Which track should fill the empty slot on F1’s 2021 calendar?

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The draft 2021 F1 calendar was revealed last week and includes a record-breaking 23 races. But only 22 of the tracks which the world championship will visit next year were announced.

There is still an empty slot to fill on April 25th, in between the Chinese and Spanish rounds of the championship. So which venue should F1 choose for the race?

Among the possible options are the five venues which were added to this year’s calendar to replace events which were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. None of those new tracks feature on next year’s calendar, but one of them could yet find a way back.

Other venues to have held races in recent years feature in our shortlist of 10 possible grand prix locations listed below. And there’s one outlier: Vietnam’s new street circuit was supposed to hold its first race this year before the pandemic forced its cancellation. The Hanoi event does not feature on next year’s schedule and, as things stand, is not expected to.

Which of these 10 tracks would you most like to see fill in the ‘TBA’ slot in next year’s F1 calendar?

Hanoi

Last F1 race: N/A

What kind of race might Hanoi produce when – or if – F1 finally goes there? Long flat-out sections in the first two sectors punctuated by sharp turns and tricky corner exits are clearly designed to engineer overtaking. The final sector is a somewhat perfunctory, Valencia-style ‘twisty bit’, though with some challenging blind corners.

Mugello

Last F1 race: 2020

The first of the five new tracks to join the F1 calendar this year. The Ferrari-owned circuit impressed, showcasing the awesome performance of current cars through its many high-speed corners. As well as those, drivers also raved about its punishing run-off areas.

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Nurburgring

Last F1 race: 2020

There was no German round on the calendar this year until the pandemic, after which the Nurburgring stepped in to hold its first race since 2013. It may be no match for the neighbouring Nordschleife, which last held an F1 race over four decades ago, but by modern standards it’s a decent layout, and surely the more scenic of Germany’s two F1-grade venues.

Algarve

Last F1 race: 2020

Like Mugello, another all-new addition to the calendar. The recent resurfacing made for somewhat challenging grip levels (though Istanbul later put that into perspective). With its many changes of gradient and several unusually quick corners combinations, Algarve had much to commend it.

Imola

Last F1 race: 2020

This long-time F1 venue, which returned to the calendar after a 14-year absence, might have produced a somewhat forgettable race had it not been for a late Safety Car period. The cars looked fantastic around Imola’s tight confines, however, and the changes to the circuit configuration since the championship’s last visit have clearly been for the better.

Istanbul

Last F1 race: 2020

Last-minute resurfacing work meant F1 cars lapped around 10 seconds slower than expected in dry conditions at Istanbul. That dashed hopes of seeing the modern machines at the best around this track, and rain made its first race for nine years a crazy, error-strewn affair.

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Hockenheimring

Last F1 race: 2019

Both Germany’s tracks are compared unfavourably with their previous iterations. The Hockenheimring seems doomed to be forever regarded as no more than an abridged version of the fearsomely quick old circuit. But it has produced some memorable races, often due to tricky weather conditions.

Sepang International Circuit

Last F1 race: 2017

The former home of the Malaysian Grand Prix is one of the better clean-sheet modern tracks. Sepang was resurfaced and reprofiled shortly before F1 left, which seemed to aid the racing. Heat and humidity always make for challenging racing conditions, and local thunderstorms have often enlivened proceedings.

Korea International Circuit

Last F1 race: 2013

This purpose-built facility with a somewhat derivative layout outside Mokpo held four races before vanishing from the calendar. The final sector was supposed to resemble a street track but the buildings never appeared. Local enthusiasm for the race was depressingly measured by the venue’s bins being left unemptied for a full year between the first two races.

Buddh International Circuit

Last F1 race: 2013

Another all-new circuit built at significant cost for what proved a short-lived race: just three Indian Grands Prix were held. Since then Buddh’s surface has deteriorated markedly due to subsidence. The sweeping turns 10 and 11 at least distinguished its layout from other circuits built to the same formula of straights bookended by hairpins plus a box-ticking twisty section.

I say

Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, Mugello, 2020
Mugello showed what modern F1 tracks are missing
It’s a tough break for the Vietnam Grand Prix organisers to have gone to the huge expense of building a circuit without being able to hold their first race this year due to circumstances entirely beyond their control. Hopefully F1 gets to race in Hanoi eventually. That said, there are other tracks that interest me more.

I thought Algarve’s combination of corners and gradient made for a fascinating circuit. Unfortunately there were several many places where asphalt run-offs made the track limits too generous – the same problem I have with Istanbul. Though in both cases it would be fascinating to see what the passage of a year or so would do for their new surfaces.

Of the new tracks which joined the calendar this year the one I enjoyed most was Mugello. The layout is quite unlike anything else F1 has, with no corner slower than fourth gear and some tremendously fast bends.

If F1 were to return I doubt we’d see anything like as lively a race as this year. But as is always the case, this is far more down to the shortcomings of the cars than the track. Mugello is exactly the kind of demanding layout F1 needs more of.



You say

Which track would you like to see fill the empty space on next year’s calendar? Cast your vote below and heavy your say in the comments.

Which venue should fill F1's empty race slot for 2021?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • None of these tracks (1%)
  • Buddh International Circuit (1%)
  • Korea International Circuit (1%)
  • Sepang International Circuit (20%)
  • Hockenheimring (2%)
  • Istanbul Park (14%)
  • Imola (5%)
  • Autodromo do Algarve (19%)
  • Nurburgring (6%)
  • Mugello (26%)
  • Hanoi Street Circuit (5%)

Total Voters: 285

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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114 comments on “Which track should fill the empty slot on F1’s 2021 calendar?”

  1. Texas Motor Speedway.

  2. Charlotte Roval

  3. Old Spa.

    1. I would actually pay to make this happen

      1. @jb784 you probably would have to pay a fair bit to try and achieve that, since I think some of the local roads have been realigned and therefore the old circuit layout doesn’t quite exist any more.

        1. The ‘old’ circuit is still there the roads but the state of some of those roads are only good for rallycross not for F1.
          I drove the old circuit a year ago (just normal speeds) and thinking that people went 200km/u + is mind boggeling dangerous.
          Even with new asfalt you can’t drive F1 there as there is no room for some corners to take and there are houses just on those roads so you have to build walls like they do with streetcircuits for 7 km it will be a fortune.

    2. @sprintcarfan I’m with you on this.
      A good long track out through the trees with no grandstands. Awesome track :)

    3. I wish they did the 24H race on that track again. They would have to make a few changes, cut out the Burnenville corner, make the Masta a slow left and right (ideal for passing) and take the pre-1947 Stavelot corner through the town (not the fast sweeper, but a hairpin)… but it could be done!

  4. One of the German tracks, don’t particularly care which. There is something fundamentally wrong by not having a German GP (I am not German, by the way)

  5. It’s gotta be Sepang if Hanoi can’t cough up the cash.
    Even Buriram would be decent – it’s a surprisingly technical circuit with 2 or 3 overtaking opportunities.

    Mugello wasn’t really a very good race – just had some weird stuff happen. Which won’t happen next time.

  6. Valencia? Caesar’s Palace car park? New Jersey?

    1. Don’t forget Dallas and Phoenix.

      1. Or the current Paul Ricard dazzle-ship painted carpark ruining what was one beautiful countryside, the only Grand Prix that if its sunny outside, its ignored….unless i need a snooze.

    2. The New Jersey track would have been spectacular. Don’t compare it to those other abominations.

      1. True….but it had the sense of never going to happen. It deserves another category along with the ruined Donnington Park and the Brands Hatch revival that failed at the first hurdle…….oh yes and the Miami, Moscow, Rome, Paris and London street circuits…..I’m amazed Bernie didn’t propose Venice, it would have been a wet race guaranteed.

    3. We built a bunch of stuff for the track at Caesar’s (and the LBGP) back then.
      Caesar’s was one of few F1 tracks you could see the entire course from the front straight grandstands.

  7. Sepang would be one of the easiest to host.

    The airport is next to the track and far away from any populated areas. Drivers and crew could go straight from the airport to nearby hotels and then shuttle to the track each day.

    The high heat and humidity would make it almost impossible for the virus to spread among spectators. Possibly only open the grass banks for spectators not the grandstands.

    A double header would make sense. They have floodlights now so an afternoon race and a night race.

    1. Wow, I actually agree with you. When you aren’t Hamilton bashing, you actually talk sense.

    2. Right now there’s sustained wave of 1,000+ new cases there causing neighbouring Singapore to tighten quarantine requirements on Malaysians once more. So much for the humidity keeping COVID from spreading.

      Hopefully things get better next year of course.

      1. Death rates are very low and I suspect most of these people are taking very few precautions. It’s almost impossible to catch the virus outdoors in 35 degree heat.

        If Malaysia doesn’t want it someone else will.

        I imagine all the mid summer races especially somewhere like Budapest will have relatively large crowds.

        1. Darren Moore, then why has the infection rate rapidly increased in Malaysia recent weeks in the middle of the monsoon season and with daily temperatures in excess of 30ºC? You claim that ” It’s almost impossible to catch the virus outdoors in 35 degree heat.”, but the more than 1000 cases per day in Malaysia in the hot and humid conditions they are currently experiencing would seem to suggest otherwise.

          1. It would be from being indoors in air conditioning. The virus survives for a relatively long time in air conditioned indoor areas. The virus doesn’t survive outside in the sun and humidity.

            This was proven with the original SARS.

            I’d also suspect that there’s spread in Malaysia’s places of worship much like Indonesia given the communal nature of how they worship. Less of an issue in Thailand or Vietnam.

    3. One of the first and worst hit areas in Brazil was Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, as hot and humid as you can get, and it didn’t stop the virus.

    4. Although I agree Sepang would be a good choice of track, I don’t understand your comment about the virus. It seem to very much enjoy a stay in the human airways, which is a very humid place at about 37C, so why would hot and humid weather conditions stop it? Maybe it does, but I haven’t seen anything indicating that to be the case.

    5. Would be great to have Sepang back on the calendar. One of the great modern tracks.

      Would be fantastic to see the new cars round there, Turn 7 and Turn 8 would be interesting.

  8. Laguna Seca

    1. I couldn’t think of a worse track for modern F1, ‘the corkscrew’ looks great on telly, but the track is incredibly narrow and short. It would be a procession. It’s also not ‘grade one’ or located anywhere near China or Spain.

      1. Nordschleife. Just do it. Dream the impossible. It’s possible to get an F1 car round, the Porsche 919 EVO is very close performance wise and went round.

        1. And the 919evo onboard video clearly showed why you can’t make 20 F1 cars race around that track.

      2. @bernasaurus The possible replacement wouldn’t necessarily have to be close to China or Spain. The further away, the more ideal for a standalone event.

      3. At least for one race it would be awesome to see how teams would handle that corkscrew. It would be a nightmare for sure but an interesting one. But the more sensible answer would be Malaysia. It fits just between China and Europe. If it’s not that then it could be Hanoi or some venue in Europe. I can’t see them going to north nor south america because of the distance.

  9. Hockenheimring or Brands Hatch

  10. Hanoi seems unlikely at the moment, it might make it to the calendar after 2022 but it’s not that great circuit to get us excited.

    Mugello, Imola, Algarve, Istanbul, Nurburgring & Hockenheim were featured out of the blue in 2019-20 and produced exciting racing due to some unique circumstances (red flags, new surfaces, crazy weather). But i doubt they have the big pockets that Liberty is looking for, like the Saudis do, to make up some big money for the shareholders after the economic disaster of 2020… But i’m hopeful that if they start to rotate venues like they said, they might be back on the calendar every once in a while…

    Yeongam and New Delhi seem even more unlikely to appear, although i liked the Buddh circuit and i wouldn’t mind if it was brought back in rotation in the future.

    Sepang is the best fit. Great circuit that usually produces good racing (long wide straights), unique (it’s like a Jungle GP with the heat and the humidity), we haven’t had races there for a couple of years and i think it was mooted to come back this year due to the pandemic, so at least there is some will of bringing back F1…

    1. This is very similar to my thinking, Sepang makes the most sense.

    2. @black There’s still a chance for Hanoi to happen, after all, so all isn’t lost.

  11. Korea or Buddh

    1. i miss those tracks, quite liked them

  12. Logistically, it would make a lot of sense to create an Iberian double-header with the Algarve, but the two week gap between the empty and the Spanish GP makes the decision more flexible. If I was looking for a variety of circuits within the F1 calendar, then Mugello would be my choice as that is a genuinely good circuit. If I wanted a new circuit to host an F1 race, then to celebrate Fernando Alonso’s return to F1, I’d have a second Spanish race at Motorland Aragon or more inadvisably, Parcmotor Castelloli (Certainly not a circuit that would produce a good F1 race but it seems like an enjoyable circuit to drive on).

  13. I voted Algarve, cos I really like the track and would be happy to see it return annually, but partly because the date is April. Half of those venues would be unsuitable for an April race and we already had the “out of season” experiments this year. If it was a summer date, I would say Turkey, as it would be nice to see sone representative action there after this year.

    However, only after I voted did the “None of these” option sink in. I’d rather say “None at all” and stick to 22 races.

    1. @eurobrun Only Nurburgring and Hockenheim have unfavorable climatic conditions for F1 in April, not half of those. The rest of them are fine.

      1. @jerejj Ironically the portuguese GP was oten wet because nobody in Europe wants a race in April.

        1. @peartree The temps in Southern Europe are perfectly fine for a large portion of April, especially the latter half of the month. Imola used to be in the last quarter of the month. The 2008 Spanish GP took place on April 27 and so on, etc.

          1. @jerejj clearly no European powerhouse, Italy Spain and Portugal, 3 of the “PIIGS”.

  14. I hope I got this wrong, but I think we end up watching a race on a track that has no votes uptill now.

    Way to go F1. Listen to your fans.

  15. I went with Algarve. I thought the race was excellent this year, and it’s a track which allows cars to run side by side for the first few corners, as we saw most notably with Perez and Ocon this year, but it happened a few times. I think that wheel to wheel action like this is the best part of motor racing, so we need tracks that allow it to happen, and I think Algarve is the best for that.
    My second choice would be Sepang, as there have been multiple great races there in the past, including the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, my second favourite race since I started following F1. It is also a place where it often rains, and that always spices up the action.
    Third choice for me is Nurburgring. Compared to other races in this great season, it wasn’t a brilliant race, but in the past there have been plenty of exciting races there. Istanbul too would be a great addition, but in general, races at the Nurburgring have usually been more exciting than races at Istanbul (apart from 2020, of course). Really, it would be better to have all four of these back, in place of Sochi, Yas Marina, and one other.

  16. Imola definetely. It has the history, and i absolutely loved the circuit (the elevation changes and even the run through the trees)

    But i’d love to see some others back on the calendar as well!
    Sepang also has to come back to the calendar! It’s by far the best modern day f1 circuit
    Portimao on the calendar instead of the Spanish GP but perhaps using the turn 1 chicane layout
    and Istanbul Park with some support races to rubber in the track next time would make it better (maybe instead of Baku)

    F1 should have 5 races in Asia (Malaysia, Bahrain, Turkey, Japan & China). Anything else would be simply just be extra. We should have around 5 in the Americas as well and rest at the classic european venues

  17. I voted for Nurburgring. As I see, not the popular choice, but for me, the track that has everything – variety of decent corners, a straight suitable for overtaking, but not too easy, elevation changes and historical flavor. I’d also like Magny Cours getting back in the calendar but it seems it has even less fans, though for me it is a historical track as well.

  18. I’m going for Istanbul Park.

  19. Indianapolis is fia grade 1. It could be another american race. Then you have magny cour in france and fuji in japan. There is also chang international circuit in thailand. All those are grade 1.

    Then after those I’d love to see f1 cars around road america. Could provide great racing but it would require massive investment to make it grade 1. Also there is way too much concrete wall too close to the track for and not a single tecpro barrier in sight. Then there is slovakiaring in slovakia, twin ring motegi in japan and kyalami in south africa. All great tracks that could work well for f1 but would take some or a lot of work to get to grade 1.

    Then you have the dream option: Potrero de los Funes Circuit.

    1. Actually, that’s a great idea. Fuji would be awesome. Bring back the Pacific GP.
      There’s no better time to go to Japan than April – perfect spring weather, cherry blossoms…
      It’s only a few hours flight from China. Ideal.

    2. @socksolid Not much point in another solitary North American track. Montreal takes place separately from COTA and Mexico for a reason, but the same doesn’t apply to Indianapolis as it can take place alongside Montreal climate-wise.
      @S May, October, (and possibly even November) beat April when it comes to the best time of year for visiting Japan. Furthermore, the Fuji Speedway is owned by Toyota and since this manufacturer hasn’t been in F1 for a while, I have some doubts they’d be willing for F1 to return there.

      1. Although Suzuka has been in F1 both with and without Honda, so Fuji without Toyota should be equally workable.

      2. @jerejj
        Ever been to Japan at those times of year? I spend quite a bit of time there.
        April is ideal. Super GT race at Fuji in late April/early May.
        October is towards the end of typhoon season, so still hot and very humid. Weather can be unpredictable at times, as shown by last year’s typhoon-induced interruption. November starts to cool off considerably up in the hills around Fuji-san, but does present some beautiful autumn scenery.

        I don’t think Toyota are too fussed about who hires their circuit – it’s an income stream for them.
        Nissan put on their Nismo festival there every year… Well, except this year.

        1. @S I’ve never been to Japan at all, but I’m aware of the monthly temps there, which, for most of the country, are more or less the same as in Southern Europe, Sochi, Baku, Shanghai, etc. Yes, June to September are generally the wettest months (as well as, of course, the warmest). October is pleasantly warm and not as rainy as the preceding months. Checking climate data for Fuji specifically (although it’s roughly the same as in Tokyo and Suzuka, for example), April is a bit wetter precipitation-wise than October, and of course, cooler in average temp than both October and May. May and October are about the same temps-wise, but the former is less rainy. The months with the least rainy are the coldest, but May is more or less the perfect one concerning the temperature-rain ratio. I’m not claiming April to be a bad month to visit, quite the opposite, but I’d instead go to Japan in May if I had to choose mainly because of that month being more consistently warm, as well as October. F1 racing at Fuji Speedway on April 25 would, nevertheless, be equally okay in this regard.

    3. Nice to see Slovakiaring in your post however I there is not enough run-off is several corners, they would have to invest a lot in facilities for teams, spectators and media, also track access roads, accomodation nearby and not forget Bratislava airport. Their current Grade 2 is maximum achievable in our conditions.

      1. Turn 1 with f1 cars would look really cool around slovakiaring! Super fast but not flatout. You are of course right, it would take a lot of work and money just like most other grade 2 circuits to get them to f1 level!

  20. India afcourse I donot know that inspite of having such a wonderful circuit why F1 isn’t hosting F1 in India 🇮🇳

    1. @Jay For tax reasons.

      1. What happened?

        1. @Kasim Sorry for the late response, but I’m not entirely sure about all details.

  21. Lydden Hill ?

    1. A rallycross circuit would still be grippier than the new Istanbul surface in the wet

  22. Got to be Malaysia or Turkey. For both racing and geographical reasons.

  23. Mugello was really fun to watch but I fear that it could become pretty processional once the drivers are accustomed to it.
    I root for Istambul for its nice flow and multiple racing lines, with Sepang being a lovely alternative too.

  24. South African Grand Prix. . .”Craddle of Humankind GP”😂

  25. Where is the vote that says we don’t have to go to Paul Ricard anymore?

  26. I voted for Sepang. Logistically it fits well into the calendar after China, it’s one of the most challenging circuits for cars and drivers, particularly because of the extreme heat in Malaysia, and has often offered great racing/overtaking, because the track is very wide, has lots of breaking zones (T1, T4, T9, T14 & 15) and the surface of the track is very agressive, which means the undercut is very effective and makes for interesting strategies during the race.

    1. @srga91 It’d fit even better after Melbourne forming a double-header with it.

      1. @jerejj
        True, but then you’d have to move Bahrain and China by at least two weeks (Bahrain – April 11th & China April 25th). Otherwise the season would start with a triple-header Australia-Malaysia-Bahrain). Seems a little unnecessary to me.

        1. @srga91 In this case, Bahrain to April 25, and China still on April 11. This is my intention, but I should’ve been more precise with the wording.

        2. There is less than 1% chance that Australia will go ahead.

          The teams would have to quarantine for 2 weeks bnefore the race weekend.

          Already the Australian tennis open held in Melbourne at the start of February is touch and go at this moment due to that requirement.

          1. @Paul You predicted right.

  27. My back garden, please.

    1. As long as your back garden isn’t in Wuhan.

  28. Sepang was always a fun race to watch and the circuit is beautiful.

    1. a track in the Czech republic, I WOULD pay for it

  29. I chose Mugello but long term I’d say it should be instead of Sochi rather than at the expense of Hanoi, though without seeing F1 cars in Vietnam I can’t truely judge. Paul Ricard should be dropped too. I would also say that there should be more alternating of circuits as there are many races in Europe and middle east and none on the African continent

  30. I went for Portimao first with Mugello my second choice. Then I think it would be Istanbul. That’s my ‘podium’.

  31. I voted Imola because I love Imola.
    That said, any of the new tracks from this season would make me think “I have to tune in for this one”

  32. Hanoi could still appear next year, after all, so all hope isn’t lost. I voted for Hanoi, but should it be something else, my preference would be Istanbul Park, and was until I found out that it’s out of the question because of Ramadan. Algarve (or even Jerez) only if it’d take place seven days before the Spanish GP due to its location. The same with Mugello and Imola, although not as critical as their respective locations are more central, and therefore, not as unideal for travelling in Europe as Algarve’s (or Jerez’s). The same with Hockenheim and Nurburgring, but these two have less favorable climatic conditions compared to the other places. Sepang would be more ideal if it took Bahrain’s date and Bahrain the at-the-moment vacant one. No point thinking about India or South Korea as they’re definitely out of the question at this notice, the former for the tax reasons that led to it getting axed in the first place after 2013. I still hope for Hanoi as having already been called off once, so would be a shame for another postponement. I also quite like based on the very little running I’ve done there on F1 2020.

  33. Mugello. No doubt.

    1. @knightameer
      Although I love Mugello, I think a 2nd visit next year wouldn’t be that great. Don’t get me wrong, the track is amazing, but there are a couple of problems there:
      1) Teams will have a lot more useful data, if they come back there, which is gonna make the race a lot more predictable than this year
      2) As we saw this year, the only passing will be DRS-aided and that’s only if there will be a head wind into San Donato (T1) like there was this year. Plus the track is very narrow, which doesn’t allow any different lines in the corners, except for the racing line. With no wind or a tail wind into T1, I doubt we would see any passing at all.
      3) Adding to what I already said in 1), the drivers will also be a lot better prepared than they were this season (except of course for the rookies). So I doubt we’d see a repeat of the start/re-start-issues they experienced in 2020.

      If the cars could battle a lot more closely, it would be an epic race. If the regulation changes for 2022 deliver promising results, then it would be an amazing addition to the calendar. But with current or similar cars, I wouldn’t like seeing it come back in 2021.

  34. Sepang F1 International Circuit, Malaysia

  35. Kymi Ring in Finland

  36. A new cold weather contemporary circuit is under construction near the coastal Science Labs in Antarctica. It’s being called the Ice Grand Prix. Waiting for a summer slot where the temps run near -10C. There’s no DRS there, it’s called ARS. The Antifreeze Racing System. Get within a second following and sand is sprayed onto the breaking zone. The water bottles are of course replaced with hot cocoa. The winner gets a Penguin trophy and a warm set of Mukluks. It’s a grade10 rated challenging course and sunglasses are required.

    1. Lap 32 ….
      Lewis to base …
      “These tyres aren’t going to make it”

  37. Istanbul Park even if I don’t know some of the new ones. A great track. The surface might have to change if it doesn’t grip up.

    Mugello is just too one dimensional with all fast corners. Imola must never host a F1 race again. Enough now.

  38. Christopher Windle
    22nd November 2020, 17:54

    I know it would be taking it up to 24 Grand Prix, but how about Sepang on the 18th and Algarve on the 2nd of May? They would both be double headers with China/Malaysia and Portugal/Spain but they are quite reasonable. Mugello is very unlikely because of access for crowds and the following 2 in the above survey would get the places. Also, it is quite likely that at least one of the other races may not occur due to Covid or the Azerbaijani contract with Armenia or one still subject to contract.

    1. @Christopher Windle Mugello didn’t have access problems last year because of how low the attendance was, but Algarve had, perhaps even worse than Paul Ricard in 2018.

  39. i want argentina circiut

  40. I voted for Hockenheim. As much as I view it as “not the good old track”, it does produce some good racing.

  41. Algarve for me as the time differential to Eastern US is best of the choices. Hate avoiding this site all day before the re-broadcast.

  42. Road America or Brands Hatch

  43. Sepang would be best. Maybe Fuji Speedway would be interesting as we’ve only ever been there once on the new layout. They’d be my picks.

  44. Road America or Watkins Glen.

  45. I struggled to pick just one. I enjoyed Algarve and Mugello this year and the Sepang track in the past!

  46. Kymi Ring in Finland

  47. It has to be either Mugello or Sepang. Both are fantastic circuits the F1 circus knows (well, now they do) and they both produce good racing and are a proper test of a modern Grand Prix car.

  48. All of them!!!

  49. Trackwise for F1, Turkey.
    Personal wish, Nürburgring.
    Trackwise in general, Mugello or Portimao.
    Trackwise for history, Imola.

    1. Hockenheim would be great, too.

      1. Qatar or Dubai.

  50. Pointless discussion because it’s not focused on the correct metric. The track which should get the 23rd slot is the one that is willing to write Liberty Media the largest check. Case closed, end of story.

  51. I would go Instanbul or Sepang, largely because it gives a bit more balance to where the world championship is held, plus as race courses they are roughly in the same league as Mugello and Portimao. That said, I would love more rotation in the European circuits. Imagine if say each year there was five European rotation races, with Mugello, Portimao, Imola, Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Paul Ricards, Mangy Cours, Monoco, Barcelona and Zandvoort being rotated between.

    But if I had a fantasy vote, Daytona Road Course.

  52. Mugello of course. high degree corners worked very well with aero wake. the track is unique in the calendar. No
    Turkey please impossible to follow even in the wet.

    1. @peartree Wouldn’t be the case next time anymore as the track surface would be better by that time. Nevertheless, Turkey isn’t going to be it because of Ramadan. They don’t want to hold a race during this phase because they think they mightn’t get as many people to attend the event as otherwise.

  53. Did anyone notice at Turkey outside some of the very fast corners and total brake failure points there was a strip of maybe 1m wide grass. It didn’t really make a difference due to the rain/surface but in normal conditions it would mean much tougher sporting penalties as you have to either run on grass or clear off completly. It seemed like quite a good compromise between punishing and safety – something the drivers have been calling for for years.

    For comedy value I looked at Mokpo in Korea and its F1 circuit that features 0 grass and 0 gravel run offs. You can see at some turns the rubbered in line is off the circuit from the google earth shots! Indycar did the same thing at COTA where track limits wern’t enforced (they told everyone before hand that they wouldn’t be policing it at that corner so have at it).

    I’d like to see portimao take this option although as its a bike racing venue it seems unlikely as they require gravel/tarmac normally.

  54. I would vote for the new St Petersburg circuit,

  55. Pyongyang Grand Prix

  56. There is less than 1% chance that Australia will go ahead.

    The teams would have to quarantine for 2 weeks before the race weekend.

    Already the Australian tennis open held in Melbourne at the start of February is touch and go as we speak due to that requirement.

    You really think the drivers, teams, officials, support staff, TV commentators etc are all going to sit in hotels for 2 weeks????

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