F1weekly.com Forums

I few months ago I posted pictures of the demolished A1 ring. People were sad to see a good track crumble.

However I have since found out that Dietrich Mateschitz has been behind all the work, and the track has actually been resurrected rather then ruined.

With 70 Million Euro's worth of cash invested into the A1, the Red Bull man clearly see's the track as a possible F1 venue - even if he denies it.

It would be nice to see some pictures.

2009 pics

unless they're going to use the old layout, i hope f1 doesn't return. i've never been a fan of the new a1 ring.

I thought Tilke did a alright job with his alterations.

Generally, I like courses with trees and greens.

Even though this track has been Tilkified, those pictures make me feel that there still exist some old vibes of the classic track.

I am in favor of dropping Valencia and returning to A1 Ring.

OH yes! Valencia needs dropping, unless they use the proper track that the motoGP use.

I wrote a song about the A1 Ring BTW, which is somewhere in my repertiore................

(07-26-2010 09:23 PM)trickydicky Wrote: [ -> ]I few months ago I posted pictures of the demolished A1 ring. People were sad to see a good track crumble.

However I have since found out that Dietrich Mateschitz has been behind all the work, and the track has actually been resurrected rather then ruined.

With 70 Million Euro's worth of cash invested into the A1, the Red Bull man clearly see's the track as a possible F1 venue - even if he denies it.

It would be nice to see some pictures.

here are a few.

Looks like it's in a lot better shape now.

Isn't this being refurbished for future DTM races? I thought one of the reasons the track got dropped because it was just too short, with laptimes not much over a minute long.

I think the only F1 action we'll see is some Red Bull TV promotions and maybe if testing is brought back, it might be a move for the Milton Keyes Factory to Ostereich.

Is 70 million Euros even that much for an F1 track? Isn't the US track a 200 million$ project, and a similar budget for the silverstone updates?

My money is on DTM, and maybe some GP2, F2 or other feeder single seater series

(07-31-2010 02:37 AM)Baumgartnerfan Wrote: [ -> ]Isn't this being refurbished for future DTM races? I thought one of the reasons the track got dropped because it was just too short, with laptimes not much over a minute long.

I think the only F1 action we'll see is some Red Bull TV promotions and maybe if testing is brought back, it might be a move for the Milton Keyes Factory to Ostereich.

Is 70 million Euros even that much for an F1 track? Isn't the US track a 200 million$ project, and a similar budget for the silverstone updates?

My money is on DTM, and maybe some GP2, F2 or other feeder single seater series

70 mil euros is indeed a chump change compared to yas marina, which cost 800 mil euros.
800 mil and still a crap track racing wise.

Why the Yas Marina hate? I like that race? No classic, but it was fun to Watch Button battle for his Podium, and it was where Kobayashi earned his F1 chance. I liked it and I'm looking forward to it. It would be a crime to lose a Brazilian race, but the season doesn't have to end there. The season should start in Oz though. This Bahrain thing was no fun.

It's one thing to have enjoyed watching Button battle for a podium and reflect on Kobayashi earning his F1 shot there, but for those things to translate into liking the Yas Marina circuit as a result doesn't follow. I am for all races held in the Middle East being removed from the calendar, and for Mr. Tilke's immediate retirement. Tracks like Bahrain and teams like HRT have made it easy for me to tune out this season.

(08-19-2010 06:01 AM)TheFIAFerrariConspiracy Wrote: [ -> ]It's one thing to have enjoyed watching Button battle for a podium and reflect on Kobayashi earning his F1 shot there, but for those things to translate into liking the Yas Marina circuit as a result doesn't follow. I am for all races held in the Middle East being removed from the calendar, and for Mr. Tilke's immediate retirement. Tracks like Bahrain and teams like HRT have made it easy for me to tune out this season.

What was so wrong with the Yas Marina? OK it's in the middle east, so it's not where the common F1 resides. It costed almost a billion pounds or something to make. It only seats 50 000, so they must be running at a loss. The money is not my issue.

Still the effort to put on a show is there. It has an interesting layout, a weird tunnel thing, and it's ran during a sunset backdrop.

And I watch F1 for the on track action, and Jensen's battle and Kamui's race kept me watching the TV. It happened on that track.

I've seen boring races in Spa (I like this track), and Silverstone too, and quite frankly I can not think of many exciting races in Monza.

I'm not a Tilke fan. Some of his creations are not great. Malaysia, Bahrain are some bad culprits, but Turkey is OK. And Singapore and Valencia shouldn't host F1 if they can't use an actual track or track looking like thing. Monaco is the exception for street races...

And I still enorse Hungaroring.

That anyone might like Yas Marina isn't an issue for me, though I personally don't like the circut. The thing is, the main reason I don't like it is because of things you've mentioned while expressing your approval of it.

"It cost almost a billion pounds... They must be running at a loss. The money is not my issue". The thing is, a track like that can't continually run at a loss, so there is zero chance it will have any longevity. Why then bother building such tracks? The money is not your issue or mine, but that such tracks threaten to take the place of hallowed venues is an issue for anyone who would call himself or herself a fan of F1. That's the main reason I hate these colossal tracks, because ten years from now they'll be vacant hulks few if any miss, but then we'll have missed a decade of racing at Silverstone or (dare I say it) Spa. And that's a major issue for me.

You could argue it's a long term investment. I'm not sure what the running costs are for this track, if they are not so high, than the investment is made and now they have just income, and in 20 years maybe it will pay off. Maybe even less since an F1 track brings tourist money, and promotes a nation.

I like classic tracks. I like watching the Monaco race very much, but many don't but for many classic F1 reasons I don't want to see it go. I think Monza is actually more boring, and not much good racing. It's very much an engine power track, and a good car can really show who's boss. Still I don't want Monza go for the same reasons as Monaco. In Asia Suzuka should never be let go, even if the last Suzuka race was kinda dull.

Those two European tracks to me are the most F1, due to History and wouldn't want to see it go, other can be shaken up. Even my beloved Hungaroring :'(

In principle there are many bad tracks in F1 these days, but we still need new ones. When we have tracks like Bahrain, Sepang, Valencia, Singapore, on the Calendar... we can keep that in favour of the other ones. I would drop Bahrain first.