(Motorsport-Total.com) – Turkey is back on the Formula 1 calendar. From the 2027 season, the Istanbul circuit will once again be part of the racing circus for at least five years, which has been met with positive reactions from many fans.
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Most people fondly remember the times when Formula 1 visited Istanbul Park – between 2005 and 2011, and in 2020 and 2021. Especially the legendary Turn 8 with its four apexes is considered one of the highlights and a reason why many fans welcome a return to Turkey.
For this reason, we once asked our editors which track they would be most excited about if it were to return to the calendar. The requirement: The track must have been part of the racing calendar in the past.
Whether the track still exists in that form or whether a race there would even be feasible today – hello, Nordschleife? – doesn’t matter, so big dreams are allowed.
Christian Nimmervoll: Brands Hatch
I am happy about Turkey’s return to the Formula 1 calendar. Istanbul was and is a great track, with the breathtaking Turn 8 with its four apexes, a quite decent paddock that is not as excessively oversized as the one in Shanghai, and some epic memories – for example, from the 2010 season, not only because of the legendary Red Bull collision between Vettel and Webber, but also because of the spectacular McLaren duel between Hamilton and Button.
However, if I had to choose a “lost place” that I would wish back on the calendar, in a world frozen in time without commercial constraints and safety concerns, then that would probably be Brands Hatch.
Formula 1 last raced there in 1986, and honestly, I can’t remember it “live” anymore. My first contact with the idyllic roller coaster track in the southeast of England was in the 1990s, when I played GP2 by Microprose on PC with my buddy Stefan, with a keyboard of course, and Brands Hatch was part of some semi-legal hack or patch (or whatever you want to call it).
The layout still captivates me. With Paddock Hill Bend, there are a few meters of elevation gain right at the start of the lap, and that sets the tone for the rest of the lap. David Coulthard once drove a lap in a Red Bull RB7 on the track, and even if it was obviously far below the limit, to my eyes, they are spectacular onboards that tickle nostalgic nerve roots within me.
On a purely sentimental level, a time machine would also be nice, with which I could travel back to the old Österreichring, before its conversion into today’s (first A1- and then) Red Bull Ring. The old track (not to be confused with the one at Zeltweg airfield, which is even older!) had breathtakingly fast corners, the charm of a true natural arena – and the Grand Prix, with Jochen Rindt on his last pole in 1970, was atmospherically half car race, half rock concert.
A moment of longing in Austrian motorsport history that I (born 1982) would have loved to experience. Also, to somehow sneak up to Jochen after the race and warn him that he’d better not get into Colin Chapman’s Lotus 72 in Monza…
Norman Fischer: Long Beach
When I heard about Turkey’s comeback, my first reaction was: hmm. I believe that Istanbul Park is somewhat overrated and lives off its past reputation. Turn 8 used to be a highlight, but with current cars, it’s no longer a problem. And the many asphalt run-off areas don’t exactly fill me with great anticipation either.
When the question then arose among us as to which track one would prefer to have back on the calendar, I actually had to think for some time. Many circuits have since been neutered and no longer exude the charm of yesteryear.
At least I know which ones I don’t want back: I’m looking at you, Paul Ricard and Sochi…
Actually, I’m a fan of old-school tracks with lots of grass and no asphalt run-off – like Imola or Mugello – but with the large modern Formula 1 cars, they would now also be the wrong tracks and would probably offer little racing action.
That’s why I would go in a completely different direction and say: Long Beach. Sure, we don’t need a fourth US race, but we can gladly just remove one of the other three races from the calendar for that.
However, I would tend not to use any of the different layouts that Formula 1 raced on between 1976 and 1983, but rather orient myself on the current IndyCar circuit. I think that could work.
You would have a long start-finish straight where overtaking is possible, just like on East Seaside Way between Turns 8 and 9. You would have wide corners in the area of 6 and 7, where perhaps one or two unusual lines could lead to success, and you would also have some other track peculiarities.
The hairpin bend before the start-finish line would be the slowest point on the calendar, alongside the former Loews corner in Monaco, where you have to wrestle the cars around, and there’s the roundabout passage around the dolphin fountain, which would provide iconic images.
Sure, Long Beach has also produced some boring IndyCar races in recent years (like just now in mid-April), but it would still be worth a try for me – just for the approach to the first corner after the start.
Stefan Ehlen: Hockenheim
I don’t have to think long: At the very top of my wish list is the Hockenheimring in its Grand Prix version until 2001.
Of course, I am aware that this comeback will not happen. Because, as is well known, crucial parts of the track have been re-naturalized. Where Formula 1 cars once raced through the Hardtwald, tall trees and dense bushes have long since grown. What remains, I saw myself a few years ago during an on-site excursion.
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Race tracks where Formula 1 could race
What remains is the memory of a truly unique track design with the winding, challenging Motodrom on one hand, and the long forest straights on the other – two completely contrasting sections that actually required completely opposing setups. Practically, it was all about top speed – and somehow getting through the Motodrom. I always enormously liked this contrast.
However, I also see this in the context of that era and all the emotions from the time when Michael Schumacher ensured a “full house” in Hockenheim. The silence when the cars were “gone,” then the increasingly loud noises upon their return, and finally the complete sensory overload upon entering the Motodrom with thousands cheering and celebrating.
Yes, the “old” Hockenheim could be magical. Without “Schumi,” it wouldn’t have the same magic today. But the Motodrom and forest straights would still be a technical and driving challenge that I would love to see back on the Formula 1 calendar. For my taste, there’s too much uniformity – and the Hockenheimring was different.
Sönke Brederlow: Donington
As a big Nordschleife fan, I would secretly wish for a Formula 1 comeback in the “Green Hell.” However, I also know that this is hardly realistic in today’s age. But there are also other race tracks with a true Nordschleife character.
My choice therefore falls on Donington Park, where Formula 1 hosted the European Grand Prix in the 1993 season. The winner then, as is well known, was Ayrton Senna, who delivered one of his most legendary and to this day unforgettable performances in the British rain.
Why Donington of all places? I am convinced that the approximately four-kilometer-long track already offers everything a thrilling Formula 1 race needs: fast corners, significant elevation changes, as well as two hairpins and a chicane that create real overtaking opportunities.
By the way, a comeback wouldn’t be entirely unrealistic. For the 2010 season, Donington was actually planned as a replacement for Silverstone. A modified track layout was even in the works, but was ultimately never realized because financial problems put an end to the ambitious project.
Perhaps now would be the time to bring Donington back into discussion, even without extensive renovation work. Most teams are based in England anyway, and the British weather, like in the Eifel, likes to go crazy sometimes. An alternating model with Silverstone? That would certainly appeal to me.
Ruben Zimmermann: Indianapolis (Oval)
Fundamentally, I personally don’t need any track back on the calendar – at least not as an additional Grand Prix, because with 24 races now, a Formula 1 season is far too long anyway. So I would first sort out before adding new races, but that’s not the question here.
However, the full calendar brings another problem, because since there are now so many races, the question then arises as to which track could still bring a new facet to Formula 1 at all. Colleague Ehlen has already explained this point with the keyword “uniformity”.
That’s why I’m simply going a completely different way and suggesting Indianapolis here – and no, not the Grand Prix circuit with which Formula 1 already alienated fans in the States from 2000 to 2007.
I’m talking about the traditional oval, because the Indy 500 was indeed once part of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960.
Of course, I also know that this is completely unrealistic and won’t happen, just like a return to the Nordschleife. But if I could wish for something, it would simply be something completely different from what Formula 1 already has in abundance.
The old AVUS would also come to mind in this context, or (thanks to colleague Fischer for the hint) the 25-kilometer-long track in Pescara, on which Formula 1 also only raced once.
But don’t forget: First, we’ll sort things out!
Markus Lüttgens: Kyalami
More than 1.5 billion people live in Africa. One of them, a certain Jody Scheckter, was even Formula 1 Champion in 1979. And yet, it is (apart from Antarctica) the continent that the “World” Championship has been avoiding for decades.
It’s high time to change that and bring Kyalami back to the calendar. Rumors about a comeback of the track near Johannesburg have surfaced repeatedly in recent years; moreover, the circuit has been significantly modernized in the meantime.
New Formula 1 tracks since 2000
The hurdles should therefore not be insurmountable to bring the forgotten continent back to the Formula 1 calendar. In any case, it would be significantly more sustainable than any projects in Rwanda or elsewhere, where a track outside of Formula 1 would probably hardly be used.
I fondly remember the races at Kyalami. Especially the period at the beginning of the 1990s, when the opening race of the Formula 1 season took place twice in South Africa. As a student, unlike in later years in Melbourne, I didn’t even have to set my alarm clock to watch the first laps of the year.
I really liked the layout with its flowing sections and uphill and downhill passages. With the altitude and the usually hot conditions in the South African summer, the track would be a real technical challenge. If a thunderstorm is added, all the ingredients for an exciting race are present.
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