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As someone who often welcomes change and progress in F1 and isn’t afraid to leave traditions
behind to open space for possibility, today I’m going to take the unusual route of arguing
to bring back something dying out of Formula 1 - corner names.
I lament the lack of corner names in tracks over the last 20 years of Formula 1. I’m
not sure why exactly that corners have stopped being christened with identities of their
own, but as with all things to do with modern tracks - it all seems to have started with
Herman Tilke. Tilke’s first major F1 track was the Sepang
circuit in Malaysia, which debuted in 1999, just over 20 years ago. It has only recently
left the calendar, but was mostly pretty well loved among modern circuits with its high
speed corners, tricky blind sections and long straights.
I’ve covered Tilke’s tropes in a separate video, so won’t be going into them again,
but despite Sepang having a lot of the ingredients that make an identifiably Tilke track, there
were a lot of fun corners. The exaggerated Ess of turns 1 and 2 that
dove down a deep gradient after a heavy braking zone; the tight turn 4 at the top of a crest;
the fast downhill section of turns 5 and 6; the almost-flat double right through 7 and
8; the downhill hairpin of turn 9; the blind, tightening, incredibly tricky run to turn
14. All of these are challenging, memorable sections of the track. But they’re just
numbers on the track map. Despite having watched F1 for over 20 years
I still had to look these corner numbers up as I had no idea which was turn 7 and which
was turn 10. I only know these corners but look and feel and memory, not by name. I mean,
they have no name. No identity by which we can all refer to them.
Monza is a track of few corners but we know the fast opening sweep of Parabolica, the
tricky, narrow double right that makes the Lesmos, the fast Curva Grande that leads to
the calamitous Roggia chicane. Almost every corner at Monaco is a classic
and a challenge all on its own and we’ve become very familiar with St. Devote, Mirabeau,
Tabac and Rascasse - not turns 1, 5, 12 and 16.
Brazil has Curva do Sol, Descida do Lago and Bico de Pato among its roster. These words
don’t mean anything particularly on their own - Tabac just refers to an old Tobacconist
near the corner, Curva Grande means ‘big turn’, Bico de Pato means Duck Bill, which
is pretty cute I guess. A lot of corners are named after people or
places. It’s often a simple, unglamorous affair. There aren’t any corners in F1 called
Revkiller or G-Force Extreme or Burninator. Silverstone’s corners are named after things
like an actual Abbey, a farm, a field and a school. These corners don’t have to be
named by five tiers of marketing and PR management to work. You just have to give us, the fans,
something to latch onto to give them an identity Eau Rouge means something. It’s evocative.
Even if there’s a slightly more complex truth to which corner is actually named Eau
Rouge. It kind of doesn’t matter, because the fans and the sporting community have accepted
this whole section as “Eau Rouge” as it’s one, complete masterpiece.
Sidebar - this is what’s known as a “synecdoche” - when you name a bigger thing after one of
its components. Like if you call your car ‘your wheels’. We know you mean the entire
Skoda Octavia, not the fifteen inch stock steel rims when you call it a ‘nice set
of wheels’. Now, let’s be clear - there is a reason
for turn numbers. Teams, drivers, track staff and race operators all use official, agreed
corner numbers when they reference the track, even at circuits that have actual corner names.
This makes it easier for everyone to quickly and more manageably refer to different parts
of the track, just as they do with timing sectors and marshall sectors.
Naturally, turn 6 leads to 7 leads to 8, etc. so if you need to think about the track in
the direction of travel then numbers are much simpler and less to thing about. Yellow flags
at turn 12 means you’ll have to think about how you exit turn 11, maybe. If your engineer
says you’re losing time through turns 5 to 8 then you can quickly think about that
in the context of how you’re approaching turn 9 or how you’re leaving turn 4.
Similarly, the marshalls and directors will monitor the action as it moves from turn 1
to 2 to 3, etc. The numbers help you understand the flow of the s track and are quicker and
simpler to use than the variety of corner names. Not to mention, not all corners have
names and some corner names refer to multiple corners.
The Senna S in Brazil is corners 1 and 2. Variante Ascari at Monza is turns 8 through
10. Names don’t have to follow rules. Though, hilariously, there’s only one anonymous
corner at Spa Francorchamps and so infamous is this fact that it’s now unofficially
known as No Name Corner. So, while numbers are useful at a technical
level for people operating teams and staff at the track, the numbers are kind of meaningless
and cold to the viewers - and, to a certain extent, the drivers themselves.
It would be weird if we called these guys “Driver 1”, “Driver 2” and “Driver
3” instead of Lewis, Carlos and Dumbledore. I’m sure you could technically do it, but
it strips something away from their essence to do that.
Lewis doesn’t really MEAN anything (well, technically it means warrior but whatever)
but think about the name and the face and … well, you feel something. That something
is different for different people. Especially for Lewis. But putting a name to something
starts to lock in associations in your mind. Character, shape, history, feeling.
Turns 1 and 2 at Sepang, and indeed their more extreme versions in China are quite the
complex. Lots of action happens here, they are technical, interesting and critical. Why
are they just turns 1 and 2? Why can’t they be named after something local and Chinese?
It would even help us connect with the area or the history of China should they name their
corners after the people and places nearby. What about turns nine and ten at Bahrain?
That’s a magnificent piece of track. A fast downhill dusty right hander into a tight hairpin.
Blind, late braking while cornering, balancing the car to set you up for the back straight.
A huge challenge. But how many people knew it was turn 10? Let’s refer to turn 10 at
Bahrain with awe by giving it a name. I mean, these new circuits are normally in
rich places throwing money at F1 to show off their country to the world. Why on earth aren’t
they giving the corners names that make that country more accessible to this international
audience? Use them to tell us about your people, your places, your history.
The infamous Turn 8 at Istanbul Park could have been called Ataturk Curve or something
after the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Azerbaijan and Singapore both host their races
in cities. The places already have names! Why aren’t we using them? It’s madness!
Look at COTA. Not only does America have a huge history in motorsport, but it’s nicked
most of the corners from other places so it may as well name its corners after the tracks
it’s homaged. And COTA is excellent anyway so these fantastic corners should all be named.
I want to talk about drivers overtaking around the outside of… say, the Phil Hill complex
than turn 16. And finally - turn numbers can change. Stick
in a chicane or change the layout somewhat and you have to rejig all the turn numbers.
Let’s look at Paul Ricard. I know, not particularly iconic these days, but the corners do actually
have names here. And a good thing too, because this track has, like, 400 million different
layout combinations and every change you make cascades through the corner numbers. A nightmare
to keep up with, particularly if you test there or are used to it for other races outside
of F1. Wild. So, let’s get corner names back into F1.
I’m certain we’d be much more attached to the new tracks if we gave their corners
proper names Yes the Tilke tracks can be a bit samey but
it’s much easier to pick out and remember the best parts of them if they have an identity.
There’s a lot of good stuff in these tracks but they’re lost in a sea of bland numbers
and nothingness. OK maybe not Abu Dhabi but other tracks have some good parts.
It’s at this point that a normal video would give you a call to action but I have no idea
how to get corner names into F1. So maybe shout it loudly out your window and hope someone
hears that can do something about it. Especially if you live in Biggin Hill.