Formula One lurches around the world like a fashionable hobo, whose burst boots never seem to settle in one place for any length of time.
No venue, it seems, is sacrosanct. Not even the long, fast straights of Monza, arguably the greatest theatre of them all, which staged the first Italian Grand Prix back in 1922, but whose contract runs out next year; not even Silverstone, the subject of recent speculation, even though there is a deal in place for the old aerodrome to stage the British Grand Prix all the way through to 2026.
All this came to mind as I set off on Wednesday morning, bound for Austin, and then on to Mexico. The United States has had more F1 venues, 10, than any other nation. But even though Austin has been a great success it can hardly feel secure, with the sport in such a state of flux. Mexico City, meanwhile, has been here twice before.
The greatest sense of loss, however, has been in Europe. Even Germany, home of the all-conquering Mercedes Benz, did not stage a race this year, though it makes a return to the calendar next season.
Europe, more than any other continent, represents Formula One’s thunderous heartbeat. But with no Concorde Agreement currently in place everywhere feels suddenly vulnerable. This is where the whole thing started, and where all the teams are based.
Among the venues I miss most I would place Imola very highly. Sadly, it is best remembered now as the track where Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna lost their lives on the same dark weekend in 1994. Gerhard Berger was fortunate to come away with only minor burns when his Ferrari caught fire there in 1989.
But I also remember the San Marino race for its parkland setting and that very fast downhill entry to Acque Minerali.
I also miss Istanbul (though not the heavy traffic that made returning to one’s hotel in the evening the stuff of nightmares). It all seemed worth it, though, for Turn 8, a fast bend which demanded precision from the drivers. There were a variety of challenges at Istanbul.
It also seems ridiculous that there are no races in France or Portugal. Magny-Cours, in particular, and Estoril are painfully missed.
But outside Europe too there have been sad departures, in particular South Africa and Argentina. It was also a black day when F1 left the challenging Buddh International Circuit in India. The sport needs to be accommodated in a nation of 1.2bn people.
If you want to know more about the lost lands of Formula One I can recommend the recently published Grand Prix Circuits by Maurice Hamilton.
Hamilton does not attend the number of races he once did but he remains a respected commentator, a solid mid-gridder among the sport’s many licensed dispensers of hackery and hype. And this is a handsome tome.
The diligence of his research is faultless and the result is an excellent book, complete with maps and statistics for the 71 tracks that have been used in F1.
