Malaysia. Hockenheim. Nürburgring. Portimao. Istanbul. Korea. India. Mugello. These are some tracks i want to see some racing on. True tracks. not a low of walls. Just grass and gravel and some run off. No Street Circuit. Just classic ones. These are good grade 1 tracks fit for Formula 1.

"Oh boy another street circuit, yay...." he said with all the enthusiasm of eating week old microwaved french fries.

They should use the full roundabout to really stand out.

👀 I vote that we should buy a box section and have P1 fans gather in Madrid.

A 10 year contract for a track that hasn't even been raced on yet is wild

My biggest issue is that F1 has a HUGE list to be an accredited race track to be able to host F1, but then go to any city that has money, and plop a race track anywhere.. Even if it's unsafe.. Las Vegas..

Also Malaysia is like the widest friggin track and they refuse to go there...

Tommy and Matt will be outraged when Silverstone is replaced by a London street circuit 😉

Matt with a full beard is coming for 2024, I am here for it

Some content ideas id love to see: 1) Show all the current tracks and how long their deals are for and if you think they will extend from there or be replaced 2) compare the oldest to newest tracks / since last track change and discuss the variety between tracks. Thoughts on old vs new designs etc.

It's funny that we know where the VIP section will be, but not where they'll overtake... (based on the track map: nowhere)

It looks like eventually, there will be no summer break. it'll be F1 racing, solid from March until December...

I think the reason why we are seeing so many street circuits and city center circuits is because they’re shifting it from a sport to a lifestyle event. They want closer access to clubs and other high end side events that you can’t really host at a traditional circuit.

Sepang, India, Hockenheim, Istanbul, Korea, Kayalami, Portimao, Nurburgring, Mugello. I can keep going.

Petronas recently bought the Sepang track, so it now has the money to be used again, can we please go back there? Or the Nurburgring GP track? Or Fuji International? Or they could spend a fraction of the money they spent on Vegas, to extend the runoff areas, add tech pro barriers, and re surface the Le Man track - would be a far more exciting racing news story than street tracks - F1 at Le Mans. Lots of these tracks are already raced on by the WEC Hypercars.

ah yes another lifeless street circuit. Just what we needed. Meanwhile legendary tracks like Spa are on the brink of disappearing from the calendar..

I wish we could get one, just one, of the old school road corses like the old Spa or nordschleife, or even Le Mans. It is a wish and I know it won't happen because of the length, too few laps for the grandstand crowds, and added cost to marshal and such. But the elevation changes and epic scenery just made those tracks back in the day epic. They make exceptions for Monaco not meeting standards and not being overly fan freindly, can't we just have one exeption for a true road course?

F1: (creates a massive headache for the city of Vegas) Also F1: "AGAIN!"

Great that f1 have added another street circuit because street circuits are what F1 cars are designed for…. We can only hope that F1 realised what fans truly want by replacing proper f1 tracks like spa, silverstone, monza and Suzuka so we can watch F1 cars be absolutely nowhere near their limits going around Brussels, London, Rome and Tokyo

Something that I don't think anyone's yet mentioned: We will have a new set of regulations by the time we actually have the first race here.

My longing for a return to Kyalami knows no bounds.

-Mom, I want Laguna Seca -We have Laguna seca at home -Laguna seca at home:

13:10 I think the vibe is just off in street cirquits. You lack the grass and gravel run-off, just have tech-pro and "SAFER" barriers. Also you got no hills and are mostly on flat ground with barely any elevation change.

Street circuits are anathema to formula 1, there are beautiful traditional tracks that are the backbone of the sport and they're being cast aside so they can just plop a race in the middle of a city. Street races suck, I want Spa, Zandvoort, Suzuka, Silverstone and COTA.

For people worried about the width of the Madrid track, looking at the street section of the track, at it's narrowest we are looking at 10 meters wide and at its widest, 20 meters. The 20 meter wide section does currently have a grass divider down the middle, but that will likely be removed... if it isn't then the track will be narrower than Monaco... It does also look like the chicane on the far left of the track map goes through a car park, so plenty of room to play with on that side of the track. The right hand side appears to be the bit needing construction, so will likely be the same width as the 20 meter wide dual carriageway that runs under the motorway. Considering these cars are 2 meters wide, and part of the 2026 regulations is supposedly to make the cars smaller, we might see some good racing here.

I don't really have an issue with street tracks, they can produce good races. Everyone was trashing Vegas until the race was really good. But why are they making new tracks when we are clearly missing a few classics (Hockenheim, Istanbul, Sepang)?.

Wonder if anyone else has noticed Tommy looks like Max Fosh (mean that in a nice way just to be clear).

As a fan for 20+ years I think it's fine to see tracks come and go. I'm not much of a racing purist and more of a fan of F1 as entertainment. Changing tracks keeps things fresh and I'm totally fine with some changes year by year, though I have to admit that I'd like to keep some tracks like Spa, Monza etc around. Honestly I'd prefer to have a part of rotating classics (I know that this isn't that realistic because of contracts and stuff) and then a regulary updated part of "newer" tracks. I personally don't care if a track is a street circuit or a more traditional one. The question is if the racing will be good and if the entertainment will be good. I'm a huge fan of Monaco for example, but not because of its racing - I like it because it throws a wrench into the teams plans and seeing the people adapt and all the stuff happening there is always a fun watch.

It's definitely starting to become apparent than an American company owns F1. It seems to have shifted to raking in as much money as possible with no regard for ensuring stable growth and avoiding over saturation.

Considering that a lot of businesses around the Las Vegas circuit had their road blocked for up to around 6 weeks i believe and the supposed time frame was told to be less then 3 weeks, considering a lot o businesses during that time wasn't able to have their normal customer reach their facilities on a easy and convenient basis meant a lot of business lost up to 90% of their revenue over multiple weeks. a lot of businesses have starting to file lawsuits against the city claiming they straight up lied over how long the obstruction wold be and the severity and even placement of some of the borders around the perimeter of the track. Based on the feedback from business owners around the track was told to suck it up and it not that bad from the city officials and apparently some F1 representatives to, makes me wonder how long the Formula 1 going to have a positive respond from the actual people who live around the Street Circuits.

Zandvoort had great public transport.

If they are gonna put the track in the outskirts of Madrid, they can also coin the term "semi-street circuit"! If we got some long tracks in the future, it could be fun to have half the track be in the city, but then another half goes outside the city to a permanent facility that can be used on it's own, much like the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans... It would of course basicly mandate a track that was at least 7km long, or even 10 depending on the city! Mostly, i would just like to have tracks where one part is permanent racing surface, while the other is public road, so you always had to balance setup around two very different types of surface, much like in rallycross in a way, but less extreme.

On my opinion, the great semi-permanent circuit for Formula 1® is Albert Park and Montreal, while the great street circuit for Formula 1® is Monte-Carlo, Baku, and Marina Bay. But, at least, Madrid is not set to replace Catalunya completely. Hola, Madrid! 👋🙋‍♂️ My bucket list Formula 1® circuit: Pre-season testing: 🇪🇸 Circuito de Jerez 🇪🇸 Circuit Ricardo Tormo Mid-season testing: 🇮🇹 Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello Young Driver Test: 🇮🇹 Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Grand Prix (by country, some with rotate): 🇦🇺 Albert Park Circuit 🇲🇾 Sepang International Circuit 🇨🇳 Shanghai International Circuit 🇧🇭 Bahrain International Circuit (Grand Prix layout) 🇶🇦 A new permanent track for all FIA-sanctioned racing (Most probably not Losail) 🇿🇦 Kyalami Racing Circuit 🇫🇮 Kymi Ring 🇳🇱 Circuit Zandvoort 🇵🇹 Autodromo Internacional do Algarve 🇪🇸 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya but *WITHOUT* Chicane 🇲🇨 Circuit de Monte-Carlo 🇨🇦 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 🇦🇿 Baku City Circuit 🇫🇷 Rotating between Nevers Magny-Cours and Paul Ricard with better layout 🇦🇹 Red Bull Ring 🇬🇧 Silverstone Circuit 🇩🇪 Rotating between Nürburgring GP-Strecke and Hockenheimring 🇭🇺 Hungaroring 🇧🇪 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 🇮🇹 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 🇹🇷 InterCity Istanbul Park Circuit 🇸🇬 Marina Bay Street Circuit 🇯🇵 Suzuka International Circuit 🇰🇷 Korea International Circuit 🇮🇳 Buddh International Circuit 🇸🇦 Most probably rotating between Jeddah and a new permanent track in Qiddiya (Still under construction) 🚧👷🚜 🇺🇸 Circuit Of The Americas 🇲🇽 Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez 🇧🇷 Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace 🇦🇪 Yas Marina Circuit 24/01/2024 00:02 At My Local Time.

It looks just GREAT for racing... (sarcasm)

My main issue with street circuits is that they look the same. Not in a literal sense, but you just feel like you've gone to a different part of the same city. Zandvoort isn't a great track for overtaking, but it's very unique with the banked corners. COTA and it's insanely wide turn 1 climb is very unique. Even Monaco and the large elevation changes makes it feel a lot more unique from one part of the circuit to the next, especially as the wide shots feel WIDE as you can see more than one turn or straight of the track. When we get 10 street circuits that have absolutely 0 elevation changes and tall concrete barriers on each side of the track, it will just feel like we're basically going to the same place for each race, just time of day is a big difference. And speaking of time of day, night races on street circuits just further makes the tracks look even more 'same-y'. I'm not against street circuits that provide good racing, but getting another street circuit while tracks like Sepang are absent, just really shows how no care is given to the fans of the sport. And if we get the case where we could lose Suzuka for a street circuit, replacing a great track will cause way more uproar.

Their excuse for sustainability...geez.... awful. As for the circuit....fills me with anticipation, super excited, just like I am for the Rey movie. (For those not from the UK, that was heavy sarcasm)

I live in Valdebebas, right next to the track, shit is a expo center, two tunnels and pretty bad and narrow roads

Man, i will miss Catelunya. What a legendary track.😢

My positive thoughts won’t have to worry about track limits if there are walls all way round

I think part of the reason for street tracks is that it's surprisingly easier to host a street track than to host on an existing track. With how F1 requires grade 1 for permanent tracks but have different requirements for a street tracks. Tracks like watkins Glenn, Road Atlanta, and Road America would likely produce great racing yet they are grade 2 tracks and would have to spend literal millions to meet grade 1 standards with the hope of being accepted to be on the calendar. It just doesn't make business sense for a track to do so.

Very short memories here, Baku is a banger but 9 months ago you both moaned so much about baku

I'd love to hear you when London GP replaces Silverstone.

Here are my thoughts as a Canadian F1 fan. Last year, I went to the Spanish Grand Prix with my dad, and we got some awesome seats in the "stadium" section overlooking turns 12 and 13 (replacing that old chicane everyone hated). The whole experience was unreal, the track is great, the beautiful scenery is underrated and we had probably the best possible view of most of the third sector, from the end of the second DRS straight to the pit entrance. But, gotta be real with you, dealing with the logistics and transportation was a bit of a pain. The circuit is in Montmelo, way outside Barcelona, and the roads there aren't made to handle heavy traffic. There's only one metro/train station nearby, and it's definitely not made to handle the F1 crowd with only one train coming by every 20-ish minutes. We went to the full three days, and Friday was alright - took about 90 minutes to get there in the morning and two hours to get back to Barcelona by train plus a walk (around 3-4km from the station to the Circuit). But come the weekend, it was a whole different story. Over three hours to get to the track, and a bit more to get back to the city. It was a bit of a bummer, to be honest. It kinda compromised our schedule and we really couldn't do much apart from the race. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not here to complain. I'm over the moon that I got to experience an F1 race overseas. But it got me thinking the future of F1 seems to be shifting more towards street circuits, where most of the infrastructures already are in place and it's easier to get to the race and around. I really hope iconic tracks like Monza, SPA and Silverstone, even if they're not close to or in big cities, can stick around. But there's this nagging feeling that a bunch of them might start disappearing over the next ten years. It's just the way things are going with the sport growing and the costs and challenges of keeping classic tracks up to FIA standards for these huge events.

You say it is only 6 street circuits on the calendar (this is already too many) however this is just the thin end of the wedge. Hardly any F1 fans want this pivot towards street circuits either, as they are mostly very dull and we still have so many great tracks that aren't on the calendar.

07:58 EXACTLY THAT!!

As much as these new street tracks are different, it's a good idea to take into account the history behind some of our favourite classic circuits. Spa was a track on public roads, shortened and modified to become what we know today. Le Mans is famed for its public road sections. Silverstone was built on an airfield, a pre-existing structure. The IOM TT wouldn't be the same if it was around a specially build venue.

I want dedicated tracks back!!

if london gets a street circuit, the ONLY layout I will accept is bringing back crystal palace. and if we are gonna get hybrid street tracks with some perminant sections and some street, can we at least get a sprint race around old spa? not the full championship race but just a showcase of some modern cars around the old layout. and you cant say its not safe enough now that every other track is fully a street track with 200mph+ consistently. a throwback to the 1930s when most tracks were street tracks too, funny that.

MATT?? How did you forget Schumacher finnishing second while in 5th gear? Also 2022 and 2023 were GOOD races i recall, defo 23, with the 2 and 3 stop strats

i listen to your podcast about vegas and i still dont get the hype around it. maybe cause i watched the race at 6 am and i was tired but i almost fell asleep

The little gremlin living in my head still needs to see F1 races at Laguna Seca and Mount Panorama. It craves chaos.

8:36 No, the problem is that there are such great tracks which are known for very good racing (like Hockenheim or Turkey). And then they talk about removing tracks like Spa or Interlagos from the calendar (likely to fit more street races in). That. That's the f ing problem!

The section you see kind of weird is that way because it is: It is a section going in a tunnel under a highway between two roundabouts and then uphill to a third roundabout, which results in a kind of shaky axis...

just to rejog your memory Tom, Albert Park and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve are both street tracks as well

Most memorable races from last year were one street circuits (Alonso close to a win in Monaco, Sainz tactical win in Singapore, Las Vegas with Leclerc and Perez overtaking etch other on last laps), and officially they are 8 street circuits in F1 but three of them are hybrids (Melbourne, Miami, Montreal) and out of 5 circuits that are true street circuits on three of them last year Verstappen did not win while he won on every other circuit on the calendar last year, so if anything street circuits offer the most amount of unpredictability because of the close walls and low grip track surface. So the question is would we still rather have tracks with huge run-off areas and no walls close to the track and surfaces that offer the best possible grip, but have the least amount of unpredictability and to be honest even less overtakes then on some of the streets circuits?

'24 wil have a 1/3 street circuits with 8 in total: Saudi, Australia, Canada (those 2 are mostly forgotten bc they are actually good), miami, monaco, baku, Singapore and vegas.

Formula One are changing the rules and car design to provide better racing. They also introduce a budget cap to bring the teams closer to another. Yet they manage to f- everything up by introducing street circuits where overtaking either comes with a high risk of driving into a wall at full speed, or where overtaking and racing side by side is nearly impossible because it's too narrow. I don't get it anymore at this point.

Just wait until they remove Silverstone, Interlagos, Spa, Suzuka, Monza etc because they can't fork up the money and get replaced by London, New York.. that's when all the ones who don't mind new street circuits swapping out the good ones, will change their mind.

Canada is a perfect example of a street circuit done right, accessible by metro, no public parking and a permanent track

as someone from MAdrid who love f1 i don want this race to happend the weird shape of the upper part is because it goes trough roundabouts the spanish national animal the one who make the shape did an horrible job the place , the track , the contract , everything is wrong

Let's give the track a chance.

I mean I wish it was named the European GP

Tommy "streets tracks are quite wide and they can suit these modern formula 1 cars" Good point Tommy the streets can accommodate suvs. Joking. You did make a good point.

another thing to remember is that the cars will be getting smaller and lighter so these kind of tracks may make more sense than we think

I love street circuits, the most chaotic races often happen on a street circuit. Just look at Singapore and Azerbaijan, there have been some unpredictable races there for years. They also punish mistakes that inevitably creep in towards the end of the race

For overtake, perhaps we need sections where the shortest route and fastest route are very different lines? the overtaking car sacrifices apex speed but gets in the way, or carries more speed and overtakes after on a short straight.

Tommy said it best. Nowadays there's only one recipe for entertainment: Long straight + slow corner = overtakes And this layout doesn't seem to have much of that. Not that Barcelona had a lot of that either, but it's certainly a strange gamble this Madrid thing

An interesting fact for football fans, under where the lenght is marked, thats the Real Madrid sportive city (where they train and work)

Sigh.

The purpose of having the event at the exhibition center is that you can put the hospitality and pits there. There's no where you could do that in central Madrid. And there's that big vacant plot of land that was puzzlingly available for track building. But that begs the question, why have a race there at all?

Cool your map critique, gents. The route looks squiggly there because it goes under the highway via three traffic circles (one on entry and two in quick succession on exit).

Can we have a F1 race around Blackpool, Blackpool Tower would make a great focal point and the start line could be near the North pier, they could race towards Fleetwood, admittedly it would be a mainly straight track with just a couple of roundabouts but it would be very fast. Harry Ramsdens could supply the food, mainly chips. I look forward to the FIA contacting me and I would act as a agent for a fee of course.

16:02 You know it's a bad track when the most iconic moment from the track in recent years is when the 2 Mercedes crashed into each other leading to Max's first win. Other than that only moment I could think of was Schumacher winning by 40 seconds in the rain in 1996

I think one other reason every new track is a street track as of late is that using some of the existing city infrastructure and and basically just renovating it with pit buildings, suites and a new surface to meet the needs of F1 is probably a less risky investment than building brand new, state-of-the-art, permanent facilities each year like F1 did between 2009 and 2012, only to see half of those new tracks drop off the calendar within 5 years of opening. Yeongam hosted 4 races, Buddh hosted only 3, and even COTA's future was in doubt for a while before the historic turnout for the 2021 race served as the catalyst for F1's recent American expansion.

The track looks pretty decent, there's only one 90 degree corner (the worst kind of corners on race tracks are literal corners).

I suspect that host cities are pushing for long-term contracts just as much as F1. If I'm in city government and negotiating with F1 to host a race I would want that long-term stability before laying out $100M+ in infrastructure upgrades before even the first race. There's no way in hell that a city would commit to that large an expenditure these days on a 2-year deal and risk being dropped off the calendar before recouping their costs. F1 also benefits by knowing where they will be racing for the reasonably foreseeable future, and there is a good likelihood that the host city will continue investing smaller amounts annually to make minor improvements to the track. I would not be surprised to see this as the way ahead - one or two tracks per year are dropped off the calendar to be replaced with new 10-year deals which sets up a nice cycle as deals expire over the next decade.

Maldonado's win at the circuit de Catalunya was very memorable.

Accessibility is why they're picking these locations. In their heads people can just get public transport to the track easily and not have to drive to the middle of nowhere to a permanent race track

Sounds like last year's Fourmula E in London. That worked so well!

Everyone: F1: We need more street circuits.

F1 will be a street racing circuit series soon... Street races suck, F1 cars should be on a dedicated track. I agree old tracks like Barcalona are too small for these cars, much like Monaco, but then BUILD A NEW TRACK!!!!! Vegas works as a track because the streets are basically already a massive wide racetrack, most cities (especially outside the USA) don't have streets wide enough.

The circuit is not that bad. It's not like Monaco or Las Vegas. It's more at the outside of the city and the trace is not that 90°, another 90° stuff and so on. Also the track is very wide

There are so many fantastic fan favourites that should be brought back before we bother making new ones. Mugello and Malaysia come to my mind

Each season F1 should make a pool for fan to vote for a surprise returning grand prix for the next season. it would be so nice to have at least one grand prix rotating over different classic tracks. This might sound very costly but it would be a great move to regain the fans love

F1 is getting more glamorous more then hard core race its almost like city's around the world are competing with each other like the best food,music,hotel,shopping,building,money and of course the the vip oh and the track looks crap like Monaco almost impossible for driver to take over.

I still can't understand why people think it's a bad thing to travel to a circuit and make a bloody good weekend of it.. Camping at Silverstone. Yes please. Coach to and from Spa. Done and loved it. Magny Cours was always on my wish list. F1 is, and has always been escapism so go to a safe site, have a few too many beers and enjoy the experience!

I'm gonna laugh if the Barcelona track gives us a couple absolute bangers now before we lose it

I reckon it may be a very nice fan experience with the exhibition center and the things you could do there. Accessibility is also nice obviously. Last sector gives me Korea vibes and not the good stuff but I also thought Jeddah would be a horrible track so maybe just wait and see what kind of race it will be.

I get all the arguments for having street tracks in major cities, but when we remember way back in the day spar was a street track technically...so I'm all for just picking random small towns and building circuits between them and maybe we'll get another spar :P

Watch out for the calendar too, cos I'm from Madrid and this city in August is boiling hot. I can see them putting the race in August, affecting tyres, drivers and making it a mare for the fans

Define "street circuit". Because it goes around an industrial estate? Oh the magnificent glory.

I'm hoping they make a track that's like the Bahrain outer layout.

Australia is ½ permanent and half-ish street. Some crackin' races there!

4:18 that really weird corner is.... Take the second exit at the roundabout 😂😂

i love classic tracks, and i want to see classic tracks back on the calendar, but im still holding optimism for Madrid, it seems like a fun circuit thatll provide some decent entertainment, and from what ive heard from different outlets, itll also be a huge boost for the area which has really needed it over the last couple decades, so hopefully its a good race, and if its a good race then thats all that matters tbh

if the cars are too big (they are) reset the rule book back to the year 2000 or something when the cars where smaller.

Reminds me a bit of the track in my home town. The old Australian/Adelaide GP. We still have our Australian supercars category race on it to this day. Semi Street semi permanent. Will be interesting for sure

I’m glad you guys mentioned the graphic. I thought it was really shotty too. Besides looking like they screenshotted google earth and used Paint to draw the line of the track lol the line doesn’t even seem like it follows roads the whole time.

The layout looks like a cross between Baku, Miami and Jeddah.

i used public transport in a major city to get to an event once. Never again.