Red Bull Motorsports
F1
A white-knuckle journey through the world's best racing circuits
From Spa to Suzuka, Monza to Le Mans, we look at the best places to go racing, exploring iconic tracks where champions are made.
01
Spa-Francorchamps
Spa-Francorchamps in the Ardennes Forest
© DPPI
- Country: Belgium
- Length: 7.004km
- Best corner: Eau Rouge
- Series: F1, WEC, Intercontinental GT Challenge (Spa 24 Hours)
Nesting in a rain cloud high in the stunning tree-lined mountains of the Ardennes, the mighty Spa-Francorchamps is a throwback to the early days of racing. Home of the Belgian Grand Prix, Spa’s most famous corner comes fast after the hairpin at La Source at the end of the start-finish straight. The track dips down to Eau Rouge before pitching the drivers up to Raidillon and a high-speed climb to the massive Kemmel Straight. But take your pick because the entire circuit is made up of iconic sections that come thick and fast: Pouhon (or Double Gauche) Rivage/Bruxelles, Stavelot, Blanchimont all the way to the Bus Stop Chicane at the end of the lap. Add in the unpredictable weather and you have one of the greatest challenges in motorsport.
02
Suzuka
The famous Suzuka race circuit
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: Japan
- Length: 5.807km
- Best corner: 130R
- Series: F1, WEC, Super Formula, EWC (Suzuka 8 Hours)
Home of the Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka is a favourite among drivers, including Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. Set in the hilly Mie Prefecture, Suzuka is a high-speed circuit laid out in a distinctive figure of 8. Most famous is the long, fast 130R corner, but there’s also the S Curves and the Degner Curve, named after colourful Motorcycle Grand Prix racer and Cold War defector Ernst Degner. Suzuka was also the scene setting of the dramatic climax to the 1989 season when McLaren team-mates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost collided at the chicane. Prost was out, but Senna managed to get going again and won the race – only to be disqualified for cutting the corner after the collision. Prost took the World Championship, and Senna took offence. A year later, they returned with another title race on the line. This time, Senna deliberately shunted Prost off the track to take the crown for a second time.
03
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Monza - Temple of Speed
© Peter Fox/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: Italy
- Length: 5.793km
- Best corner: Curva Grande
- Lap record: 1:21.046 Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 2004 Italian GP
- Series: F1
Cradled in an elegant park in an upmarket suburb of Milan, the mighty Temple of Speed is the home of Italian racing, where crowds of Tifosi gather to create a unique sporting experience. The track also encompasses the remains of the historic old circuit with its high-speed banking and bridge to bring the great racing traditions of the last century together with the present. This is a circuit that celebrates pure speed, bravery and power: a full-throttle race along long straights and sweeping corners. It demands the most extreme racing set-up on the F1 calendar with low downforce as cars run with minimal wing to reduce drag and boost speed. The first chicane at Rettifilo at the end of the start/finish straight is one of the hardest braking points of the F1 season and is often the scene of opening lap pile-ups. It is also, along with Roggia and the Ascari complex, the best overtaking points, but the art of racing at Monza is getting close enough to find a passing opportunity.
04
Circuit de la Sarthe – the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit
Long day ahead: The start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
© Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: France
- Length: 13.629km
- Best corner: Porsche Curves
- Series: WEC
Home to perhaps the most famous motor race in the world, the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit is a combination of purpose-built racetrack and public roads. The 24Hrs du Mans is the ultimate test of endurance for sports cars as they’re raced flat out from start to flag, speeding through such famed corners as the Dunlop Curve, the Esses and the Porsche Curves. Having first been held in 1923 and every year since 1949, Le Mans has seen its share of dramatic finishes: there was the sight of the twin Ford GT40s of Chris Amon/Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme/Ken Miles crossing the finish line in formation in 1966, ending five years of Ferrari dominance at La Sarthe (as immortalised in the film Ford v Ferrari). Or how about Kazuki Nakajima’s Toyota TS050 losing power and falling to a halt on the last lap of the race, allowing Porsche to snatch a last-second victory.
05
Interlagos – Autódromo José Carlos Pace
The Senna Esses at Interlagos in Brazil
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: Brazil
- Length: 4.309km
- Best corner: T14 to the finish line
- Series: F1, WEC, Brazilian Stock Car
When they built Interlagos in Brazil in 1940, the designers looked around the world for inspiration, modelling the track on the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Brooklands in the UK – the first purpose-built motor racing circuit. But the Brickyard and Brooklands both stand on flat ground, whereas Interlagos snakes around the hills of São Paolo like a roller coaster. The long-start finish straight and shorter back straight connected by 15 corners along its 4km length, many bearing charming Arcadian names like Ferradura (horseshoe), Pinheirinho (Baby Pine Tree) and Bico de Pato (Duck’s Bill). The lap starts with the (Ayrton) Senna Esses, named after the city’s most famous son who was a two-time winner here, the first coming in 1991 when the maestro was so emotionally and physically exhausted at the end he had to be lifted out of his car. The Esses lead into a fast opening section that heads down to the lake at the bottom of the circuit, and T4/Descida do Lago. The track then rises up to Ferradura and into a series of tight turns before getting on the power at T12/Junção for a long and rewarding sweeping run up to the grandstands. A feature of Interlagos is that it’s an anticlockwise circuit, making those many turns an added strain on the drivers’ necks.
06
COTA – Circuit of the Americas
The climb up to T1 at COTA
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: USA
- Length: 5.513km
- Best corner: Turn 1
- Series: F1, MotoGP, WEC, IndyCar, NASCAR
The team behind COTA's lofty goal was to build a home for circuit racing in the USA. Until then, F1 had enjoyed a fitful relationship with the nation, moving from state to state without successfully engaging with devotees of domestic US auto racing like Indy and NASCAR. COTA changed all that. They took on a dream team that included F1 World Champion Mario Andretti, MotoGP world champion Kevin Schwantz and F1’s uber-architect Hermann Tilke to design the circuit. They drew inspiration from some mighty tracks like Istanbul Park’s Turn 8 with its dramatic changes in elevation, the technical Maggots-Becketts-Chapel complex from Silverstone, the Senna Esses of Interlagos and the stadium section from Germany’s Hockenheimring. The result is a modern circuit that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the classics. “It’s one of the best circuits on the calendar,” says Daniel Ricciardo. “With the shape of the corners and the apexes – everything just creates a really good atmosphere that encourages you to battle.” In addition to the track, host city Austin offers an unrivalled live music scene to entertain fans when the racing is over.
07
Red Bull Ring
The beautiful Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: Austria
- Length: 4.318km
- Best Corner: T1/Lauda
- Series: F1, MotoGP, DTM
One of the shortest tracks on the F1 calendar, the Red Bull Ring packs a big challenge into its 1:06 lap time, combining fast straights with plenty of overtaking spots with a tricky technical section. Get the opening T1/Niki Lauda Kurve right and it sets you up for the vertiginous climb up to T3/Remus. From there, it’s a slow descent to T4/Schlossgold before entering a series of tight left-handers as the track descends back down to the final corner. Then, back on the power past the grandstands. Add unpredictable Styrian weather into the mix – sun, rain, hailstones, sometimes all at once – and you have a fantastic circuit. And if this were a beauty contest, the Red Bull Ring would win hands down. Flanked by pine forests, the track is perched on the edge of a mountain in Styria, commanding views across a huge valley. The Grand Prix weekend is always special as fans camp out in the forests and enjoy a festival atmosphere.
08
The Nordschleife of the Nürburgring
Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard ride the Karussell on the Nurburgring
© Gruppe C GmbH/Red Bull Content Pool
- Country: Germany
- Length: 20.83km
- Best corner: Karussell
- Series: Intercontinental GT Challenge
Drive about 100km east of Spa, and you’ll arrive at the Nordschleife – Spa’s scary big brother. Dubbed the Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, it’s arguably the greatest racetrack in the world. Winding 20km through the Eifel mountains and rising 300m, the fast and flowing Nürburgring is the Everest of racing, made up of 154 corners, blind crests and steep drops with almost no margin for error. Most famous is the Caracciola-Karussell – a ferocious banked hairpin named for German driver Rudolf Caracciola. Sadly, the sheer size of the Nordschleife and its safety record means it’s no longer used for racing by any world championship. The annual Nürburgring 24 Hour race combines the Nordschleife with the Grand Prix Circuit (opened in 1984), creating a 170-corner, 26-kilometre beast of a track. But at least these days, you can pay your fees to pit your skills against a circuit that tested legends like Stewart, Lauda, Fangio and Clark to the limit.
