My final ranking: tiermaker.com/list/formula-1/every-f1-track-ever-16397293/3494996 What's yours? Make sure to share! Once more, huge thanks to Südspeed for supporting me and the channel. use code "southpawracer" at checkout on www.sudspeed.com to receive a discount!
My dad was at the Mosport race in '68 and the story he old me about that day was: "The fog was so thick you literally couldn't see your hand at the end of your arm, after about three hours of waiting they sent jackie stewart out to do a couple of recon laps and once he went back in the race started 40 minutes later, and the fog was still just as thick as it had been in the morning when I got there".
the first 4 minutes of this video is just growing horror at the size of the task he's set out for himself, holy crap. We all owe this man a like for his dedication.
Frankly, Avus should be F tier. While it's iconic and a symbol of the era, it's also just two absurdly long straight with a hairpin at one end and a brick wall just shallow enough to drive on at the other. Seriously, it makes Atlanta (pre-repave) look like the Nurburgring
Nah, its unironically great. So many passing opportunities -extended period of time at full speed = more powerful draft = many passing opportunities on the straights -First hairpin = great passing zone -back onto another straight -final turn, a hairpin wouldve been good enough because it would still be a passing zone, but they went all the way and made it a huge banked turn which is what bumps it from being A tier to S tier. It is literally the only track in existence (aside from traditional ovals) that has more passing opportunites than it has turns. Not to mention the straights would truly test the reliability of the cars. I'm not being ironic btw. The racing there at a safety updated avus would be so good
As someone who went to the last 4 races at the Indianapolis road course, I think it's massively underrated, even to this day. Fan visibility and facilities were top notch, and its main flaws were either fixed after F1 left (the double-hairpin in the infield) or weren't the track's fault to begin with (the final corner). I really wish they'd go back, as the track has a lot more history and is way more accessible for the average fan in both location and price than Miami, Austin or Vegas are.
I think it would be tremendous with the current regs, far better than the abysmal Miami circuit. Would probably be a big cash cow too because of the track's capacity, despite the city of Indianapolis not being a tourist destination.
@@scullystie4389 Honestly you'd be surprised how adept Indianapolis is for large sporting events - on top of hosting the highest attended sporting event in the world every year (Indy 500), it also frequently hosts NCAA basketball and football tournament games, and even a couple Super Bowls, and did so really well all things considered. Also, speaking from experience, everything from accommodation to food is a lot cheaper too being in the Midwest.
I fully agree with you on Indianapolis road course being underrated. It would be great to see F1 return there instead of either Miami or Las Vegas and the '05 PR disaster should no longer have a particularly noteworthy impact on attendance numbers, if at all.
Certainly doesn’t help it’s case that the three Cup races they ran there were a complete joke, a shit-show, and boring as sin respectively. Indy itself has faired a little better but even they’ve cut one of the two IRC dates now.
I'm tempted to make a little championship with all the F and D tier tracks I can get my hands on, see how much pain I can endure, though I quite like new Fuji so that won't be too bad at least.
9:40 I thought you'd got the Brabham fan car and the Tyrrell 6 wheeler mixed up but funnily enough Anderstorp is the track where both cars took their one and only wins
Loved all the video, but I feel loving Monaco as I do is becoming more and more a controversial opinion. Personally, Q3 at Monaco is the highlight of the whole season and racing there, especially in the wet, is beyond human. It’s a challenge no other track in the world can provide (Macao, Bathurst, Pau and the Ring come close but they are not currently hosting F1). This makes Monaco an S tier track for me and honestly I really struggle to understand all the hate. It’s a precious and unique gem in the calendar that needs to be preserved
I feel like watching a lap and racing in Monaco are quite spectacular. But the racing nowadays is just atrocious and that's the main reason why people hate races there... I think it should be the main event of F1, like Indy 500 is in Indycar. They could race in smaller cars, probably F3s with painted liveries. This way you could have a special race with all drivers racing in pretty much equal machinery.
I think Monaco perhaps should be turned into a one-off time trial event, because from FP1 to Q3, it is the best track on the calendar, but due to track position being so dominant, racing doesn't function unless rain comes in to throw a spanner in the works in the "track position vs pace" equation.
Honestly, with the new generation of Formula E cars being effectively at F2 level performance now (at least if it weren't for them not using slicks...) I think the Monaco ePrix is a genuinely more enjoyable watch at the moment than the F1 Grand Prix, merely cause the cars are so much smaller
I completely understand the low ranking of Monaco for the lousy racing it produces. Personally I believe it's a brilliant track and Monaco qualifying is the ultimate test of driver skill, the fault lies primarily with the cars becoming larger than a full-size pick-up truck.
The thing with the Hockenheim layout is that there's a crass contrast between watching it on TV and driving it yourself. When driving on the Sim, the original layout is a bombastic experience while the new one is... kinda meh. It's the exact opposite when watching it on TV. The only real thrill about the old circuit was that there were guaranteed to be multiple drivers whose engines spontaneously combusted.
I stumbled across this video, and I absolutely loved it. I know almost nothing going on, but I still loved it for learning a bit about each track. And, because I owned Forza Motorsport (sold it after less than 10 hours of playtime), I even got to relate to Barcelona’s awful final chicane. Mind you, that wasn’t even in a fast F1 car it was a near-stock RX-7 FC. It just creates a crushing hammer blow to the shins. If it were a faster chicane I wouldn’t have minded but it just smashes the flow.
As a little detail, it's remarkable how Interlagos is by far the oldest layout currently in use in Formula 1! SPR, I absolutely loved the video, it made my week. Love learning more about F1 from the 50s and 60s, and this little journey through some lesser known tracks was a blast!
Great video! I have been a passionate f1 fan for the best part of a decade but some of these old school tracks are still so facinating and new to me. Great tierlist!
100% agree about new Hockenheim vs. the old loop. The old version is just discount Le Mans where the best section was the last 25% of the lap. New Hockenheim took the amazing stadium section and added several amazing corners that improved the flow of the circuit.
The rant about temporary circuits called "street circuits" is absolutely spot on. Something I've always thought but that I've never found the words to say it
before even watching the teir list part of this, the amount of work you've done is increadible and is great. now to sit down for 90 minuetes and shout at my screen every time you put a track in a teir it shouldn't be in.
One of the best things about Mosport that you don’t get by looking at the track map is the insane elevation changes. Just a brilliant track and amazing to watch sports car racing in person at
Man this is such an amazing task and the most complete work that ever happened! It’s even very relevant to sim racers so they know which tracks they should download!
1:32.00 Österreichring. There is one version between the original and the 1977 version. After Donahue's crash the Hella Licht chicane had first a double apex layout. Then after that it became a right-left-right chicane.
Original Interlagos in Automobilista 2 is a wild ride. Quick edit: If you ever do visit Canada, try and see a summertime race at Mosport. It's only an hour's drive easy of Toronto. If you think the track is fun in video games, wait until you see how much of a rollercoaster ride it is in real life. The drop from turn 4 and sudden incline into turn 5 is an absolute marvel.
I pretty much commented the same thing about Mosport. Walking the track after the racing finishes for the day really let’s you get a feel for how insane the track is
The 70s and 90s layouts of Buenos Aires are massively underrated. The old one feels just like classic Hockenheim with an arena section full of technical corners after a minute-long flatout blast. The 90s one has a string of corners that just never ends, but flows perfectly.
COTA is one really good major upgrade away form being an S tier circuit. Fix the overly large runoff areas especially T1 and T19. The sector one Maggot/Beckett/Suzuki tribute section needs to jackhammered so only grass is lining the awesome section. And the Mickey Mouse overly tight section needs to be simplified by removing a couple corners and have the back straight connect more directly to the triple apex corner. Do those things and you have a circuit ever bit as good as Suzuka, Spa, and Silverstone!
I´ve never watched a 100min RU-vid video from beginning to the end without skipping. Until today :D Thank you for this great video. With beer and crisps it was a nice entertaining evenig :D
One hot take I have is that I'd rather see F1 back at the Nürburgring (The GP circuit, not the Nordschleife to be clear) than at Hockenheim. I actually agree that modern Hockenheim is better suited to F1 than its previous layouts, but it's become a very average F1 track. It's pretty good, but nothing special. The Nürburgring on the other hand is something F1 doesn't have a lot of: A high downforce track that isn't insanely narrow. Monaco and Hungary are F1's staple high downforce tracks, but you hear all the time how difficult it is to overtake there. As good as Imola is, it's actually pretty hard to overtake there as well with modern F1 cars, and Zandvoort has basically the same issue. All other F1 tracks that are currently on the calendar are medium or high speed tracks, and Hockenheim would fall into that category as well, so I think Nürburg might be a more interesting track to return to.
Love the tireless effort put into this one @SouthPawRacer - also; as an Australian with a deep love for Montreal, I fully recommend just going there and walking the track during a non race weekend. Poutine is everything you think it is and more.
I compliment for the historical facts. A minor remark - at 1:42 you say "FIA ran the championship fo F2 regulations", but the regulations were set by local organisers, not FIA. It just happened that the most Grande Epreuves, except the International 500-Mile Sweepstakes, chose F2 cars for their races. FIA had very limited influence back then.
I don't understand all the love for Spa specifically as a Formula 1 track. It is no doubt an incredible track, but for F1 the only notable moments I can think of is when it is pouring rain and people are crashing.
Its strange hearing an Australian talking about my local track Mosport.. I always wondered how F1 Fans felt about the track. I never would have guessed it would rank that highly. I hope you do end up making it to the Canadian Grand Prix at some point, I went last year and it was an incredible weekend.
I live in the town where mosport is located and it’s honestly weird to think that some random town in Canada with a population of 50000 hosted such big events.
When you said every track, you MEANT IT. Fantastic video! I'm not used to watching tier lists and agreeing with them so much, great takes all around. Especially loved the shout outs to Clermont, Montjuich, old Zandvoort and Mont-Tremblant, superb, underrated tracks that are awesome to drive in sims. Supertouring cars in Race 07 around Clermont is still some of the most enthralling racing I've ever done. But it's a tier list, so I have to disagree on something - Jarama in an F1 car is an easy F, especially IRL where it was always caked in dust and Suzuka has absolutely nothing on Spa.
God bless this man, you are a gift to the Motorsport community, I'm always anticipating your next video but you've really outdone yourself this time. Keep up the good work!
Damn I love Monaco. Crazy the gap in opinions on it. You either love it or hate it. I'll defend it every day, but it's cool the effort and time you put in for real, so I'm not bout to hassle you. Great video.
I share a lot of the top circuits with you, Spa, Suzuka, Nords, and Montreal but I also put Mugello in S tier too (although mine isn't specifically an F1 circuit ranking, rather just a ranking in general). I only have one other track in S tier, and that is Oran Park.
The only thing I can give Monaco from a racing standpoint is that for some reason it works really damn well with Formula E. The race there this year was one of the better ones of the season, in what was a damn good season
@@scullystie4389They started running the full layout (albeit initially with a modified Nouvelle chicane) in 2021, and it was a cracker of a race (still up on their RU-vid channel by the way!). They were 3 wide up the hill on the opening lap and overtakes all over the track.
Tbh Las Vegas seems good. The circuit itself works for racing as intended. I think the turn after the strip shouldn't be squiggly to promote even better racing but other than that it completely smashed my expectations.
this is the first video of yours i’ve seen. watched the whole thing in one sitting. excited for the upcoming track history vids! gotta watch your others in the meantime
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a race at mosport, take it! It's a great venue. Aside from the starting line it's completely open seating so you can pick up and move to different parts of the track any time you want, the people are great, and best of all, FREE PADDOCK ACCESSES! The VARAC armature historical racing event they do every year is particularly great!
I wouldn't be opposed to the Monaco GP eventually being moved off the F1 calendar to the FE calendar as their crown jewel. That way we still get racing at Monaco and we can use that spot in the F1 calendar for something else (Kyalami, Fuji, Brno, or the Kymiring anyone?)
Great video, as always! Just one thing I noticed: The 1980 layout of Imola actually also had the chicane at Acque Minerali, I know it shows up without the chicane on many track maps, but in this video for instance you can clearly see the chicane is there ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OEEPygjI_yk.html And also until 1985 there was a wobbly bit after the Variante Alta chicane which doesn't show up on a lot of track maps, but in 1986 they straightened it out.
I have many thoughts about this list, some positive some negative but my overwhelmingly positive take, I’m glad Sebring was ranked so high… being from FL, I’ve been to Sebring for endurance racing (ALMS, IMSA, WEC) and it’s one of my favorite tracks ever… glad you seemed to agree and love to see it has a history in F1 too
Great as always, lovely to note that it kept getting funnier looking at the list of tracks coming up get absolutely obliterated by the sheer volume of Monaco layouts, for some reason it absolutely sent me, peak comedy right there.
This is the first one of your videos that came into my inbox from you in the past 3 years. I figured the SSTG guy just had a hiatus, but I look at your channel and youve uploaded so many in the meanwhile! If you have anyone who manages your channel, or a guy that know about that kind of stuff, maybe it's good to have a talk with them. I love the video btw, and im watching all your videos back, but there might be people that are subscribed who didnt even get this video of yours in their feed.
It has really caught my attention that pronounce Jerez better than we do in Andalucía (the south region of Spain). You're the only foreigner I've ever heard pronouncing that final Z as it should be. Even here, we just say "JereH" instead of JereZ hahaha
Sorry to be such an anal prick here, but I feel more detail should be added to the "Anderstorp obliteration mitigation situation" as the finer details are almost always glossed over. The fan car was NOT banned... at least, not with the swiftness with which I think you unwillingly drew over the event for the sake of pacing (which is understandable), and I seek to amend your statement to provide the detail lost in this post. It was not banned with a smack of a gavel; it was not in a blink of an eye that separated innovation and its derailment, but done so quietly (for their standards). The fan car was WITHDRAWN; not by the governing body, but interestingly by Brabham themselves -- from all further competition after it won in Anderstorp. It was a chilling statement to Lotus that they were not as far ahead of the curve as they thought they were, and there was always someone with a bigger idea and someone mad enough to go out and do it... ...and THEN the fan forced convection oven, along with its technologies, ergo all others of its ilk in utero, was banned retrospectively at the end of the season, leaving us to tread the path to the microwaves we have today.
I mostly agree except Jeddah, I love that track even though it is unsafe; it really gives the drivers a chance to send it, and it has been solid for racing throughout its calendar tenure. Feel free to disagree if you want to lol
The dislike of the circuit is purely because where it's located. I don't have a problem with people disliking the event as such but when people say the circuit is poor it comes across a little disingenuous to me. It's produced two incredible races in 2021 and 2022. Plus qualifying is always a great watch as well.
Great video man! Loved watching it. I just want to leave some constructive criticism. The music around the 44 minute mark was a shock, way to loud and could hardly hear what you were saying. Other than that, love the video! Keep it up! You're one of my favorite channels on RU-vid!
1:27:16 man you had Circuit Gilles Villeneuve shaking in its boots up in S tier with that "street circuits that aren't street circuits" rant. Dallas, Miami, and Jeddah are likewise purpose-built "street" circuits, and Jeddah is in my opinion one of the very best circuits on the modern calendar.
I've also got Albert Park significantly lower, and Vegas, Jeddah, and Bremgarten significantly higher. Bremgarten, judging from Fat-Alfie's AC mod, was *special*, in the same way as Nurburgring and Spa of the era were. Overall surprised how much I agreed with you!
It really grinds my gears when somebody says there’s no ICE motorsport/racing in Switserland. Not every form of motorsport is held on circuits. Rally du Valais is still being held every year. With internal combustion engines.
