F1 Racing Circuits

Although there are one or two circuit changes in most F1 seasons, the circuits listed below are common on the modern schedule. The concept behind this page is to help punters break down the characteristics of a circuit more accurately than simply looking at a circuit map. Circuit maps alone can be deceiving, so this page looks to dissect the circuits more carefully. Then we can use that information to match up drivers with circuits they should perform well on.

This article does not consider the frequency of crashes or mechanical failures. Of course more dangerous tracks that create a large number of crashes will help us determine the predictability of a circuit, but this article is focused solely on circuit speeds. We’ll tackle crash frequency and cars retiring in other articles.

With the exception of the Grand Prix de Monaco, all F1 racing circuits have a mandated minimum distance of 305 km. Most circuits are between 4.3 – 5.8 km in length, with a few exceptions. While F1 consists of the highest level of road-racing talent in the world, certain circuits favor certain drivers (and cars). Drivers/cars that perform best in hard turns and making quick, precision passes have an advantage on circuits with a high volume of tight corners. Cars with higher top-speed have an advantage on tracks with long straights.

F1 Circuits – Turn & Speed Statistics

To help punters determine which tracks are best for each driver, we’ve broken down each circuit into two other stats. One is a ‘Hard Turns/ Km’ statistic. In this stat, we’ve removed fast curves, and are only counting turns that require hard braking or very slow speeds. Many punters get the wrong impression of a circuit based on the total number of turns it has. A high number of turns doesn’t tell us a circuit is slow, and a low number of turns doesn’t tell us it’s fast. What matters is how many hard turns there are per kilometre. On its own, this stat doesn’t tell us all we need to know, but it’s a start.

The other stat is ‘Fastest Seconds/Km’. In this stat, we’re using the fastest lap speed recorded at the circuit to determine which circuits are the fastest & slowest, without bias to length of the circuit. Using the fastest lap instead of fastest race, we eliminate crashes and other aspects that falsely determine how fast a circuit is. The faster the track, the more benefit to cars with the highest top speed capabilities. Slower tracks indicate multiple, tighter turns, evening out the field and potentially giving an advantage to other cars/drivers.

We could’ve used kph (kilometres per hour) instead of Fastest Seconds/Km, but that is a difficult stat for people to get their minds wrapped around. What is the difference between 170 kph and 167 kph? The difference sounds nominal. However, if you consider that one circuit is a full second faster than another for each and every kilometre, the difference becomes more clear.

‘Fastest lap time’ on its own doesn’t tell us anything. The lap time versus the length of the circuit is what matters, so we only use this stat to help us determine the Fastest Seconds/Km.

We’ve also added the top 5 finishers at each circuit in recent F1 seasons. While a lot of flukey things can help a driver win an individual race, we can generate some information based on the types of circuits drivers tend to do well on – and the ones they don’t. It also helps us determine what a drivers confidence-level might be at each circuit, another important element in F1 racing.

Predicting Formula 1 Race Winners

For F1 betting, punters have limited resources to help us predict winning drivers. There’s only a small number of races per year, and so many changes happen every season that we can’t look too far back in time to help us make predictions. Cars, engines, sponsors, team managers, tire manufacturers and a number of other factors can change from one season to the next. While these are very specific aspects of racing that need to be considered, some of the more broad concepts need to be looked at as well.

That’s what we’re attempting to accomplish with the series of articles we’ve written for this section. For more information on any of the circuits, use the links in the table below. When F1 circuit changes are made, we’ll continue to update these pages.

Articles on the Austrian Grand Prix, Bahrain Grand Prix, Russian Grand Prix and Mexican Grand Prix will be added before their 2015 installments. Check the 2015 F1 Calendar for dates.