even a visit to neighbour Portugal to racing at Algalve?

Nick Gregory · Aug 4, 2019

HK2014 said:
someone cares to explain whats up with the hate about this track ? or keep disagreeing a post when you see a red cross..

plenty of space to overtake, big straight, fast and technical corners, elevation changes...
i've seen less hate on the russian gp and THAT is a shitty track

Have you ever watched a GP from this track? It's almost always a snoozefest. The last time anything interesting happened there was 2016.

Nick Hill · Aug 5, 2019

Is it my imagination, or if RB had pitted Max the very next lap after Lewis, didn't they have a chance to come out in front? It was gonna be tight, but I feel like I glanced at the splits and thought it was doable.

Hindsight's 20/20 of course, but it sure would have been nice to see those two battle head to head for all those laps on same tires.

Andrew Harper · Aug 5, 2019

bm91 said:
Portimao is better than Estoril and is in the most touristic region of the country (Algarve).
I believe it was build to host F1 but the economical situation worsened.

I believe the original plan was that Portimao was only really designed to be a test circuit and nothing else. It was a private venture by a small group of investors to generate money from testing there. Nice climate, state of the art facilities, etc. Then I think it changed hands and at some point they decided to add in the grandstands which in the earliest videos I've seen were not there.

They've held some sportscar and endurance races there in recent years. In fact I did think about going to see the ELMS race there in October.

It's biggest issues I suppose are, firstly (like Magny-Cours if I remember) it's in the middle of nowhere. Probably to keep away the moaners who would complain about circuit noise.

It's second issue is access. It's not equipped to deal with tens of thousands of spectators that an F1 event would attract. It has one main access road to and from the circuit and I can just imagine the chaos that would cause.

However I totally agree and Portimao is easily one of my favourite circuits and it would be great to have an F1 race there, it's just a question of organising it properly.

The last race I saw at Estoril was a bit sad. A great circuit but you could see it had been left to rot slightly. The circuit condition was not great. That was some years ago so it may have been given a facelift since then though.