[Purist]

I'm a bit curious why you chose Dijon-Prenois to compare with the Iberian circuits. However, it is indeed a fine circuit, without a truly slow-speed corner, and yes, that DTM race was excellent. (I have it in my video library, and I'd love to see DTM or FIA GT go back there.)

I'd say the closest French circuit to those in Spain and Portugal might be Le Mans Bugatti.

Jacarepagua is alright, but it's never been a real standout track for me, probably because it's so flat and comparatively featureless in its surroundings, especially when looking at it next to Interlagos.

Watkins Glen, at least for the long course, doesn't have quite the same simplicity of some of those other circuits I mentioned. It went out just as turbos were coming into the sport. Also, I haven't been able to find a full-length race recording of any of the F1 races there, so I don't have as good an idea of exactly how the period cars raced there.

Peraltada at Mexico City? I would have installed a SAFER or Tecpro barrier on the outside of the corner, and gone with it. They work on the ovals, or in the tight spaces of Monaco.

Estoril, Jarama, and even Jerez, are in a different vein than Catalunya and some of the others. Estoril, before the MotoGP makeover, was quite fast and flowing. Jarama isn't as quick, but it all fits together well, and has a good mix of features. Jerez, especially without the chicane, while geometric, is still rather flowing and quick. Seven of the 13 corners are taken at high speed.

Among the newer Iberian circuits, I far-and-away prefer Algarve, which, while it's no old Estoril, is far less slow and fiddly than, say, Valencia (Ricardo Tormo).

In terms of long, 180-degree (or more) corners, the first to come to mind is likely the Carousel at Road America. I don't know that you can call any of the 180s at Barber "conventional". All three (or four?) of them are kind of split up in one way or another.

I'd guess the downforce level at Barber is probably closer to what you see at Sears Point than what you see at Mugello. You want the car trimmed out more at the Italian circuit than at either of the other two. And Sears Point not only has the harsh braking zones, but several high-speed corners as well.

The DW12 chassis has done wonders for the racing almost everywhere, and Barber is very possibly the most graphic example. However, Sears Point has not seen the same benefits, and really, once the field gets single-file after the first lap or two, the racing hasn't particularly improved. The simplest thing they could do to help is to run the old version of the Turn 7 hairpin, like what IndyCar did in 2005-07. Honestly though, they just need to run the original, 2.52-mile layout. The racing would be miles better, and the pole average would be up around 130-mph, rather than 112-mph for the current iteration.

As for safety, SMI has done quite a bit of work at Sears Point. I do think that a few of the tire walls could be positioned better. Also, I think they were better off just having the front stretch run out onto the dragstrip, rather than constricting it, and the kinks of Turns 12 and 1, between solid walls, like a street circuit. Not to mention, if having a wall right on the outside of Turn 1 is acceptable, I don't see how they can complain about a lack of run-off at Turns 10 and 11.

You might want to go to YouTube and see what the track looked like for the 1997 Save Mart 300 (NASCAR Winston Cup), before much of the re-work began. The coverage of the 2000 ALMS race from Sonoma shows things at a somewhat intermediate stage, but with the full road course still essentially as it was.

(If I go back and watch the 1987 IMSA GTP races from Sears Point and Laguna Seca, I think, as for the track itself, I might have a somewhat higher regard for the Sonoma circuit over the Monterey course.)