Best races per track (F1)

There is a similar topic, with best races per F1 driver.

But what year saw the greatest GP at the F1 circuits current and old?

I'll take a look at the 2013 calendar to start with

AUS - Melbourne => 2006

MAL - Sepang => 2009 was great up to the red flag 

CHI - Shanghai => 2006, 2007 for the drama

BAH - Sakhir => perhaps this year ?

ESP - Circuit de Catalunya => 1996

MON - Monte Carlo => 1982, 2004

CAN - Montreal => 1978 (coldest race ever?)

GBR - Silverstone => 1998

GER - Nürburgring => 1999

HUN - Hungaroring => 2006

BEL - Spa-Francorchamps => 2004 personally

ITA - Monza => don't like the track, but if I have to make a selection: 1988

SIN - Singapore => 2010

SKO - Yeongam => 2010

JAP - Suzuka => 2005

IND - Buddh International Circuit => none

AUH - Yas Marina => 2012

USA - Austin => obviously one choice

BRA - Interlagos => 2007 (as a Kimi fan), 2008 (what an ending), 2012 (drama throughout)

Of those I disagree:

Melbourne - 2003: Damp track early in the race, few crashes and then close battle for the lead with Kimi and Schummy. MS damaged his bargeboards, Kimi got penalized for speeding in the pit lane. Montoya on his way to victory until he spun, DC ended up winning.

Sakhir - 2012: Closer battle for victory there.

Catalunya - 2012: While Schummy was absolutely brilliant in 1996, as a race it wasn't that exciting. 2012 saw surprise winner after tight battle.

Montreal - Haven't seen 1978. Too difficult to choose from the ones I have seen, lots of great races.

Silverstone - 2003: With that lunatic, the race order was quite strange. Lots of overtaking there.

Agreeing that Buddh hasn't had a great race yet. As a bonus answer I say: Hockenheim 2000 (old)/2004 (new)

Yeah, all races at Buddh were terrible.

As for Sepang, 2012 was the best. Frantic action before and after the red flag, and fantastic Alonso/Perez battle (and Alonso's win)

Sakhir 2012 better than 2013? Only to those people who are only interested in the battle for P1, ignoring the rest.

You should also consider Interlagos 2003 and Spa 1998.

1999 Australian GP was a good one in my mind. Hectic first race of the season with a lot of DNFs, and the Ferrari you THOUGHT would win, well, didn't.

Edited by UPRC, 01 September 2013 - 14:24.

Germany 1999 2005

Malaysia 2001,2012

Monaco 1996

Australia 1996,2002

Brazil 2003,2008

Silverstone 1987 - Mansell vs Piquet

Silverstone 2003 was really entertaining.

For Monza I'd say 2010. It was a very good battle between Jenson and Fernando.

Nurburgring I'd go with 2011. Not often in recent years do you get a genuine battle for the lead between 3 different constructors' cars.

For Interlagos I'd go for 2004. I really enjoyed the race long battle between Kimi and Juan Pablo.

Similarly, 1996 deserves a mention for Melbourne for the battle between the Williams pair.

As you can probably tell, a great lead battle counts for a lot in my book.

Edited by PayasYouRace, 01 September 2013 - 17:34.

There is a similar topic, with best races per F1 driver.

But what year saw the greatest GP at the F1 circuits current and old?

Another nice one.

My quick choices:

AUS - Melbourne => 2010

MAL - Sepang => 2012

CHI - Shanghai => difficult to choose between 2006 / 2007 / 2011-  maybe the last one, as one of the best dry races of the current era

BAH - Sakhir => 2012 - slightly better than 2005 and 2013

ESP - Circuit de Catalunya => 2011

MON - Monte Carlo => 1982 / 1984  (special mention for 1970) – best recent one: 2005  

CAN - Montreal => 2011

GBR - Silverstone => 2003

GER – “Nürburgring” => 2010

HUN - Hungaroring => 2006 with 1990 as the best dry race

BEL - Spa-Francorchamps => 2008 (just the race itself) - old configuration: 1970

ITA - Monza => 1967 / 1976 / 2004 (all different configurations)

SIN - Singapore => 2010

SKO - Yeongam => 2010

JAP - Suzuka => 2005

IND - Buddh International Circuit => yep, none

AUH - Yas Marina => 2012

USA - Austin => yep, obviously one choice

BRA - Interlagos => 2012  -  2003 and 2008 e.g. were briliant as well!

Monza HAS to be the 1971 slipstreaming GP.

Peter Gethin's only race win and 5 cars crossing the line separated by less than a second !!

Monza HAS to be the 1971 slipstreaming GP.

Peter Gethin's only race win and 5 cars crossing the line separated by less than a second !!

Not his only race win   (quiz question: name his other F1 win)

But yes, that was another epic race with a multitude of strange facts like Henri Pescarolo's FL in privateer March that stood for ages as the fastest ever F1 race lap - while he just circled around in the midfield of the pack that specific lap! That's how close and competitive the race was. One lesser known fact is that Gethin had lost contact half race with the 'leading pack' and had to regain that distance on his own without a tow while everyone was slipsteaming each other in the pack ahead. And of course, there was another case of Chris Amon's cruel luck.

In the end it was a sprint to the line between five drivers who all had not won a single F1 GP yet (Mike Hailwood had of course won quite few other GPs.....)

It was a hard choice (there was also e.g. 1969!) but to me the 1967 race stood out even more - that was just epicness defined.

Edited by scheivlak, 01 September 2013 - 22:12.

Silverstone 2008 was mental, as well as Spa (clash of Titans).

I was thinking about opening a thread identical to this one myself. It's a good way to spend the off-season nevertheless.

I'm only including races within my lifetime (1996-onwards).

Melbourne

2003, closely followed by 2010 and 1996.

Sepang

2012, though 2001 and 2009 were also very good.

Shanghai

2010, narrowly beating 2006, 2011, and 2012.

Bahrain

2012, with 2006 as runner up and 2013 third.

Barcelona

2012, closely followed by 1996 and 2011.

Monaco

1996, though 1997, 2008, and 2011 were also very good.

Montreal

2011, with 2010 as runner up and 1998 third.

Valencia

2012 by far.

Silverstone

2003, narrowly beating 2008 and 1998.

Hockenheim

2000 for the old layout, and 2012 for the new layout.

Nurburgring

1999, with 2007 second and 2011 third.

Hungaroring

2006, closely followed by 1998 and 2011.

Spa Francorchamps

1998, though 2004 and 2010 were also very good.

Monza

1998, 2010 was also not bad.

Singapore

2010 of course. 2008 had good racing, but also had crashgate.

Japan

2005 by a mile, though 2011 was also quite entertaining.

Korea

2010, and 2013 was the only other watchable race.

Buddh

None of the races. They were all abysmal.

Abu Dhabi

2012, was there ever any doubt?

Austin

2012, again obviously.

Interlagos

2012, narrowly edging 2008 and 2003.

Edited by Kingshark, 29 December 2013 - 06:51.

I'll do 1996 onwards, as I only watched all races in a season from then. 

AUS - Melbourne => 1999. Mad, crazy race. 

MAL - Sepang => 1999. Seeing Schumacher utterly dominant on his comeback, driving slowly yet still having to let Irvine past twice. Then the subsequent bargeboard controversy.  

CHI - Shanghai => 2007, for the title drama. 

BAH - Sakhir => This is weird; its one of those races which is usually quite good but the setting is so sterile it never sticks in the memory! 2012 was good I think? 

ESP - Circuit de Catalunya => 1996. This circuit really needs rain. 2012 was quite tense too, though not a classic. 

MON - Monte Carlo => 1996, just for the weirdness. 2008 honourable mention. 

CAN - Montreal => 2011. JB running last with 30 laps to go and still won it. 

GBR - Silverstone => 2003. What an exciting race. 

GER - Nürburgring => 1999. My first race in person, and what a cracker that nobody wanted to win. (Hockenheim = 2000). 

HUN - Hungaroring => 2006. Great first win for JB. 

BEL - Spa-Francorchamps => 1998. We will never see a race like that again... 

ITA - Monza => 2008. Who saw that coming?!

SIN - Singapore => 2008. The first night race was a great novelty, but I'm not sure any race since stands out since.  

SKO - Yeongam => 2010. Chaos. 

JAP - Suzuka => 2005. Easy. Honourable mention to 2000, one of the classic title deciders. 

IND - Buddh International Circuit => Erm... this year as I knew it would hopefully be the last there. 

AUH - Yas Marina => 2012. Amazingly one of the best races of that year. 

USA - Austin => 2012.

BRA - Interlagos => 2008. It is too unbelievable to even script. 

I wish I could make my own list, but most of the 350+ races I have watched are just a blur.

I only started watching F1 seriously in 2005 ( I was too young before) And from that time I remember Japan 2005, San Marino 2005 and 2006, Monza 2008, Brazil 2008...

Of the more recent ones, I prefer Spain 2011 over Spain 2012, few laps where the cars fighting for the victory were more than 2 seconds apart.

Monaco 2011 was also entertaining up to the red flag, Vettel with tyres with 40+laps old, Alonso and Button charging from behind, Abu Dhabi 2012...