Why there is no Oval circuit in F1?

Question

i think there should be at least 1, in favor of oval lovers like americans... also we will see F1 cars running virtually straight without much braking like Indycar & Nascar.

Answer 1

Braking is a part of racing. Being able to outbrake your opponent is one of the appeal of F1 and many other circuit racing championships. F1 focuses more on acceleration, agility of the car, cornering speeds than top speed. Personally, I find races like in Monaco with its narrow, twisty, walled circuits much more fun to watch that an oval circuit.

Answer 2

I don't see why F1 should have to pander to oval fans when we already have some of the best (as well as some boring ones i'll admit...) circuits in the world... NASCAR and Indycar can only dream of driving round Spa, Monaco, Monza or Silverstone.... they can keep their ovals...

Answer 3

round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and...... bored yet?????

Answer 4

thats like asking why are there not more L&R corners on a NASCAR track. If it aint broke don't fix it.

Answer 5

THIS IS A TRACK...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_de_...

An oval is boredom personified!!!!

Answer 6

The 'real' reason is because they would pass out. They already have pretty strong G forces without ovals, but if you put them in an oval, they would go faster and faster with every lap, cornering ridiculously fast, the G force is too strong and they just pass out. I think they actually tried to run IRL cars in a particular Nascar speedway that was faster than the usual IRL ovals and they had to stop the race because the drivers started to 'sleep'. So imagine an F1 race in that situation.. Indycars are way slower than F1 cars and they still generate enough G forces to do that.

That said, even though it's not my kind of circuit, I agree that if it was possible, it would be interesting to have one little oval race, just to have a different race. If it is just one race it would be interesting because you wouldn't know what to expect. A bit like Monaco in that sense, but driver skill would be put aside.

EDIT: By the way wasn't monza an oval initially? Not sure if they actually raced entirely in the oval but they used to use at least part of it. There were a lot of deaths in Monza because of the high speeds, now imagine that plus like 16 G's because of the momentum in the corners..

Answer 7

Would that not be boring? (No offence to the likes of NASCAR, etc)

But come on, is it really competitive driving in circles?

F1 is all about agility and mobility. You cant just go out and drive near straight for three hours and be very entertaining.

F1 is very technical driving compared to NASCAR. I simply cant understand why I would pay to watch cars going round and round, with what seems like very little skill and more horse power.

Laguna Seca, I would love to see in F1 however.

Answer 8

I really don't think there should be and because watching cars going round in circles is boring (what was Montoya thinking). but who knows what might happen with wild Bernie on the loose.

F1 cars aren't designed to be constantly accelerating for 1 and a half hours. Everything on the car is designed to such precision with the situations the cars will be in in mind, which are usually taking corners, braking  and the odd long straight. So the engines will simply blow up under the stresses.

Richard (giloi2008)

Answer 9

Actually, it's not because of braking. F-1 was and has been all about road racing. It almost akes more skill to be a road racer. The reason I say almost is because you really have to focus when running ovals as they can "lull" you to sleep.

Answer 10

Ecclestone once said F1 would not race on ovals because ovals are dangerous.

I believe he's right, they are.

But there's no scientific answer to why F1 doesn't race on ovals, ovals are a completely different type of racing.

F1 has no such roots, and it will not change unless there was a good reason which I think there isn't.

Answer 11

cos in F1, people like to win fair and SQUARE...lol

Answer 12

Because the car with the fastest straight line speed would win without any competition, as no other factors of racing would come into it. A bit boring really.

Answer 13

because f1 wants to be distanced from other major racing series, at one time the Indy 500 was part of the formula 1 calender, and was part of the world drivers championship,

same reason F1's option tires don't have painted side walls, because champ car did it that way first

Answer 14

The root of F1, is road racing.

Why add something so mind numbingly boring, as an oval?

Holy Martyr:  Laguna Seca?  have you ever been there?  If there ever was a track NOT suited to F1, there it is.  With current F1 speeds there would be less passing than at Monaco.

Answer 15

an oval cicuit would not be challengeing enough

Answer 16

no!the most beautiful thing of the f1 is that there is much challenge in bend ...and it's also true that f1 cars can't sustain an entire race in a oval circuit!!!!

Answer 17

why would we want ovals in f1??? there would be no challenge in that..and would be sooooo boring for us to watch

and for the drivers too.. do americans understand corners in racing??????

Answer 18

Yeah lets have an oval with a McDonalds in the middle of it and instead of a pitlane a drive-thru...oh wait, that's NASCAR

Answer 19

Nikki Lauda explains Formula 1. Watch that & you will see why God rested on the seventh day. The Circus is in Town! The answer to your question will be heard when you hear one of the two English Commentators say: 5 4 3 2 1 GO GO GO. The best track to watch Formula 1 is Monte Carlo. On television it looks so slow & it is the slowest track on the circus. With speeds as low as 47 km/h & as high as 289 km/h street circuits make the F1 Circus entertaining.

Answer 20

Because full throttle in an F1 car for 1 and a half hours would conpletely destroy it.

A good compromise would be to race the entire nurburgring circuit, give the F1 cars a go on the carousel.