{"id":686563,"date":"2026-05-22T04:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/686563\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:14:15","slug":"too-successful-to-be-dangerous-why-f1-had-to-leave-great-circuits-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/686563\/","title":{"rendered":"Too successful to be dangerous: Why F1 had to leave great circuits behind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The speed differential between the two at a circuit like Silverstone is roughly half a minute per lap. Transpose that performance to a venue with the Nordschleife\u2019s characteristics and you are not producing a more exciting version of what Verstappen did last weekend. You are producing something extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n

None of which makes the nostalgia illegitimate. Verstappen\u2019s weekend was a reminder that the format Formula 1 has built \u2014 controlled, sterile by comparison, optimised for broadcast and accessibility \u2014 produces a particular kind of excitement and categorically cannot produce another kind.<\/p>\n

There is something Formula 1 used to have access to that it no longer does, and it is not coming back.<\/p>\n

The contrast is part of what made last weekend so compelling. Verstappen at the N\u00fcrburgring works as a spectacle partly because Formula 1 doesn\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n

The illegibility of it \u2013 a four-time world champion navigating GT3 traffic through the Carousel at three in the morning \u2013 derives some of its power from being extraordinary rather than routine.<\/p>\n

If Formula 1 raced at the Nordschleife, the Nordschleife would become another venue on the calendar, subject to the same licensing standards, the same run-off requirements, the same Armco specifications that govern everywhere else.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t look like what we saw last weekend. It would look like the F1 version of it.<\/p>\n

The circuits F1 had to leave behind
\nNordschleife<\/p>\n

\"Niki<\/p>\n

Lauda at the Nordschleife before his accident in 1976<\/p>\n

The spiritual home of the argument. At roughly 13 miles, the original grand prix circuit wound through the Eifel mountains with minimal run-off, solid barriers and terrain that punished any mistake with finality.<\/p>\n

Niki Lauda\u2019s near-fatal accident in 1976 effectively ended its world championship life. Formula 1 still visited the N\u00fcrburgring not so long ago \u2013 just not the circuit that made it legendary.<\/p>\n

\u00d6sterreichring<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

The \u00d6sterreichring was turned into the current Red Bull Ring<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

The original \u00d6sterreichring was one of the most breathtaking circuits Formula 1 ever visited \u2013 a sweeping, high-speed layout through the Styrian hills that demanded absolute commitment at speeds that left almost no margin for error.<\/p>\n

Heavily modified in the 1990s and reborn as the Red Bull Ring, it retained the setting but shed much of what made it extraordinary. The current circuit is a shadow of what stood there before.<\/p>\n

Brands Hatch<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/p>\n

Brands Hatch last hosted an F1 race in 1986<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Brands Hatch last hosted a British Grand Prix in 1986 and has not returned to the calendar since, largely because its infrastructure and run-off could not be upgraded to meet modern FIA standards without destroying the characteristics that made it special.<\/p>\n

The plunging drop into Paddock Hill Bend, the blind crests, the intimate amphitheatre \u2013 all of it incompatible with the circuit licensing requirements a contemporary Formula 1 race demands.<\/p>\n

Watkins Glen<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Watkins Glen hosted F1 for nearly two decades<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

The Glen hosted the United States Grand Prix from 1961 to 1980 and was beloved by drivers for its fast, flowing layout through upstate New York woodland.<\/p>\n

It left the calendar as the sport\u2019s commercial ambitions outgrew what a relatively modest American venue could provide, and successive attempts to bring Formula 1 back to the site have come to nothing. It remains one of the circuits the sport remembers most fondly and is least likely to see again.<\/p>\n

Bremgarten<\/p>\n

\"Stirling<\/p>\n

Stirling Moss leads the Swiss GP at Bremgarten in 1954<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

A forested road circuit on the outskirts of Bern that hosted the Swiss Grand Prix through the early 1950s. Narrow, tree-lined and unforgiving, it was considered one of the most beautiful and most dangerous circuits of its era.<\/p>\n

Switzerland banned motor sport entirely after Le Mans 1955, and Bremgarten has been silent ever since. Some circuits don\u2019t get retired, they get abolished.<\/p>\n

Pescara<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/p>\n

Pescara only hosted one F1 race<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Pescara hosted exactly one world championship round, in 1957, and that was arguably one too many.<\/p>\n

A 16-mile course through the Abruzzo countryside, past stone walls, telegraph poles and unprotected village spectators. Stirling Moss won that day; the circuit was dropped immediately afterwards.<\/p>\n

Even by the standards of an era with a generous tolerance for danger, Pescara was considered a step too far, so much so that Ferrari decided to skip the race out of fear for its drivers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The speed differential between the two at a circuit like Silverstone is roughly half a minute per lap.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,330747,85],"class_list":["post-686563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-nordschleife","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}