In 2014 Austria bounded back onto the F1 schedule, with Mexico making a comeback in 2015 and the French Grand Prix set for a return in 2018 at Paul Ricard.
There are a lot of great races, countries and tracks that have once been on the F1 calendar but have long been ditched. Here’s a few we think need to return:
The Imola circuit joined the calendar in 1980, hosting the Italian GP. But when that race went back to Monza, it became home of the San Marino GP (despite only being located close to San Marino, and not actually in it).
It was part of the F1 calendar until 2006, going through a major transformation over the years – particularly after the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994 and then following its exit from F1. But the charming track often produced great racing and remains a tough track, so it’d be nice to see the San Marino GP make a return some day.
South Africa hit the F1 scene in 1962 at the tricky East London track, before moving to Kyalami for 1967. It stayed there until 1985 and then returned for two more races in the 1990s, by which time it’d gone through major modifications to change the layout.
Nevertheless, when it was on the F1 calendar, the South African GP was a popular race. Africa is now the only inhabited continent without an F1 race and there have been numerous attempts to get the sport back there, but sadly with no success so far.
A lot has been said about a second US GP, with a project to take F1 to the streets of New York failing and various other rumours flying around. With the Circuit of the Americas in the south of the USA, a race in the west would fit in quite well.
It’s been done in the past, with the Long Beach street track in California hosting F1 from 1976 to 1983. Formula E has raced at Long Beach recently and IndyCar still returns each year, always producing interesting racing. It’d be nice to see F1 back in that mix too.
Portugal doesn’t have the best history of producing great F1 drivers. The last one was Tiago Monteiro in 2006. But, when Portugal was part of the F1 calendar with the legendary Estoril circuit – a sweeping, fast track – it proved to be quite popular. A top-notch track in the Algarve could well be it’s answer.
The Max Verstappen hype is stronger than ever and he’s smashing all kinds of F1 records, so surely it must be time for F1 to return to The Netherlands for a race? The country hasn’t hosted one since 1985 at Zandvoort. It’s got to be time for Mad Max to race on home soil.
Nah, we’re just kidding.