Eighteen celebrated circuits that once staged Formula 1 World Championship races but no longer appear on the calendar. Some survive as active venues; others are public roads, fragments or memories. Together they show how safety, politics, money and changing host cities reshaped the sport.
From a courtyard pitch in Rosengård to a farewell under the lights of San Siro, these places trace Zlatan Ibrahimović’s rise through Sweden, Europe and Los Angeles. It is a story of reinvention, spectacular goals and an ambition large enough to fill every stadium he entered.
Tigst Assefa returned to Berlin on 27 September 2026 with two victories and a former world record already attached to the city. She ran the first half in 1:04:57 and remained within reach of another world record late into the race. Around 40 kilometres, her stride changed and she began to limp. She still reached the finish in 2:11:04, improving her own Berlin course record by 49 seconds and winning for a third time. From the start on Straße des 17. Juni to the final approach through the Brandenburg Gate, these checkpoints follow a fast race whose closing kilometres changed its outcome.
Hurricane Katrina left the New Orleans Saints without a usable home stadium for the 2005 season. Their designated home games were split between New Jersey, San Antonio and Baton Rouge while the Superdome was repaired. This Tracespot follows that displaced season across the three temporary venues and back to New Orleans, where the Saints returned on 25 September 2006. Steve Gleason’s blocked punt came early in a 23–3 win over Atlanta, but the geography of the previous year explains why the night meant so much to the city and the team.
In 1980, twenty-one-year-old Terry Fox set out to run across Canada on an artificial leg, asking Canadians to fund cancer research one dollar at a time. This trace follows selected documented milestones from the Atlantic at St. John’s to the highway outside Thunder Bay, where cancer in his lungs forced him to stop after 143 days and 5,374 kilometres.
From 17 September to 5 November 2006, Dean Karnazes covered a marathon distance in every U.S. state on fifty consecutive days. This compressed trace uses thirteen editorial milestones to make the continental scale legible while naming all fifty states; several weekend runs were live races, while most weekday efforts followed established marathon courses outside their normal event dates.
French GP: 1950–1951, 1953–1954, 1956, 1958–1961, 1963, 1966
Gueux, France
Reims-Gueux was a flat-out triangle of public roads through Champagne country. It staged eleven World Championship French Grands Prix, and the surviving pit buildings mark the old start line. Jack Brabham won F1's last visit in 1966; racing on the full road circuit ended in 1972. Its huge straights and roadside exposure belonged to an era that modern safety standards left behind, but volunteer restoration has kept its visual identity alive.
French GP: 1952, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1968
Orival, France
Rouen plunged through forest roads to the cobbled Nouveau Monde hairpin, then climbed back toward the pits. Its elevation and speed made five French Grands Prix unforgettable. Dan Gurney's 1962 win remains Porsche's only victory as an F1 constructor. Jo Schlesser's fatal accident in 1968 exposed the road course's shrinking safety margin; F1 never returned, and racing on the circuit ended in 1994.
Pescara GP: 1957
Cappelle sul Tavo, Italy
The Pescara road circuit swept for 25.8 kilometres between the Adriatic coast and inland hills. Its single World Championship race remains the longest lap ever used in F1. Stirling Moss won in 1957 for Vanwall. The immense lap, public-road logistics and exposed high-speed sections made it unrepeatable as Grand Prix racing moved toward controllable permanent venues; the circuit's final major races came in 1961.
German GP: 1959
Berlin, Germany
AVUS was both motorway and racetrack: two long carriageways joined by turns, including a fearsome brick banking. West Berlin hosted its only World Championship German Grand Prix here in 1959. Tony Brooks won the two-heat race, while Jean Behra died in a support event on the banking. The north banking was demolished in 1967, the layout kept shrinking, and racing ended in 1998; today traffic passes the restored grandstand on the A115.
Swiss GP: 1950–1954
Bern, Switzerland
Bremgarten threaded between trees on fast, narrow roads west of Bern. It hosted the Swiss round in each of F1's first five World Championship seasons, with Juan Manuel Fangio winning the final edition. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster, Switzerland prohibited circuit racing and Bremgarten vanished from international competition. The wooded roads still exist, but the course never became a permanent modern circuit.
Spanish GP: 1951, 1954
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona's first World Championship venue ran past the Pedralbes palace and along a 1.9-kilometre straight on Avinguda Diagonal. Fangio secured the 1951 title here; Mike Hawthorn won in 1954. The circuit ceased after the 1955 Le Mans disaster transformed expectations around spectator protection. Nothing functions as a racetrack today: the old course has been absorbed into busy city avenues and Parc de Cervantes.
F1: 1951–1976 on the Nordschleife; intermittently to 2020 on the GP circuit
Nürburg, Germany
The 22.8-kilometre Nordschleife was F1's ultimate mountain circuit. Its scale made marshalling and rapid medical response increasingly difficult as cars accelerated through the 1960s and 1970s. Niki Lauda's fiery 1976 crash became the decisive image of the old circuit's danger, and F1 left the Nordschleife. A shorter Grand Prix circuit opened in 1984 and hosted F1 intermittently, most recently the one-off 2020 Eifel Grand Prix; the wider complex remains intensely active.
50.3356°N · 6.9475°E
United States GP: 1961–1980
Watkins Glen, New York, United States
For twenty consecutive seasons, 'The Glen' was Formula 1's American home. The fast, wooded permanent circuit attracted devoted crowds and gave Team Lotus its first World Championship win in 1961. The circuit was exhilarating but unforgiving; François Cevert died here in 1973. Financial pressure and growing safety demands ended the F1 run after 1980, but Watkins Glen survives as a major NASCAR and sports-car venue.
42.3370°N · 76.9272°W
World Championship F1: 1964–1986, intermittently
West Kingsdown, England
Brands Hatch shared the British Grand Prix with Silverstone and also staged two European Grands Prix. Its compact amphitheatre put spectators close to plunging corners such as Paddock Hill Bend. Nigel Mansell won the final British Grand Prix here in 1986, one year after taking his maiden F1 victory at the same venue. F1 consolidated at Silverstone from 1987; Brands Hatch remains an active national and international racing circuit.
51.3569°N · 0.2631°E
United States GP West: 1976–1983
Long Beach, California, United States
Long Beach sold Formula 1 a Californian answer to Monaco and helped transform its waterfront image. Mario Andretti's 1977 home victory made the event nationally resonant. John Watson won the last F1 edition in 1983 from 22nd on the grid, still a record starting position for a Grand Prix winner. The promoter switched to Indy cars in 1984, and an evolved street layout remains one of IndyCar's signature events.
33.7646°N · 118.1913°W
Australian GP: 1985–1995
Adelaide, South Australia
Adelaide turned the Australian Grand Prix into F1's exuberant season finale for eleven years. The street circuit mixed parkland corners with the long Brabham Straight and a festival atmosphere. Nigel Mansell's 1986 tyre failure swung the world title to Alain Prost; the 1994 Schumacher–Hill collision decided another championship. Australia moved its Grand Prix to Melbourne in 1996, while a shortened Adelaide course continues to host Supercars.
34.9314°S · 138.6188°E
Argentine GP: 1953–1960, 1971–1981, 1995–1998, intermittently
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires gave the championship its first South American race and a vast home stage for Juan Manuel Fangio. Multiple configurations served three separate F1 eras, from the 1950s to 1998. Fangio won four of the first five Argentine Grands Prix, feeding an extraordinary national passion for racing. The final comeback ended after 1998 when no continuing F1 arrangement followed; the city-owned autodrome still hosts domestic motorsport and remains a focus of renovation plans.
34.6942°S · 58.4594°W
South African GP: 1967–1985, 1992–1993
Midrand, South Africa
Kyalami brought high-altitude speed and the World Championship's longest sustained African presence. Jim Clark took his final F1 victory here in 1968; the original layout also became inseparable from the sport's apartheid-era politics. International opposition helped end the first run after 1985. F1 returned to a rebuilt layout in 1992–1993, but the promoter's financial collapse ended the revival; the modern circuit is active, though it has not hosted F1 since.
25.9982°S · 28.0699°E
United States GP: 2000–2007
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
A purpose-built infield course brought modern F1 back to the United States in 2000, running clockwise and using the Speedway's famous front straight. Michael Schumacher won five of eight races here. The 2005 tyre crisis reduced the Grand Prix to six starters and badly damaged trust with spectators. After the 2007 race, the Speedway and Formula One mutually agreed not to schedule a 2008 edition; IMS remains one of the world's busiest racing venues.
39.7951°N · 86.2348°W
Malaysian GP: 1999–2017
Sepang, Malaysia
Sepang's broad straights, sweeping corners and tropical storms set a template for a generation of modern destination circuits. It became Malaysia's F1 showcase immediately after opening in 1999. The debut marked Michael Schumacher's comeback from a broken leg and a Ferrari title-strategy drama. Formula 1 and the circuit jointly made 2017 the final Grand Prix; Sepang remains active, most prominently as host of Malaysia's MotoGP round.
2.7608°N · 101.7381°E
German GP: 1970–2019, intermittently
Hockenheim, Germany
Old Hockenheim fired cars through the forest before they returned to the roaring Motodrom. The forest loop was cut away in 2002, creating the compact venue that hosted F1's most recent German races. The rain-chaos 2019 Grand Prix, won by Max Verstappen, was voted the season's best race by F1 fans—yet no sustainable calendar agreement followed. The track remains active and versatile, but Germany has been absent from the championship since.
49.3278°N · 8.5659°E
French GP: 1991–2008
Magny-Cours, France
Magny-Cours hosted eighteen consecutive French Grands Prix after a major rebuild brought F1 to rural Nièvre. Its technical layout deliberately echoed famous corners from other circuits. Michael Schumacher won here eight times and clinched his 2002 title with six races remaining. The French round disappeared after 2008 and returned at Paul Ricard only in 2018; Magny-Cours continues to host racing, testing and track events.
46.8640°N · 3.1637°E
Portuguese GP: 1984–1996
Alcabideche, Portugal
Estoril opened its F1 era with one of the closest title finishes: Niki Lauda's second place in 1984 gave him the championship by half a point. A year later, Ayrton Senna earned his first Grand Prix victory here in torrential rain. The Portuguese Grand Prix left Estoril after 1996, ending a thirteen-season run. The circuit itself never died—it continues with national racing and historic events—while Portugal's later F1 returns used Portimão instead.
38.7506°N · 9.3942°W