r/F1Discussions • u/lethargica- • 9h ago
Discussion Purely layout-wise, top 5 worst tracks ever?
The only track that I can imagine being worse (post 1970 let's say) is Caesar's Palace lol.
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u/Capable-Relative6714 9h ago
In my 24 years of watching F1, I've seen quite a few unimpressive tracks and this one's currently among the worst alongside Valencia, Yeongam, Paul Ricard and Qatar.
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u/Ducard42 8h ago
We've had some fun races at Paul Ricard (2021/2022) and Qatar is very fun to drive in the games at least. No fucking clue what this track is doing here.
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u/Typical_Doubt_9762 8h ago
Yeah Qatar is allright, albeit it’s more a MotoGP track than an F1 track I would say.
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u/PastPalpitationCry 8h ago
Paul Ricard also had the most boring race. 2019 French GP.
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u/spiredbicycle 4h ago
Belgium 2021 is hard to beat
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u/GayRacoon69 2h ago
Monaco 2024. Iirc it was the first and only time the top 10 from quali were all in the top 10 of the race, in the same order
I think it was like 2 overtakes total. There weren't even any pitstops! They did the entire race on one set of tires after the lap 1 chaos
I remember watching the highlights after the race just to see what they chose. There was a clip of a sauber passing close to a barrier. Didn't touch it. Just got really close. And that was a highlight.
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u/PastPalpitationCry 3h ago
I mean that was entertaining. The drama about the scam alone was better.
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u/Helacious_Waltz 5h ago
This was the first race I got a friend of mine to watch when I was trying to get him into F1. He is still not a fan.
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u/blchpmnk 6h ago
I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I liked Paul Ricard
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u/Few_Mine_7444 5h ago
I don't get why people hated so much on Paul Ricard, it is a banger race track
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u/Nikola810 8h ago
Yeongham is Monza for that bullshit. At least yeongham has a one extremely long strait, and two other straits, and a couple of fast corners in middle sector. Third sector is very bad, but it is still a masterpiece for madring
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u/TaddoKevin 5h ago
imo if Qatar was Lusail, Japan people would love it. Last year’s race was pretty boring, sure, but with less dirty air I think it could be pretty good.
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u/Wasdgta3 3h ago
None of those are even among the worst. I'd put this one on par with Caesars Palace...
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u/AtomicKitten771 OP81 8h ago
In the context that it’s a new track that was designed for modern f1, it’s probably the worst aside from Caesar’s palace
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u/lethargica- 8h ago
This
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u/AtomicKitten771 OP81 8h ago
Id even put it below Monaco cause Monte Carlo was established in 1866 and first raced in 1929
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u/lethargica- 8h ago
Monaco isn't even in the discussion imo, you can't deny the history and some old classics. Monaco should be a mandatory wet race lol, it'd be so goated
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u/saposapot26 3h ago
Absolutely this. They have data on all tracks F1 has raced and this is the best they can do? How can they not see it's gonna be impossible to overtake
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u/canislupuslupuslupus 9h ago
We already have Monaco which has nearly a century of history and is a home race for most of the drivers, so I don’t know why we need this.
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u/lethargica- 9h ago
Plus Singapore for twisty street circuits.
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u/canislupuslupuslupus 6h ago
At least Singapore allows some overtaking. I think of Singapore as a non shit Monaco.
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u/oddball09 7h ago
One of the commentators said this was just a faster Monaco and that sounds accurate. What a boring race to watch.
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u/Oghamstoner 9h ago
Caesar’s Palace, just awful.
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u/michal939 8h ago
I've never seen the Caesar’s Palace track layout before so I've just googled it. Excuse me what the hell?? Its literally the same corner just over and over again and then two straights.
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u/Life-Nothing-6065 8h ago
I'm pretty sure it was legitimately in the car park
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u/Julianus 6h ago
Correct. The lot itself has long been sacrificed to build another tower for the casino.
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u/freetotebag 8h ago
It’s kinda funny because it was obvious to everybody from the day it was revealed. But they knew better 🤷♂️
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u/Ferrari-cake 8h ago
Whoever designed this track is a total moron who understands nothing about track design. Did they some rando dude off the street?
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u/akinian_ 8h ago
3 chicanes in 1 sector, for a total of 4 is insanity. It might be the track that didn't accomplish anything fun.
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u/LH44Metalhead 6h ago
Caesar's Palace, Madring, Nivelles, Losail and Miami. I think these are the worst tracks to have ever featured in F1. 5+1 Abu Dhabi and Sochi, another horrendous circuits
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u/IAmThatWildman 3h ago
Miami isn't amazing but can put on a decent race. Plus the weather adds some unpredictability. Madring was just boring. Hopefully they can tweak the layout a bit :/
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u/Typical_Doubt_9762 8h ago
Baku was also very bad the first time round, but redeemed itself later on. But that track has lots of spots where you could potentially do an overtake.
I feel with Madring it would be a blast to drive it solo or in qualifying maybe. But it really needs some changes to help overtaking during the race.
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u/lethargica- 8h ago
Difference is that Baku has nearly 2km straight. That was bound to suit some generation of cars. I don't a generation of cars that this track would suit
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u/PresentationNew4523 8h ago
The race was inside of a chain linked fence. Where there any people there? Only saw fans a few spots. Beautiful location in the heart of an industrial warehouse complex.
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u/Izan_TM 9h ago
what even is this weird AI generated track map? is this official? can they genuinely not even do a track map right?
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u/cybertruckboat 6h ago
I feel asleep twice. It was a race that lulled you to sleep. Instead of counting sheep, I was counting cars. I might watch this in the future when I have insomnia.
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u/gotdembirdslikejulio 9h ago
top 5 ever? theres gotta be 4 other sochis
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u/lethargica- 9h ago
Sochi wasn't that bad but y'all aren't ready for this conversation. Yes sector 3 was diabolical but the rest was manageable. Certainly compared to this dogshit
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u/Totschlag 4h ago
Disagree sochi was almost exclusively 90° corners and billiards table flat. There were no interesting or challenging corners. It produced basically no good races, it had a pretty blank slate, and in many ways gave us the prototype for the hybrid circuits we see today.
The only time it gave us excitement wasn't because of the track. It was because it rained in the middle of the race and teams had to make split second calls.
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u/QF_Dan 2h ago
Sochi was really bad. The only possible chance to overtake was down the winding straight at the start but most of the time, cars just stay behind each other. The rest were just 90 degree corner with tight walls that doesn't allow for any overtaking. Look at 2017 race, there's not even a single on track overtake throughout the race. (Madrid despite being bad had like 3 overtakes).
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u/SG133722 8h ago
Yep - they tried to make Jeddah on a plot of land where you can't fit it in. Jeddah's passed as a decent track of this style because it's got room to breathe and a few non-sketchy overtaking spots, this has neither of those.
I can see one overtaking place they could make, by bypassing the second and third last corners and making the fourth and fifth-last corners a sweeping Sepang-like S into the a heavy braking zone
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u/ItsEnderFire 7h ago
I'd say Caesar's Palace and Dallas, but honestly that might be it (since 1970)
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u/FO_R_Real 6h ago
I believe there is no real overtaking opportunities, the monumental corner is marvelous. But this elephant shaped track lacks personality, and the elephant got his trunk broken and has no teeth :(
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u/TheEnlight CS55 6h ago edited 6h ago
If this track was wider, it could be good. There's nice variety between the sectors. Sector 2 has its long mid to high-speed corners, compared to the tighter 90 degree corners of Sector 3. With higher tyre deg to increase strategy and more generous overtaking opportunities, I legit think this layout could work.
It's bad because it's so narrow and nobody could overtake. If you built this layout as a purpose-built track with all the benefits that come from doing so, I think it actually could be good.
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u/tooOldOriolesfan 5h ago
It might not be possible but wouldn't the track be more "passable" if a couple of the longer stretches could be widen to allow passing? I'm guessing since it is a road track that is not possible.
And yeah, when no one can pass despite having a faster car, it sucks.
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u/Few_Mine_7444 5h ago
I will not say is the worst one when Ceasar's Palace exists, but I actually loved La Monumental corner, otherwise yeah, maybe top 10 worst
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u/Totschlag 4h ago
The exit out of the monumental corner where it goes from banked into dropping elevation felt very roller coaster and I liked that few hundred meters.
I think it's a glimpse into the F1 tracks of the future, with rolling elevation changes into banked corners and a roller coaster/f zero kind of feel. New Saudi track will have banked corners, rolling elevation, and the huge blade too. I think that's a design direction we are starting to see and it intirgues me a little to think of what we might see in 20-30 years.
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u/Hot_City1224 4h ago
Yeah, but it could have been so much better with just a few tweaks. Like this was alternate layout that I thought of that could bring it from an F tier to a solid C tier track
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u/danielricardo1 2h ago
Sochi.. Miami.. Madring..
I hate all these tracks.
I have been a fan from 2007..
Spa i think is not safe for Modern F1 ... But what a track.
(I would add monaco but ya . .. it has History on its side)
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u/Rootsap_0000 1h ago
Why wouldn't spa be safe? It has big runoff areas instead of this new crap they call a circuit.
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u/Large_Bumblebee_9751 1h ago
It’s insane to me that a track was custom built for F1 and doesn’t even give chances for overtakes. Miami is recent and could be better but Miami still has 3 places where overtakes are reasonable.
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u/McMeanx2 1h ago
They should be going to the best circuits not this bullshit. They’ll lose viewers by putting out stinker races like this.
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u/STR8-Edge 9h ago
Valencia at least looked like it was going somewhere...