F1 Fanatic

The much maligned Hermann Tilke is responsible for many circuits on the 2010 F1 calendar and, whether it is deserved or not, he takes a lot of stick for delivering repetitive, sanitised circuits.

But after having raced a few seasons on “F1 2010″ (and having read Ned Flanders’ article) I have actually been converted to a fan of a few his tracks and have been grateful for his “dull tarmac run off areas” which have saved me after potentially race ending driver errors and high speed punctures on a number of occasions. So I’ve prepared a list of my new top 5 Tilkedromes, and I was really surpirsed when I read it back to myself.

1. Istanbul – It’s the Daddy of the new tracks in my book, a challenging mix of corners with good overtaking opportunities and the epic Turn 8.
2. Sepang – One of his first, and still one of his best. Turns 5-6-7-8 always make me smile when I nail them.
3. Yeongam- No I’m not feeling giddy after a good race this morning, the layout is genuinely good fun to drive, and requires real concentration and skill to go round quickly. It was an instant favourite of mine.
4. Valencia – This is the circuit that gave me the idea for this thread. I thought I was going to hate this track. The races it produces are aweful and the circuit has all the character of Liver and Onions, but I genuinely enjoyed “driving” it. The races were processional even on F1 2010, but I still had a real giggle going round it, particularly the final sector. If it wasn’t for Yeongam, it would have been number 3.
5. Shanghai – The back straight bored me to tears, but at least I had a chance to out brake other cars when I eventually hit the brakes.

Over to you…

I love Istanbul and Yeongam. China and Shanghai produce good races normally, but not necessarily because of the track- more because we often get rain. Valencia is decent, if controversial- I think it deserves a place on the F1 calendar for the foreseeable future.

I had exactly the same idea for a topic when I raced Valencia on F1 2010. My reasoning was the same – I was expecting to hate the circuit but actually I really enjoy racing there. The circuit has a really nice flow and a great final section (even if it is flat out). It does surprise me that we don’t see more overtaking there.

Not a fan of Singapore or Yeongam (really can’t put a good lap together there, its such an odd track albeit challenging) but on the whole i actually quite like tilke’s tracks. Istanbul is great, as is Valencia, Shanghai and Malaysia. I suppose my criticism of Malaysia and Shanghai is that they are fairly similar, but still they are actually good fun to race at. Not sure about Abu Dhabi yet, haven’t made up my mind.

It’s kind of a tie between Yeongam, Sepang and Istanbul for me. Which one is in front depends largely on my mood.

After Turkey I have to day Korea but would have love to see a dry race there.

1. Bahrain pre stupid extension. Great for overtaking and some nice tricky corners in the middle sector.

2. Sepang. It looks like a traditional race track, plenty of greenery and some brilliant corners.

3. Yeongham. Not just saying this because of yesterday’s race, but I do like the fast stuff in the second and third sectors with lots of direction changes. It was great watching Vettel push the boundries of the track in qualifying.

I can’t place the others because I dont like them. Istanbul is over rated, Valencia although fun to drive prodicus duff racing, Singapore looks nice but that’s all it has, ditto Abu Dhabi; and Shanghai is woefully simple.

Good to hear a focus on the positives, because we hear plenty about what’s wrong with Tilkedromes! And yes, Valencia is one of my favourite tracks on F1 2010 too!

I was going to write my top 5, but I can’t be bothered and I have work to do, so how’s about I just post the link to the article I did!

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/08/22/top-ten-hermann-tilke-designed-corners/

I like Shanghai. Really unique and fun to watch.