Originally Posted by Purist
And this reverence for storied venues is paralleled in how people view American football and baseball stadiums of historic significance. I imagine you get something similar in Europe with famous, long-standing "futbol" stadiums.
As for the "true fan" thing, I take it as a matter of the measure of a person's investment in the sport. Do you just casually pop in and out, or do you at least gradually, over time, try to become more involved and educate yourself about the sport? And obviously, a key part of that education will include the sport's history.
As to Adria specifically for the Italian GP, no, Monza's atmosphere can't be replicated there. The nature of the venue is far too different for that. Some of the crucial aspects of Monza are that it is a particularly high-speed circuit, with a relatively simple layout, and comparatively few corners. In addition, Monza surrounds and envelops you in a much more tangible way, with the grandstands and pits on the main straight, and the forest of the parkland around much of the rest of the circuit.
Adria is tight, slow, and doesn't have the sort of surroundings, but anyway, for starters, it's too short to be considered as a new F1 venue under the FIA regs; it's only 1.679 miles around, whereas Monza is 3.600. The minimum for F1 is 3.5 km (2.175 mi), but realistically, I don't see them picking any permanent circuit under 4.0 km (~2.5 mi), or any new-build circuit under 4.5 km (~2.8 mi).
So, what Italian venues would be closer to the mark? Well, in terms of length and nature of the lap, there's Enna-Pergusa. It has some of the forest, and with the lake, gives more of a park-like setting. The lap is 3.080 miles, and consists largely of flat-out blasts between chicanes. Now, given that it's shorter than Monza by half a mile, I'd look to consolidate Pineta and Proserpina into a single chicane ahead of that first little sweep before Curvone proper. After that, turn Zagaria into something more akin to Variente Ascari. New pits opposite the main stand would take care of that canyon feeling along the front straight.
Vallelunga is just long enough at 2.538 miles, and the first half of the lap is quite fast and flowing; the lap as a while is quite flowing in terms of corner shape except for Soratte. However, you don't really get the parkland surroundings there; the tree cover is rather sparse overall, even if the nearby hills are kind of nice. Also, the shorter lap coupled with Soratte and those two absurdly tight hairpins means the average lap speed won't be anything special. Furthermore, even with Curva Grande flat-out for F1, the place just isn't going to have that feel of being made up predominantly of long, high-speed runs. And this is all without considering the confines of that last sector and the pits/paddock.
Now to the last other venue to host an Italian round: Imola. Unfortunately, there's still too much chicanery here. The lap is 3.050 miles, again compared to Monza which is 3.600, and Imola still has three chicanes, down from four. However, while Monza just has the Lesmos and Parabolica as the other bits where you have to slow down, Imola has Tosa, Piratella, Acque Minerale, and Rivazza. If you were actually going to get it to a more Monza-esque state, take a look at the 1973 layout. Factor in that Acque Minerale and Rivazza are tighter/slower, but then also maybe swap in the 1995-06 Variente Bassa. And it can be said all a person likes that the chicane at Tamburello is there for good, but to fix the actual racing at Imola, especially for F1, it has to go. The road kinks to the left ahead of the chicane, which screws up an awful lot of any attempted overtakes there, because that kink makes your entry shallower and more acute basically by default. And as for the Monza parallel, it's like if you had a chicane at Curva Grande, which will never go over well.
Finally, there's Mugello. It's the next longest after Monza at 3.259 miles, compared to 3.600. Admittedly, it doesn't have the same flat-out blasts between chicanes thing going on, but average lap speeds should definitely be north of 150 mph, and the track has no really slow corners. The front stretch and section from San Lorenzo to Scarperia provide two quite lengthy, ultra-high-speed runs. And though Mugello doesn't have the forest right around, the hills kind of hem the place in, still providing a very pleasing, three-dimensional surround for the circuit. I think the Tifosi will go where F1 goes, especially with this also being a strong, established venue, to say nothing of the owners. And it's a track that provides a challenge while not having all the extra niggly little bits that so many of the newer circuits have that just seem to get in the way of overtaking.
So with Monza as the benchmark, if I had to rank these four tracks, just the circuits themselves, not really worrying about facilities or current run-off issues atm:
1. Mugello
2. Enna-Pergusa
3. Imola
4. Vallelunga
If I wasn't worrying so much about having a circuit with a nature nearer that of Monza:
1. Mugello
2. Vallelunga
3. Enna-Pergusa
4. Imola
I think Enna would put on a more exciting F1 race than Imola. And Misano has been changed too much exclusively for the bikes since 2006 for me to think it would be a good F1 candidate without basically undoing everything that was done to it.
|