Tracks

are quite possibly the most important thing deciding whether a race is intersting or not. I mean a race with 20 Lance Strolls would still be mor interesting than 20 cars driving in a row for 2 hours straight in Monaco or at the Hungaroring in Hungary because with 20 Lance Strolls you can be sure that multiple very stupid collisions will take place and make the race interesting.

Locations

Currently we have 24 races, taking place in 21 Countries. 10 races are taking place in Europe, 5 in North America, 4 in the Middle East, 3 in East/South East Asia and one each in Oceania (Australia) and South America (Brazil). 

If one really looks at these numbers, one might think "Why the hell does this barely populated Middle Eastern Region, has only one race less than South America, Oceania, Africa and the rest of Asia (so almost Four ENTIRE Continents) combined?" Well one could jump at the conclusion that this is because of the money, that the Oil-Countries can pay, while others don't. 

Is money necessarilly a bad thing? Well obviously F1 has to make profits but as a worldwide sport, it doesn't seem very worldwide anymore.

With 5 Races in North America, 3 of which in the US, 4 in the middle East and 10! in Europe, 2 of which in Italy (the Question really is does any country need more than one race?) theres only 5 Races left for the rest of the world and more races can really not be the solution.

EU - Europe, NA - North America, ME - Middle East, EA - East Asia, SAM - South America, OCE - Oceania, SEA - South-East-Asia

And while I totally get that in some minor developed Regions of the world, F1 hasn't got that big of a fanbase nor are there a lot of useable tracks to choose from but are the ones that are used at the moment actually useable?

Current Tracks

Looking at the average Overtakes per Circuit one can see that a lot of currently used tracks are far up there. However circuits like Algarve (Portugal), Paul Richard (France), Yeongam (South Korea) or the Hockenheimring (Germany) outperform some current tracks like the Hungaroring (Hungary) or Jeddah (Saudi-Arabia) by far. But except for maybe the South Korean one, those do not really solve our issue with two many races in the same regions. 

One Problem is that this is a problem for a couple decades now :).  Africa hasn't hostet a Grand Prix since 1993. Following is a map of every Country that has ever hosted a F1 Grand Prix. Don't get fooled, if you where to look that up yourself, some countries like San Marino technically hosted an F1 Grand Prix, because previously each country was only allowed one grand Prix so if another track wanted to host one, they had to use another country for that.

It is plain to see that the combined map looks better in terms of "worldwideness" but it's still heavily centered around Europe especially if you count out those that have been hosted more than 20 Years ago with Argentina, Sweden, Marocco and South Africa missing out to that. 

So even if you take back old circuits you will hardly make it more worldwide. However it still is kinda boring that we now ill have the exact same circuits for the third consecutive Year. "Why is that?" you may ask. Well that's because of the contracts, each Circuit gets. Luckily, after 2025 (so for the 2026 season) 8 circuit contracts will run out. They could obviously still get extended but for some we just hope they do not.

If you haven't done already, you can check out all current Circuit Contracts in my Beginners Guide on the Homepage.

A solution could be to try out new tracks and/or going to back to one race per Country. 

New Tracks

Their are different regulations new circuits have to accomplish. Mainly the conditions of the track, but if you look at Montreal (Canada) or Interlagos (Brazil) and how the Cars have been bouncing there, these regulations can't be too tight altough general theing like the paddock area and stuff also come into account. Most importantly however the is safety of a track, meaning the barrier system has to be veray modern and that's where most tracks have problems.

I've gone through a lot of tracks and I've looked up five tarcks that I think could fit the regulations with only some few adjustments to make F1 at least a little bit more open to the world. 

Disclaimer: I couldn't find a Circuit in Africa with realistic ambitions to join the calendar any time soon BUT a small african Country named Rwanda set it's goal to become the Singapore of Africa. What do we know about Singapore for sure? It holds an F1 Race. Therefore Rwanda currently builds a track, designed by a well-reputated designer and former Austrian F1 Driver Alexander Wurz. They want to join for 2026 but because the track isn't build yet, I can't show it to you :)

There are two Authorities that rate certain Circuits but I have also used some unrated eventough that would heavilly impact how likely it is for a circuit to join the calendar. Nonetheless here are the Grades listed from best to worst:

FIA

  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2
  • Grade 3
  • Grade 3E
  • Grade 4

FIM

  • Grade A
  • Grade B
  • Grade C
  • Grade D
  • Grade E
  • Grade F

Audru Ring - Estonia

Aka Porsche Ring is a 3,2km/2 miles long Circuit in the North of the Port-Town Pärnu. I've seen it in the BaTCC (Baltic Touring Car Championship) and liked it pretty well. 

  • It is relatively narrow but the layout still allows for some decent overtaking after "Racingexpert Curve".
  • The safety features are modern and unlike most other tracks, there are no hills used as barriers.
  • The Condition is also very well and the Pitlane is big enough of 20 Cars, but there are some bumps missing in the track-curves.
  • (No Grades)

Still a 6/10 for me

Termas de Rio Hondo - Argentina

If seen this massive 4,8km/3 miles long Circuit in the MotoGP. Therefore:

  • The Condition and Infrastructrue is almost perfect
  • The Safety Barriers are good and 
  • The Track has quite wide segments and has an interesting Layout with big elevation differences.
  • (FIM Grade A)

9/10 for me 

Sokol Racing Track - Kazakhstan

If you happen to be a MotoGP Fan as well you might have heard about this one before since it tries to join the calendar since 2023.

This 4,5km/2,8miles long track is located very isolated 70km north of Almaty in the Betpak-Dala Steppe. However

  • the track is very well conditioned, since it just got introduced in 2023. 
  • Most Corners are beatifully wide
  • The Layout is maybe a bit too playful but still very interesting and
  • Eventough it's isolated it's decently planned through and should have everything comercially needed
  • (FIM Grade A)

8/10 for me

Buriram International Circuit - Thailand

AKA Chang international Circuit is a 4,5km/2,8miles long track and I promise this will be the last steal from the MotoGP Calendar. These tracks just happen to have a good infrastructure and condition already.

  • Adding onto that, this tracks is quite wide,
  • very highspeed and 
  • (FIA Garde 1 and FIM Grade A)

11/10 for me (How has F1 never raced here?!!)

Taupō Racetrack - New Zealand

In 2021 the TRS (Toyota Racing Series) used this 3,4km/2,1miles long track and it really looks itneresting for me personally. 

  • The layout is again very playful but interesting and
  • The condition is good eventough it's from 2008 
  • However the narrow parts are very narrow and
  • The safety situation is almost horrible :) there are just no barriers what so ever between the straights and the counter straights. If a Car would go off in turn 7 it could potentially crash in to someone between T1 and T2. So that would have to be improved HEAVILY haha.
  • (obviously No Grades)

With the current barrier situation 4/10,

without taking that into account a 7/10 for me.

One Race per Country/Region

Other than entirely new tarcks in entirely new countries, it could also be helpfull to just swap the tracks around like with the German Gran Prix where the Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring swapped each year. Just named examples for that could be:

  • Valencia and Barcelona (Spain)
  • Las Vegas and Austin (USA)
  • Monza and Imola (Italy)

Or regional swaps aswell like

  • Zandvoort (Netherlands) and Spa (Belgium)
  • Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Sakhir (Bahrain)
  • Miami (USA) and Mexico-City (Mexico)

For me personally that would add a lot more tension to each year.