Race start, Circuit of the Americas, 2023

Rate the Race: Formula 1 circuit ratings

The data below breaks down every single one of over a hundred thousand votes cast in Rate the Race to give an average rating out of ten for the grands prix at each track Formula 1 has visited since 2008 (sprint races are not included):

RankCircuitAverageMinimumMaximumRaces
1Circuit of the Americas7.525.409.1011
2Nurburgring7.506.838.434
3Interlagos7.484.579.4515
4Silverstone7.385.768.9716
5Mugello7.287.287.281
6Bahrain International Circuit7.244.599.1015
7Istanbul Park7.175.288.996
8Shanghai International Circuit7.064.459.2412
9Monza7.054.948.4216
10Sepang International Circuit7.055.288.4510
11Zandvoort7.046.487.713
12Hungaroring7.045.059.1416
13Hockenheimring7.033.749.447
14Circuit Gilles Villeneuve6.984.249.1913
15Imola6.906.048.173
16Albert Park6.864.758.6414
17Las Vegas Strip Circuit6.846.846.841
18Red Bull Ring6.794.528.8810
19Korea International Circuit6.745.167.544
20Autodromo do Algarve6.696.207.172
21Fuji6.666.666.661
22Spa-Francorchamps6.451.868.3716
23Suzuka6.405.217.5712
24Singapore6.394.988.2214
25Baku City Circuit6.293.728.797
26Jeddah Corniche Circuit6.274.817.933
27Monaco6.184.028.1815
28Circuit de Catalunya6.134.468.7116
29Paul Ricard6.093.478.234
30Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez5.893.916.857
31Yas Marina5.863.278.8515
32Losail International Circuit5.805.216.382
33Sochi Autodrom5.764.069.048
34Buddh International Circuit5.755.196.503
35Magny-Cours5.555.555.551
36Valencia Street Circuit5.493.878.785
37Miami International Autodrome5.445.245.632

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19 comments on “Rate the Race: Formula 1 circuit ratings”

  1. It would be interesting to know if these circuit differences are statistically significant. Calculate the 95% standard deviation for each circuit to give +/- range. If the range’s don’t overlap then they are significant

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      7th April 2016, 16:08

      hardly possible with so little data points per circuit.
      I recollect it is something like (assuming race rating at a circuit is normally distributed based on the ‘racing value’ of a circuit):
      – to calculate a sample SD you need at least 2 data points (races at that circuit)
      – And to get 95% likelihood 2 datasets (race quality of a circuit) are not ‘overlapping’ you need 1.6xSD.

      Thus Sochi with sample Mean of 5.5 and sSD of 2.1 is (95% certain) a circuit ‘worth’ less than 8.9.
      Thus Sochi could actually be the best circuit for racing!!

      Buddh is less likely to be the best circuit with a 95% certainty that the racing value of the circuit is less than 6.9, and

      (warning: don’t read this the wrong way. I am not comparing the 2 circuits, but mainly saying that due to the few data points on Sochi it is extremely difficult to pinpoint it)

  2. Montreal is probably my favorite track, or very close to it. So this is nice to see.

  3. Suzuka, for being such a popular track is way down the list.

    1. Suzuka is awesome to watch – period. Even if the races may suffer a bit because it’s so narrow. I guess in that regard, along with Monaco, a Rate The Weekend poll would work better for those tracks!

    2. @yoshif8tures
      2014 was a great race and would certainly have boasted the average, before the unfortunate Bianchi accident happened.

  4. Don’t know if we can draw conclusions on those circuits which have only hosted one or two races. For example, a but unfair for Mexico to be bottom of the list when it’s only had one “bite of the cherry” so far.

    1. Exactly. It has always been one of my secret favourite tracks, and I found sad that it was quite unpopular for a while. But it seems that these years we saw nice races there, and the trend is up !
      I still think that this track has some flaws. I don’t quite like the last 3 turns, and the chicane is not that nice too…

  5. Pleased to see Canada is tops! It nearly always produces a good race as does the Hungaroing.

    I’m not surprised Catalunya is near the bottom. It’s always dull as far as I can remember. Singapore is next up for the chop and Russia according to the list. I would not miss any of these.

  6. Austria will definitely go up after today! Baku deserves more.

  7. Damn… Canada from 2nd to 5th, just from this season.

  8. New comment today. COTA really is brilliant. Yeah the straights are a bit too long for the DRS/engine disparity era. But other than that, it has good overtaking spots, good following spots, and it has ‘mini-mouse’ parts where attacking cars can follow and overtake, but where the defending car can come back. I think it’s a treasure akin to the Hugenhotlz circuits of Suzuka and Zandvoort.

  9. Dropping Sepang instead of Sochi will always be a travesti to me. Not 1 fan, not 1 driver thinks the latter is better to have in the calendar than the former

  10. Monaco looks a bit off – you’ve put five races, even though it’s had 12 races in RtR. If anyone’s interested, I have the average as 6.322

  11. Yeah, this table is in need of a review!

  12. Andres Satizabal
    23rd April 2022, 20:27

    Kind of unfair for Spa to have such a low average when it was all dragged down because of politics and rain.

    Reply moderated
  13. Portimao is missing :O

  14. There’s a sure way to evaluate a track in equalised conditions: take a ffb rig, rfac1 with WSGT1970 mod, hop into a 917, load the track, steamroll it for 30 laps and see how it feels.

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