The WORST Formula 1 Tracks EVER

have you ever found yourself watching a Formula 1 race or any race for that matter and found yourself thinking oh my God this is so boring yeah right back at you there many of times we found ourselves trying our damnest to stay conscious while the best drivers in the world and the most expensive and most advanced cars drive around for a couple of hours and nothing happens at that point you start wondering is it the regulations is it a golf and quality of car and driver or is it the racetrack that they're on right now of course more often than not it isn't the track's fault but that sort of inquisitive thinking does lead you down a rabbit hole what is the worst track that Formula 1 has ever raced on and with how much we tend to winge about the new tracks that make it onto the calendar we've got to ask how bad are they really when you compare them to all the ones that have come before well in this video I'm set to write the wrongs of the initial one that I made on this and so here are the worst Formula 1 tracks of all time for real this time okay so first up some dishonorable mentions let's go for the jugular here Miami no this isn't recency bias as an event it does look pretty cool even if it is a bit of a facade with the cardboard water sponge cake racing and $3 million tickets but the track itself has quite a few problems and heading into its third event there not that many people are hyped about it it was Jack pagua in real Dio that was used in the 1980s yeah sure it did have a great atmosphere thanks to the awesome fans of Brazil but you would get just as good an atmosphere at inter Lagos in fact probably even better when it came to the track itself oh boy it was flatter than a pancake and was largely a collection of sweepers that combined with the heat did their utmost to disable the drivers before they had a chance to finish the race the street Circuit of Valencia in the late 2000s and early 2010s was about as blind as racetrack's guard think of it as the gortney of racetracks Long Beach may be a no no we are not putting Long Beach on this list well no we are going to put it on this list because the 1983 layout was an i that even Formula E die hards would not dare touch with the 10-ft pole that combined with the huge bumps that broke cars and drivers meant that this was a vile way for Formula 1 to leave California there was okama in Japan pretty decent for modern-day domestic racing not so much but 1990s Formula 1 where the cars were barely able to get out of second gear the track was also a million miles away from running water or electricity which meant that transporting large crowds of people in and out of the grounds on roads barely wide enough for Yaks isn't exactly deal and finally there's Bahrain which in 2024 under lights is pretty damn good the 2010 iteration however was not a Mickey Mouse section in the first sector that did nothing other than destroy the flow of racing and annoyed anybody blessed with the gift of sight but hold up why is it in the thumbnail of this video If It Ain't actually on the ranked list is it to throw you all off well there is an element to that but what I am trying to impress here is that despite how rancid this layout was and how popularly bad it is amongst F1 folklore there has been worse in Formula 1 a lot [Music] worse back in the early 1970s The Spar Franco shop circuit was the venue for the Belgian Grand Prix it was a great drivers's track but the noticeable lack of safety was becoming too much for a Grandy circus that was becoming increasingly safety conscious Formula 1 drivers like the idea of being able to go back to their families in one piece soft the solution to this dilemma create a brand new track for the Belgian race just outside of Brussels it was all very nice and Grand problem was no one liked it it was designed with safety in mind yeah all good intentions but some dared to say that it was perhaps too safe compared to the hills of stavo this track had very little elevation little in the way of technical challenges and thanks to the enormous runoffs they were made to keep everyone safe Spectators were never quite close enough to the track to be able to properly see what the hell was going on although this being the Dark Ages you were never considered close enough to the track until you were on the verge of becoming roadkill it was first used in 1972 where it guarded a sum total of no praise and by the time Formula 1 came back a couple of years later the circuit was in dire financial trouble eventually falling into bankruptcy in 1974 just a couple months after this happened the Grand Prix circus headed to France not a new country to them but the circuit they be on was new the cirquit djon Premo it was built with the ambition of a passionate man who gleefully glossed over the fact that he had no money to build said racetrack yet however he managed to do it in 1974 there they were all turned up for the French Grand Prix at what for Formula 1 cars was shall we say a less than ideal track there was only one heavy braking Zone on the circuit with the rest of the track then to SP with long sweepers that made overtaking kind of impossible to anyone that did not have a death wish and because the track was so short in length this was the only track in Formula 1's history for 70 years that had lap times that went under a minute not so much of a bad thing if the racing was good like it was in Sakia 2020 but here it wasn't however it does have a happy ending after a couple of years away they extended the track and it would end up hosting one of the greatest battles in the history of Formula 1 in that time however the French Grand Prix would be hosted at suqu pora this track ain't really that popular but it doesn't belong in this list either there was something else from this country though that did [Music] a few years before that first race at dijon Formula 1 turned up to leemon one of the best racing series in the world at one of the best racetracks in the world how could you go wrong well as it would turn out somehow they did the prospect of a race here was relatively tantalizing that big huge molon straight would have provided the ultimate drafting battle but they weren't using that in fact a lot of the track that they used for the 24-hour race was going to be by past they will be using the Bugatti circuit that wiggled around in a slow clumsy format that bought the drivers about as much as it did The Spectators the drivers really didn't like it and mold over the thought of staging a c atar and just running on the big track anyway then being in France such actions would have been considered a mark of respect were there any positives to take from this race well the track didn't break up at least sounds kind of silly for that to sound like a positive is that or has that really been an issue with Formula 1 tracks at all well yeah you want an example all right let's go to 1984 by this time Bernie Eon was doing everything in his power to make Formula 1 a major sport in America trouble was only 300 people would turn up and all the circuits were rubbish especially in the80s exhibit a Dallas Fair Park designed using the walking path of a drunk in a blindfold this track played host to the ninth round of the 84 season year that saw the debut of aerona and some of the ugliest racing cars ever dreamed up by a sentient form of life but despite the impending doom of slander I'm about to bestow upon this track it did at least possess a bit of character some drivers did like it and there have been more poly design tracks I will give it that some could argue that there were one too many chicanes that did nothing to add to the racing and that there weren't that many runoffs meaning that any mistake on this track was going to leave you with broken ribs if you were really lucky but as far as problems go that was [Music] nothing right from the get-go the track began to fall apart to an extreme degree repairs took place multiple times over the course of the weekend and were still taking place 30 minutes before the race was due to start which was pushed forward 3 hours due to the heat it was so bad that the drivers attempted to arrange a boycott with the exception of KK rosberg who was under the illusion that if tobacco wasn't going to kill him then nothing would alas when the race got underway multiple cars spar off into the wall and were out of the race those that managed to survive all this were rewarded with dehydration buckets of cold water and ice were thrown onto the drivers in the pit stops but even this barely did much when Nigel Manel pushed his car to the line he collapsed the Heat and endurance having taken its toll when the gpri fraternity left the track they would never return which if we take away the various problems with it was a slight shame cuz at least this track didn't have say a massive ramp on it that could lead you to a Grizzly end if you got it wrong in Berlin however track designers there thought of that as more of a unique selling point the idea that Formula 1 drivers just drive in circles is ludicrous nowadays but in 1959 that wasn't far from the truth Avis or avus was a circuit with two huge ass Straits two relatively sharp corners and that's about it it is kind of interesting given some of the history and the influence that it had on road networks throughout Europe apparently but as a racetrack yikes the two long straights served as nothing more than a drafting battle for anyone even remotely close to you not so bad at a place like Leon where it's merely part of the racetrack but when it's all of the racetrack then you would have to hit the brakes very very hard for an either end there were two corners just yearning to sing you to the afterlife the second Corner was particularly nasty a massively steep banked curve that was angled at 43° and made entirely out of brick and because there was no barrier on the outskirt and effectively made this one gigantic ramp it was given the lovely nickname of the Wall of Death this became a problem when Formula 1 rocked up for his first ever race in 1959 the tires which back then were cannibalized from prams were being eviscerated on the surface and thus the Grand Prix would be split up into two heats the only time that's ever happened to pour salt onto the wounds for this weekend the immensely talented French driver Jean Bara was killed when his car went up and over the banking and for AAS Formula 1 would cease racing here on this day in 1959 50 years later the next track on this list will get its first ever Grand [Music] Prix right from the very moment that the first Spade went into the ground here the Yas Marina circuit was universally loathed it was built at a time where bunnie Eon had ditched any ethics he may have had and went straight for whoever had the largest checkbook in hand the venue was pretty spectacular with the flood lights the underground pit exit the amphitheater Grand stands and the marina that wasn't fake wink wink nudge nudge Miami and as a testing venue it's not half bad but after having lost the likes of IMA and the A1 ring from the calendar to come here was a bit of a downer at least the drivers were diplomatically complimentary about it with the exception of Kimmy reenan who flat out said that most of the track was never change Kimmy it did like soul and the third sector was unacceptably bad the racing was generally appalling and it says a lot when the lord of the eyebrows couldn't pass the Renault of Vali Petra for an entire race things needed to change and eventually they did for the better but this track was proof that despite having some really good designs fman tilka had the ability to make some truly Dreadful racetracks however Abu Dhabi was never his worst [Music] one oh boy here we go the Sai autod Drome I hate this track I really do I I hate this track I hate everything that it stands for I hate everything that it embodies I hate the fact that it is completely without soul I hate the fact that it's a Concrete Canyon that turns out some generally rancid racing I hate the lifeless Paddock area that resonates in LSD trip in a black and white film I hate the fact that there were much better racetracks in this country yet they still went to this dead un arrival Cesspool That Couldn't draw a praise if you gave it a sheet of paper and a Sharpie in fact you really want to know what I think of this track just check this [Music] out okay then so if it's really that bad why isn't it at the top well despite my resentment toward the track it's not entirely shared by people who have driven it and a few F1 fans out there do like it some Reckoning it to be a fun track to drive and that it does present a few challenges in a few different sections of Racetrack and when water is added to the track it can throw up a half race ultimately it did at least function as a racetrack barely even if it doesn't have some flashy tunnels like Abu Dhabi does then again just cuz a race track has tunnels on it doesn't guarantee that it's going to be good the next track had two and it was unspeakably terrible in the early 1980s the US motor industry was starting to run into trouble and now the big three manufacturers stationed in the city of Detroit were starting to shake like a dog Peach seeds so how do we stick it to the Europeans and show them who Boss by inviting them over for a race around the streets of Detroit the track was built during the first race in 1982 no you heard that right they were literally still building the track by the time the first practice should have kicked off then at 400 p.m. on Friday the drivers were let out for a grand total of 4 and 1/2 minutes practice at least when you factor in all the stoppages the layout of the circuit the bum stir and grime made there were more red flags than a Soviet parade improvements to the track continued throughout the weekend then when the race started on Sunday the problems really started the bumpy nature of the track shook the cars to pieces and it only got worse over the next few years with the organizers blatantly refusing to rectify the broken asphalt it was so bad that even aona the grandm of this racetrack said that driving on the circuit was like racing in a monsoon eventually Formula 1 had enough and left Detroit to smolder a dung Heap that proved to be one of the worst Formula 1 tracks ever made but amazingly it wasn't even the worst to come out of America in 20123 Formula 1 returned to the city of Las Vegas it was a tantalizing Prospect for all those gullible enough who think they could beat the house but for everyone who knows their history there was some amount of skepticism because the last time that Formula 1 raced here in s City well it didn't go so well back in 1981 the Caesar's Palace Grand Prix would often splutter its way into life it was called the Caesar palace Grand Prix for the novel reasoning that it was run in the actual parking lot and as such there was no elevation to speak of it looped in an around of itself with the layout putting a massive strain on the driver's necks there were a few overtaking opportunities but the sand blown onto the track meant that you would be asking for trouble if you tried anything funny only seven people turned up for the race and they were greeted with no shading at any point around the circuit and by the time the 1982 race ended no no one really wanted to come back here their wish was granted and now any Chace of that track is gone buried Beneath The Mirage none of the pain and misery that this track inflicted on people will ever bear sunlight again but even all of this still doesn't make it the worst Formula 1 track of all time so now let's come down to this number one the worst ever the track in question can be found in Austria located just outside of Spielberg nothing about this track ever worked and now it's time to recognize it as the worst Formula 1 track of all time what you really thought I was talking about this one what the Red Bull Ring get out of here this doesn't belong anywhere near this list no no no no no the track I'm talking about is the very reason why this one was built in the first place it was located right across the street from the Red Bull Ring at the local Air Force Base the Air Force Base of zelig in the early 1960s the austrians were quite Keen to put themselves on the Grand Prix map they ran a non-championship race at the circus in 1963 and was said to have a fullon championship race for the year 1964 now the track layout was to put it nicely simple because the track was laid out on an Air Force Base and because they could only really used the taxiways and the soulle runway the track configuration had the design aspects of an etcher sketch the only track layout simpler than this was a us but at least that had the Wall of Death and because the only barriers to speak off were hay bals this track ended up having less features than a cave but as we've seen from a few of the other tracks on this list things only went downhill from there the timing Tower didn't work properly for qualifying thus the starting grid was determined by Vibes the track began to break up very badly from the word go and the corrugations made that driving on the surface was like sharing a water bed with a baboon that's been drenched in itching powder even before the actual race on Sunday cars were breaking apart left right in center thanks to this and because so many cars were knocked out the race was a bit of a bore the only real entertainment being a mid-race barbecue courtesy at Phil Hill on lap 58 when Lorenzo Bandini crossed the line to win his first ever race in Formula 1 he cried not tears of joy but tears of elation Elation that he would never have to drive this God full track again for zelic wasn't just bad at one thing he was bad at everything it possessed every terrible trait that all the other tracks had and baled up into this Frankenstein monster of a racetrack that should serve as a warning from history and will forever be the worst Formula 1 track of all time I guess the only thing I could say now to close out this video is why am I wrong this time [Music]

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 242,067

Keywords: f1, formula 1, worst f1 tracks, worst f1 track, worst formula 1 tracks, worst formula one tracks, worst f1 circuits, worst formula 1 circuits

Id: TQUSuAZk9Es

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024