New Buenos Aires track design proposed by company behind Valencia street circuit

2019 F1 season

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A new version of the former F1 venue in Buenos Aires, Argentina has been proposed by a company which was involved in creating Valencia’s Formula One street circuit.

The Autodromo de Buenos Aires Ocsar y Juan Galvez was recently visited by FIA race director and safety delegate Charlie Whiting with a view to a potential return in 2019. This design by Typsa was examined by Whiting.

The plan would incorporate a section of the circuit which F1 last used between 1974 and 1981. The loop around the lake was omitted when F1 most recently raced at the circuit from 1995 to 1998.

The proposed track configuration would be up to six kilometres in length. However none of the high-speed corners from the original long layout would be retained.

As well as creating a new, slower corner before the old ‘Curvon’ double-right at the northern end of the circuit, the bend would also be interrupted by a slow chicane. However, according to Carburando, Whiting has suggested this could be removed to retain some of the section’s high-speed characteristic.

Whiting also proposed modifying the final hairpin along the lines of turn one at the Circuit of the Americas, which has a wide approach to encourage overtaking.

The race promoters are hoping to revive the Argentinian Grand Prix for a slot on the 2019 F1 calendar. Argentina held 20 rounds of the world championship between 1953 and 1998.

Typsa, the company behind this design, provided technical assistance for the creation of the Valencia street circuit in Spain. The venue, which was designed by Tilke, held the European Grand Prix between from 2008 to 2012.

Previous Buenos Aires track configurations

Autodromo Buenos Aires 1981
Autodromo Buenos Aires 1998

Thanks to Fer Morcillo for the tip.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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50 comments on “New Buenos Aires track design proposed by company behind Valencia street circuit”

  1. Long straight into tight corner. Rinse and repeat. Probably good for overtaking but not the most inspiring of layouts. The Mickey Mouse double hairpin looks awful. I still hope the race goes ahead though and am happy to be proven wrong. A few high speed challenging corners wouldn’t go amiss.

  2. That double hairpin on the old lake loop looks absolutely awful, much like the rest of this design. Why does it need altered so drastically, or even at all? No guarantee it will increase overtaking but a 100% guarantee of butchering a classic circuit

  3. Noo. Let the lake run remain untouched. Those speeds, amazing stuff. Slipstreaming would be doable with no DRS.

    1. Don’t be silly, that would be fast, exciting, spectacular and challenging. No no, what the fans really want is slow, boring and safe!

      1. safe!

        So no complaints about the lack of old Spa, the Nordschleife, or Full-package Monza?

        1. Straw man

  4. Oh come on! Just when this looked promising they had to go ruin it. I knew they would slow the old “Curvon” a bit, but having either of the new 90 right or the mickey mouse double hairpin would be just about acceptable, but to propose both is down right diabolical.

    1. It is pretty telling when Whiting is the one to propose to use LESS chicanes @geemac. Yeah, this thing really looks like someone tried to max spees at 240 kmh :-o

  5. Oh yeah, let’s add a retarded super tight chicane in the very single spot on the track where it looked interesting.

  6. Awful. Just horrible version. All slow boring corners, all the great sections of the old track gone. After Valencia they shouldve bèen banned from designing racing circuits ever again. But of course, knowing how stupid F1 is they will adopt it.

    1. After Valencia they shouldve bèen banned from designing racing circuits ever again

      @montreal95 couldn’t agree more, what a disgrace. Valencia was one of the worst, ill-designed circuits F1 has ever suffered, in 5 years it produced 4 totally diabolical races (and one joker caused by safety cars and retirements).

      I was so excited when I heard F1 might return to this track, but if they’re going to do this to it then I’d much much rather they kept their hands well away from it.

  7. That double harpin in the middle of the old loop is particularly cringeworthy. We already had that sort of nightmare of a design at Indianapolis…

    The company behind this has no idea about racing.

    1. @fer-no65

      That double hairpin in the middle of the old loop is particularly cringeworthy. We already had that sort of nightmare of a design at Indianapolis…

      Couldn’t agree more. Of course as soon as anything other than F1 raced there they had the sense to get rid of it.

      1. From the article Keith quoted:

        En el diseño original publicado en esta nota, figura una chicana ubicada a la mitad del “Salotto” que Whiting preferiría eliminar para hacer más rápido el sector.

        The article says that Charly proposed the removal of that harpin as well as other modifications to the exit of the “Curvon”, to make the sector faster.
        Either way, I don’t like the design as a whole with all those unnatural artifacts being so noticeable.

  8. Just remove the unnecessary double hairpin and what they’ve created is the old Hockenheim in reverse.

  9. Especially with the introduction of Halo, the existance of SAFER barriers, I don’t see the need to slow down every track drastically. I understood it in the early 2000s as kid, but now?

    Even the removal of asphalt space directly beside the circuit (about 1m) is possible by changing it to grass or gravel traps. It would make tracks more challenging without reducing the safety aspect too much.

    1. I also remember Liberty Media wanted F1 drivers to look as gladiators. Gladiators that are packed in foam?

  10. TBH at least it’s not a Tilkedrome…..why a double hairpin like that though?

  11. Less Double-hairpin more Double-facepalm, thankfully it seems that Charlie notices this abortion as well!

  12. This ranks as one of the worst track designs I’ve ever seen! What the hell is that? No!!

    The current long circuit is almost perfect. It needs some small modifications, not this for goodness sake. Oh dear.

    1. And can they stop with these stupidly wide entries into hairpins? Monza, Spa, etc. all prove they are not necessary for an overtake. They look / feel almost as artificial as DRS.

    2. This looks in part an attempt at getting people to appreciate the actual design we end up with, so they can say “at least it wasn’t that initial proposal”.

      And what is the obsession with making every single corner an overtaking opportunity. You only need one or two opportunities per lap to produce an exciting race, the rest is totally unnecessary. In fact, part of the excitement is watching drivers chase and struggle for a lap or two, and then be challenged to pull off an unlikely move.

  13. Looks like someone described the old Hockenheim to a non race fan and asked them to draw it

  14. As I suspected, they’re going to ‘do a Mexico’. Does beg the question, why not just use the 90’s F1 layout? If you’re going to make it slow and twisty, you might as well update what’s already there.

    If it were me, i’d do everything I could to recreate the high speed nature of the old section. They can only bring back the corner so far due to the lake. I’d essentially try and turn it in to a bigger version of the Parabolica. Create a braking zone after the long straight, then have the cars accelerate out of it.

  15. Michael Brown (@)
    14th September 2017, 12:45

    I was excited when Buenos Aires might come back, but I had a small suspicion that the classic layout would be butchered (read: modernized) for F1.

  16. Looking again, for me, this is one of the worst track edits i’ve ever seen. It looks like a joke someone’s played. Are we absolutely certain this isn’t a gag? :)

    1. A yoke!

  17. I wish there were at least 5 different designs of the track and an option to vote on the F1 website. Give people what they want.

  18. Looks like a glorious track with huge variety in corners and some long straights making set-uping car a challenge. Though it doesn’t surprise me to the least to see F1Fanatics bashing it. After all, if a track isn’t Spa or Monza or Suzuka it automacilly becomes a hideous piece of tarmac.

    1. @huhhii I fail to see how a track consisting solely of hairpins and chicanes separated by long straights has a huge variety of corners, especially compared to the original layout. This would be a hideous piece of tarmac because the existing long layout with sweeping corners is great and within its own right quite unique (i.e. unlike Spa, Monza, or any other circuit for that matter), there is absolutely no need to downgrade a classic to this

      1. @strontium I see a lot more than bunch of hairpins and chicanes. It looks to have pretty nice flow to it I assume. And it’s pointless to compare it to an old layout since we all know old layout as it was won’t happen.

        Anyway this is just a sketch at best. It evolves. The real thing might look completely different if/when Argentine GP takes place. Although I’d happily take that track for the calendar immediately.

  19. I think it’s probably fine without that dreadful double hairpin which has been highlighted as an issue anyway. The rest seems to flow quite nicely.

  20. Not as bad as I imagined it.

    Obviously that double hairpin thingie has been ripped to shreds by everyone else so I don’t need to add to that criticism, but if they get rid of that and tidy up a few of the other bits it’ll probably be a decent circuit.

  21. I see we’re deleting comments that don’t align with F1F views now. Sorry for speaking out against all the absurd complaining. I’ll leave this site and never come back now.

    1. Well, goodbye John, and as you’ve left the site for good now there’s little point in me casting huge doubt on your assertion that F1F “deletes posts that don’t align” and it’s even more of a pity that I am calling your comment piffle and you won’t see it. Never mind…

      1. Unless it broke community rules that is..,

  22. One of the worst things I have ever seen.

    It’s nonsense like this that means my passion for F1 is in its death throes.

    1. Also, very minor thing @keithcollantine, in the second paragraph in the circuit name it says ‘Ocsar’ instead of ‘Oscar :)

  23. Michael Brown (@)
    14th September 2017, 16:26

    I thought after Indianapolis we learned that double hairpins are bad

  24. The thing i dislike the most, as many of you said, is the double hairpin left alone between two long straights, which IMO is pretty pointless.

    The rest could be fine, although i’ve never been a fan of these kind of tracks which resembles pre-2002 Hockheneim.

  25. I bet Indycar would have run on the classic layout …

  26. Looks like some good features and some bad, no point complaining until we see it in reality since you can’t tell widths or radius of corners yet not that many people will have that view…

    Based on the last few years I’m beginning to think that track design has little bearing on a good race, it’s down to the circumstances on the day.

  27. Don’t like it.

    The changes to the long sweeper are just awful, A generic & slow looking 90 degree into the double hairpin change is simply dreadful. The next chicane is meh & the next little section that features another silly little mickey-mouse is again awful.

    It’s like the new Mexico city layout, There’s nothing about it that retains anything about what made the original version as good as it was.

    And again like Mexico there are ways of changing things to improve safety without totally butchering the character of the circuit. Apologies for rubbish MS paint skills:
    https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4391/36828190720_4e9d4fd630_o.jpg

    Have a slightly tighter chicane onto the long circuit, Slows cars & produces a better overtaking spot. Then move the long sweeper inwards & tighten it, Maybe add a 2nd slower apex/braking spot similar to Spoon at Suzuka. This creates more runoff, slows cars & if done right generates another overtaking possibility. I didn’t actually change the next hairpin but drew it in as it was covered by text, I think there could be some minor alterations to the next double left section again to get a bit more runoff & maybe a new passing spot. The final chicane i’d extend the track to the old faster version but tighten is slightly to reduce speeds a bit & again create a passing zone, I’m thinking something similar to the Senna S at Interlagos.

    1. I think the good thing about my proposal is that it brings it upto modern standards, Creates some decent overtaking zones while also retaining the general look & character of the original.

      I also just thought that if you wanted to slow them a bit after the long sweeper, You could also have a fast s section (Something like maggotts/Becketts at Silverstone) on the straight under the lake in that image.

  28. Oh dear. Looks like someone had only chicanes and hairpins in their track generator, and limited the length of a single straight to about one kilometre.

  29. wow that looks awful, those extremely sharp corners and double hairpin

  30. Terrible – there goes my plan of attending this race ….. They just never waste any chance to destroy the sport.

  31. Too many chicanes. Get rid of chicanes and get good high to medium speed corners between 200km/hr and 250km/hr. Chicanes are boring maybe not the one in Japan circuit. The one in Japan is quick downhill after 300km/hr high speed dogleg corner.

  32. Horrendous. This is completely unnecessary. Too many chicanes and they’ve ruined the flow of this track.

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