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The strangest places a Formula One car has visited
Not too long ago Hungary was a very strange place to host a Grand Prix. Check out some more unusual places F1 cars have done their thing.
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Back in 1986, Hungary was a weird place to hold a F1 Grand Prix.
The world was still divided by the Cold War and Hungary and the Hungaroring race track was behind the Iron Curtain, part of the Communist bloc and seemed the last place a Westernised, capitalistic sport like F1 would find a home.
Hungaroring
© Red Bull Content Pool
Fast-forward 32 years and the Hungarian Grand Prix has been on the F1 calendar every year since. It is no longer within the Communist bloc and with the buzzing centre of Budapest only a few miles away from the circuit, it's a fan favourite.
Let’s celebrate the Hungaroring’s origins as a brave new location for F1 and look at some other strange places F1 cars have shown what they can do.
Burj Al Arab helipad - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
David Coulthard on top of the Burj Al Arab Helipad
© Red Bull Content Pool
To commemorate winning four drivers’ and constructor’s titles on the bounce, Red Bull Racing decided to do something a bit special.
Obviously, the sensible option was to do some donuts in their 750 bhp RB9 F1 car, some 210 metres above sea level.
And that is exactly what Red Bull Racing and David Coulthard did.
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Infiniti Red Bull Racing in Burj Al Arab
Infiniti Red Bull Racing in Burj Al Arab
In October 2013, ex-F1 ace David Coulthard pulled off a spectacular display of burning rubber and tyre smoke on the 24 metre-wide Burj Al Arab helipad with the Dubai skyline and Arabian Gulf offering a stunning backdrop.
The less said about that 210 metre drop, the better…
AVUS - Berlin, West Germany
Bernd Rosemeyer en Avus, con Auto Union, 1937
© Audi Motorsport
Back in the carefree early days of Grand Prix racing, hosting a race on a flat out banked street circuit with no barriers seemed perfectly normal.
Located in the south-western suburbs of Berlin, Avus, (or Automobil-Verkehrs-und Übungsstrasse) was a circuit made up of public roads configured as two massive six-mile straits joined up by banked hairpin bends at either end.
A lap was 12 miles and the banking was angled at a crazy 43 degrees. For comparison sake, the Indianapolis Motorspeedway banking is just 11 degrees.
Los récords de velocidad acabaron con Rosemeyer
© Audi Motorsport Archive
Between 1921 and the late 1950s Germany’s very own ‘wall of death’ hosted an array of Grands Prix and speed record attempts with just the one F1 World Championship Grand Prix being hosted.
Avus would claim the lives of popular German racing driver Bernd Rosemeyer in 1938 and French ace Jean Behra in 1959, and a shortened version of the track remained in use until the 1990s. Today it is the northern part of Bundesautobahn 115.
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A frozen lake - Quebec, Canada
On a frozen lake
© Red Bull Content Pool
Back in 2013, during the final year of Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel’s domination of F1, the team cooled things down with a new challenge.
Toro Rossi driver Sebastien Buemi packed his thermal underwear and strapped into a 10 cylinder, Cosworth-powered STR1 to do some demonstration mileage on a frozen lake in remote Northern Quebec.
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F1 on Ice: Montreal Canada
One of our best show car runs: as Sébastien Buemi takes an F1 car across a frozen lake in Quebec.
The car was fitted with unique Bridgestone Potenza tyres, featuring 420 tungsten studs on the front tyres and 588 on the rear – each one embedded in an aluminum casing…just to give it that extra bit of grip.
Baku – Azerbaijan
2018年アゼルバイジャンGP
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Ok, so the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is now a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar, but if you suggested it would have been one even a few years, ago you would’ve been laughed out of the room.
Part of the Soviet Union since 1920, Azerbaijan slid into a civil war almost immediately after declaring independence from the Soviets in 1991, but emerged intact, and with its huge reserves of oil has become a major global player.
In 2016 the capital city of Baku hosted its first Grand Prix.
On the TV screen at least, Baku is a beautiful city and its street circuit still has its quirks.
From the flat out 2.2km straight to the super-tight section which runs past a medieval castle it has thrown up some undoubted highlights.
It has been the scene for high drama between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel and more recently the Red Bull Racing team mates of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Red Bull Racing Vs Bath Rugby - Farleigh House, Somerset
Daniel burns rubber as the players burn calories
© Olaf Pignataro/Red Bull Content Pool
Prost v Senna, Hunt v Lauda, Hill v Schumacher, Hamilton v Vettel…Daniel Ricciardo v Bath Rugby Club.
Er, what was that last one…?
In 2016 it was decided that the eternal question would be answered: is an F1 car more powerful than an eight-man rugby scrum?
Daniel Ricciardo and the rugby team in Bath
© Olaf Pignataro/Red Bull Content Pool
Armed with the double-title winning, triple-Grand Prix winning RB8, Red Bull Racing headed to Farleigh House, the place where Bath Rugby Club of the English Premiership hone their skills and went head to head with the six-time title winning team – the ultimate battle – men versus machine – seven-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo and 1000bhp verses 831kg of pure muscle.
The winner? Why not find out for yourselves…
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F1 Scrum
Watch Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull Racing take on Bath Rugby.
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