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Last month I made a video about the mooted idea of running Silverstone in reverse as
a way of generating more grand prix races out of a possible reduced number of available
circuits. Now, while reversing the direction of an existing
circuit proved to be extremely difficult and expensive, we also noted that a lot of modern
Grade One circuits had several configurations available.
While we didn’t really go into the possibility of using these different configurations, I
did note that some of them - while remaining Grade One standard - that is, FIA approved
for Formula 1 running - a lot of them fell short of the minimum track length required
to run an F1 race. And that’s kind of where I want to go today.
Let’s talk a bit about the regulatory framework for Formula 1 circuits - what’s allowed,
what’s not allowed and whether it’s time to expand a bit on what circuits we can accept
for an F1 event. What’s interesting to note, when checking
the FIA’s rules on approved Motor Racing Circuits is that while some of the language
is as strict and well-defined as you’d expect, some of the rules are… a little woolly.
And that’s to be expected really as motor racing takes places across many circuits - new
and historic - and some of the circuits that have been carved into their landscapes for
many decades may not quite be inside what’s expected of new facilities being designed
from the ground up today. For example, if you’re building a brand
new circuit and looking for FIA approval, the width of the track should be 12 metres
across at minimum and at least 15 metres across at the starting grid.
But there is wiggle room here. Existing circuits can still be approved if their tracks run
narrower as long as there have been regular national competitions run on them. And if
you’re not a permanent circuit, like Monaco, this doesn’t apply at all.
Which is good because the reference widths for Albert Park, Baku, Barcelona, Hungaroring,
Interlagos, Monaco, Monza, Suzuka and Zandvoort are all below this 12 metre minimum.
You also can’t change the width of the track suddenly.
Track widths have to taper at a rate no more aggressive than 1 metre across per 20 metres
travelled. A wider track allows the cars to race more
effectively and with a margin of safety the FIA prefer these days. The FIA are in this
weird position of expecting higher safety from tracks but also accepting older tracks
fall outside preferred measurements. I think they manage the balance quite well considering
old favourites like Monaco and Spa fall outside of a number of areas.
Monaco in particular is like the favoured older son who can get away with anything with
its parents singing its praises at every opportunity while turning a blind eye to its worst attributes.
For example, Monaco falls quite a bit short of the minimum required length for Formula
1 circuits. For clarity on measuring length, here: while
most circuit calculations and regulations relate to the expected racing line through
the track, the length of a circuit is measured by the centre line of the track.
To run a Formula 1 grand prix, a circuit has to be longer than 3.5 kilometres and it is
recommended that new circuits (see the bendy caveat there) are no longer than 7 kilometres.
Almost every circuit falls between these two limits with the exception of two.
Spa Francorchamps is actually very slightly over the recommended limit at 7.004 kilometres
- a limit is only exceeded in 2007 when they fiddled with the bus stop chicane to make
it stop looking like a bus stop. Monaco at 3.337 kilometres is almost 5% short
of the minimum required length. But Monaco is special in a few ways.
Having maximum and minimum bounds on a track does make a lot of sense. If your track is
incredibly long then your event becomes more expensive, less safe and more complicated
to run. A very long track will require more marshall
posts, timing equipment, and cameras all the way down the length. It will also make medical
intervention in the event of a serious injury all the more difficult.
If there is a serious crash on the far side of the track, the medical car and/or ambulance
has to travel all the way around the length of the track to get to the scene of the accident.
You could temper this, though, by creating emergency inroads inside the track that are
closed to the public during an active session or by stationing multiple medical cars at
various intervals around the track if you wanted to make an exception for a longer mega-track
on the calendar. Of course, with a very long track you also
get into the problem of the track being a bit too sparse, with spectators seeing cars
far less frequently than they would do if the cars were on a shorter track with shorter
lap times. A much shorter track, though and you get into
the ‘too crowded territory’. Obviously lap times will vary but generally
the shorter the track, the quicker the cars will lap that track and there’s potential
for the smooth running of a grand prix to be interrupted if cars are constantly tripping
over each other as front runner lap the midfield and the midfield lap the backmarkers several
times a race. Having said that, the Canadian Grand Prix
and the Monaco Grand Prix have very similar short lap times but you don’t really think
of Canada as having a real backmarker problem do you?
And, to be honest, plenty of series run long distance, multi category events and just get
on with the fact that lapping backmarkers is part of the game. And having a more crowded
circuit may just be a feature of that particular grand prix the way having no overtaking at
all is a feature of the Russian Grand Prix. Speaking of crowded circuits - circuit length
is one of many factors that comes into how many cars are even allowed to take part in
your race. The International Sporting Regulations state
the number of entrants allowed to start your international race are:
0.36 times [a number based on the length of the circuit] times [a number related to the
reference width of the circuit] times [a number based on race duration] times [a number depending
on the groups of cars in the race] So, we can work out how many cars could be
allowed to race at any particular circuit by plugging in all the numbers from the FIA’s
reference tables Technically, (ignoring F1’s limit on teams
allowed in the championship) we could have 30 cars starting at Monaco. What a shambles
that would be. And we could run the much wider and longer
Chinese Grand Prix with 46 entrants if we really wanted to. More than double what we
currently have. Now, circuits aside, the FIA have capped entrants
to the F1 World Championship at 26 cars, but plugging all the numbers back into the FIA’s
own equation suggest a full 26 car starting grid for a grand prix requires a minimum circuit
length of...less than two kilometres. So why the minimum circuit length for F1?
Why don’t the two rules coincide? Interesting, no?
I’m not saying we should indulge in a lot of short circuits but it would be interesting
to have one on the calendar as its own weird race. I mean, I guess we do - Monaco.
Here’s some other restrictions on F1 circuits you may not know:
Ideally, there should be at least 250 metres of track between the start line and the first
corner, something Spa falls short of by about four metres. Isn’t it weird that Spa is
four metres too long by one measure but four metres too short in another?
Speaking of first corners - the start finish straight should be at least 15 metres wide
(as I said earlier) and this minimum width is supposed to continue to the exit of the
first corner. The first corner is defined as the first change
of direction of 45 degrees or more with a radius of less than 300 metres.
Which means that while this corner at Sochi is officially labelled “Turn 1”, as it
is merely a 43 degree turn, Turn 2 is Turn 1 as far as track width regulations are concerned.
The grid should also line up on a straight that has a gradient no steeper than 1.1 degrees
so drivers don’t have to hold the car at the clutch biting point or pull the handbrake
up while waiting for the lights. OK so we’ve nailed the limitations for the
start finish straight to the first corner. What about the rest of the track?
You want to put a straight in? Stick a straight in!
But hold on there, rocketman. The maximum length of your straight is 2 kilometres so
don’t think you can head all the way to the horizon.
Yas Marina splits up its 1200 metres and 940 metre straight with a chicane but runs the
closest to over 2 km of flat out running. Your straight also needs to have strictly
limited camber - that is the gradient across the width of the track - of between 0.86 and
1.7 degrees measured either from one edge to the other or from the centre of the track
to the edge - . This is to make sure water drains away from the middle of the track and
doesn’t pool or puddle to create dangerous areas of aquaplaning, while also not being
too absurdly cambered such that the cars can’t sit on the track properly or struggle to drive
straight. If your track has banked corners though, you
can crank that banking camber up to a maximum of 5.7 degrees. Already you may be twitching
knowing that Zandvoort’s final corner and turn three have been banked at 18 and 19 degrees
respectively. Aside - I have no idea why it’s called turn
three. We can all count: one, two, three, four. But no, it’s apparently turn three.
But what do I know? Anyway, The reprofiled Dutch circuit was given
special exemption by the FIA after demonstrating in the planning phase that it could safely
design what would be the most heavily banked circuit under the FIA’s approval.
Furthermore, the FIA strongly advises against an adverse incline - effectively anti-banking,
where the track falls away to the outside of the corner - and if you do have some adverse
camber, then the entry speed to the corner better be below 125 kilometers an hour.
Camber helps you round the corner as it pulls you into the bend by shifting some of the
weight of the car to point inside. Adverse Camber does the opposite, pulling
the car to the outside of the bend and will encourage instability through corners and
is therefore unsafe at high speeds. The track itself must be bordered with a 10cm
wide anti-skid white line followed by a verge between 1 and 5 metres wide that follows the
profile of the track surface - so the level or slope of the track doesn’t suddenly change
if you go wide. Any run off area thereafter has to follow
smoothly from the verge and not slope to more than 14 degrees upwards or 1.7 degrees downwards.
Though, interestingly, gravel traps are allowed to be more steeply inclined.
With Zandvoort joining the calendar and dumping some pre-existing rules of track design in
the bin to bring us a rainbow road like ribbon of banking, here’s hoping future tracks
can make a case for shaking things up and expanding the horizons of Formula 1 Grands
Prix.