F1 drivers eager for return to “awesome” Mugello

2020 F1 season

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Formula 1 drivers widely praised the Mugello circuit which held its first round of the world championship last weekend.

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc tested at the Ferrari-owned circuit prior to the Tuscan Grand Prix. Vettel said the cambered turns on the 46-year-old facility made it more satisfying to drive than many modern circuits.

“As a driver you like cambered corners and you hate off-camber,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “This track wasn’t designed by Tilke so there is not so much off-camber here.

“Normally the reason for the off-camber is for the water drainage but I think there is other solutions and therefore I always favour corners that have camber because they lead to more grip so it makes it more exciting.”

However Vettel believes the chaotic race which unfolded on Sunday, including one Safety Car period and two red flags, was not necessarily a reflection of Mugello’s layout.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Mugello, 2020
Hamilton: “I don’t think it was too dangerous”
“I don’t think that the race that we saw with three starts and red flags is a consequence of the track. I think we would all like to skip the first red flag because it was quite shocking what happened.

“But also despite everyone’s fears overtaking was actually possible around here. So maybe it would be nice to come back.”

Vettel’s team mate Leclerc was also surprised at how much overtaking took place – even if several of the passes came at the expense of his Ferrari.

“I actually really enjoyed this weekend and the track overall,” said Leclerc. “I would love to have it back on the normal calendar, it was very nice. It was also a special race day because there were a lot of red flags and everything.

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“To be honest, before the race, I was a bit sceptical about how much people would overtake on this track. But after the race I have to say that there’s been quite a lot of overtakes, so surprisingly good on that matter. And the track is awesome so yes, I would love to be back.”

Unlike most modern circuits, Mugello is largely bordered by gravel traps. Race winner Lewis Hamilton said he hopes they are retained if F1 returns.

Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Mugello, 2020
“I don’t want it to come at the expense of Monza” – Ricciardo
“I personally love it,” he said. “I don’t know how it was for the racing but it was one of the toughest tracks to drive, being that it’s medium and high speed.

“It’s a fantastic circuit and I don’t think it was too dangerous, I think it’s more old-school with the run-off areas and the gravel so I hope they don’t change that and I would love to come back.”

Valtteri Bottas said he’d like to see Mugello “in the calendar every year”. Daniel Ricciardo also praised the Tuscan track, but said he wouldn’t want it to replace the regular home of the Italian Grand Prix.

“I think we all feared we would love it in qualifying but kind of hate it in the race with [not] being able to follow,” said the Renault driver. “But it certainly provided a much better race than anticipated. It was one of the most exciting races of the year, not even close to boring.

“So I think as a driver I’d like to come back. I think many drivers would like to come back. So let’s see. Obviously we’ve got Monza as an Italian race, which we all love as well. So I don’t want it to come at the expense of Monza. But if we could obviously have this one as well, then that would be nice.”

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31 comments on “F1 drivers eager for return to “awesome” Mugello”

  1. I agree, but time will tell if it’s going to be in F1 also next season, and I doubt both Mugello and Imola would be, so more likely only one of these two or neither.

    1. Mugello/Imola on rotation gets my vote

  2. Replace Monaco or Hungary or Sochi.

    1. Chaitanya …intresting…
      Not wanting to start an arguement or anything, but when Mugello was announced i remembered we were arguing and you’re saying… and i’m quoting from that article back then:

      Its going to be a snoozefest for F1

      F1 did test there couple of years back and almost all teams had termed it trash

      waste of time and money, are you forgetting all complains of difficulty in following and with current regulations it’s going to get worse

      I was wondering what did you think of Mugello after all, to make you propose bringing it back on the calendar instead of Monaco, Hungary, Sochi…?

      1. In terms of actual racing it was lacking(compared to F2 and F3 and it does suit more to intermediate and entry class) but it did end up providing plenty entertainment from the incidents that happened due to lack of common sense from drivers and team(RBR in case of Max being allowed to start with faulty PU) and interesting strategies at play due to high tyre degradation. Compared to Monaco if cars are close enough they can pass into and overtaken car also having chance to fight back for little while. Also compared to Sochi this track has some great sequence of corners(once again F1 direction didnt help here compared to MotoGP). In current regulations Hungary has gotten notorious track for overtaking and hopefully 2021 regulations will help with the situation.

        1. Tire deg was actually lower than expected by virtually every teams’ preparation.

    2. I would be in favour of replacing Sochi with Mugello @black. If we ignore the issue that Ferrari is neve going to pay anything even close to what Putin is putting on the table for Sochi off course.

      The other tracks don’t make much sense though since both in Monaco and in Hungary there are clearly decent crowd sizes, something i am unconvinced would be workable around Mugello. At Sochi there is no big crowd to speak off, so it would be quite easily replace with Mugello having some 25-35k fans around the track IMO.

      And even if Mugello does become a snooze fest once teams get to grips with the variables, have better simulation models of the track and finetune everything to iron out any variables, Sochi never offers any good racing anyway. So at least the drivers would love driving it, the laps are stunning to watch and mistakes get punished. Oh and the view is lovely.

      1. @bascb
        Let’s be realistic. Mugello was probably an one-off. I’d give 99% chances of not returning again. It was quite good and lovely circuit and i’d love for it to come back, but i doubt it.
        I also like Monaco (the best quali of the year and a very extreme street circuit), Hungary (good track that gave us good racing in the last 10 years) and Russia (if they dropped the abomination that’s Sochi and moved to a actual circuit near St. Petersburg like it’s rummored).

        However the main discussion back when it was annouced, was that people instantly jumped to conclusions that racing will be boring and it was going to be a snoozefest on a trash circuit… when we never ever had a race there!!!

        Thanks to Covid we got rid of (even for just this year) actual bad/boring cookie-cutter circuits like Paul-Ricard, Singapore, Mexico City and instead we got 6 ‘new to these cars’ circuits (Mugello, Nurburgring, Portimao, Imola, Istanbul, Bahrain Oval – the most new circuits ever added to one year), most of which the drivers are thrilled & excited to race on them… and yet people immediatly jumped and stared bashing them when the last time F1 raced in those circuits was (never, 2013, never, 2006, 2011, never…accordingly).
        And the whole 2020-calendar is not like “F1 picked 6 circuits out of 100 possible ones and people disliked these ones”… but more like “F1 desperately needed 6 circuits, anywhere at any cost, even some ones we dropped 14 years ago, as long as it was safe enough to race there, just to have an actual F1 calendar with 17 races and not just 11”.

        1. Off course it was @black. They had to settle for what was possible and not too expensive and complicated to stage giving the circumstances.

          The track was fine. Mugello was somewhat of a positive surprise, it seems it is not as bad for racing as feared, so lets see what we get at the others. It certainly makes for a refreshing calendar. I am glad the 2020 is giving us an opportunity to see “what if” tracks like Mugello, going back to Imola, Turkey, the Nurburgring and racing at the Algarve track as well are seeing how that Bahrain outter track works. All of them have regularly figured on the “what if F1 raced here (again)” list. And most of what was replaced really wasn’t such a big hit. And all of them have indeed seen many proclaim that racing there with these cars would be horrible.

  3. How awesome the track may be, the racing was poor, as almost every race in the hybrid era.
    And I wouldn’t call DRS flyby’s overtaking…

    1. The thing is that without DRS, there would have been overtaking anyway, and probably much better racing. This season they should have tried having races without DRS, this being one of them. I’m tearing my hair out though trying to wish for such things. I’ve been waiting since the ghastly thing was introduced in the first place. Over time, your soul starts to erode at the stupidity and lack of common sense of those in charge.

  4. This track was shockingly good, spectacle and racing. A lot of lessons to learn from this layout, rare to see cars actually being able to take difering lines and follow each other reasonably well. fom cameras were shockingly bad, especially poor directing as they resort to zoomed in shots for q3. Who would have guessed historical motogp camera are positioned higher and further away from the track than the much faster f1 cars…

    1. I loved this track, totally agree about the directing. it wasn’t good. the track was amazing, I’d love to see a race in it every year… European Grand Prix anyone??

      1. +2. Wonderful track. Who needs 10 teams? ;-)

        Agree the direction was terrible… but that’s FOM’s trademark. Make the worst of a classic track.

  5. The 2022 aero rules with this track would be epic.

  6. Muggelo can’t afford to pay the normal fee for a F1 race. It probably will never happen again. But wat a great track it is!

    1. Its owners can afford to build and race F1 cars, so I doubt money is a problem.

      Its a bike track, hence all the gravel and no oceans of tarmac to help the cheats. My fear is that if F1 returns they’ll want to ruin it, as they did Imola, so, on balance I reckon its best to just be pleased we saw the race and regret not going back there a little bit.

      1. I think with the extra annual fee Ferrari receives from FOM they can easily afford a race at Mugello. I would say money well spent!

  7. This goes to show that cambered corners are key for different lines through a corner.

    But I really prefer a mix of corners, slow and fast. Not just to watch, but to even out car characteristics. I don’t really care if the drivers want just fast ones.

  8. As a popular meme states, we don’t do that here. As soon as the worldwide situation is safe, Liberty will have the drivers once again making heavy money and fulfilling the commercial agreements in the most lucrative destinations with a breathtaking motorsport tradition. Saudi Arabia is waiting, lads.

  9. Well I’d definitely like Mugello over Monaco… as much as Monaco is a “prestigious street circuit” it’s also out of date and usually more of a procession after the qualifying results….

    1. May be not with Masi’s penchant for throwing safety cars constantly.

  10. Should become a regular triple header with Spa and Monza.

    1. Oh yes that sounds awesome. I have a feeling this year’s visit was a one-off though…

      I’m all for Mugello being on the calendar, the same for Portimão too.

  11. There was some passing….. Just a shame 95% of it was completely devoid of interest/excitement due to DRS been way overpowered.

    Watching push of a button highway passes will never be that exciting to watch.

    Shame that even drivers are starting to blindly accept quantity over quality :(

  12. I prefer the circuit for motogp, and that f1 doesn’t touch it and destroy it making changes in favour of cars, like it happens in most of the race shared between the 2 categories.

  13. The problem is that the Tilke design office isn’t listening. As I type, the next constant radius bus-stop chicane is probably being drawn up for the latest F1 venue paying the highest price, with reverse grids and drag reduction systems being the unwanted antidote to such dreary track design.

  14. Good old push button to pass overtaking. How exciting.

  15. How about replacing Barcelona with Mugello?

    1. no! I love Barcelona!

      1. What! Don’t lie!!
        What you’ve claimed is physically impossible.

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