Formula 1 has recently presented the new calendar for the 2023 season, which is marked by a record number of 24 races scheduled for 2023. The popularity of the sport, however, is constantly growing and the the venues interested to become part of the championship are more and more.
But if until a few years ago the candidates were almost exclusively non-European countries in search of visibility and with many millions of dollars available, now there is also a lot of interest from the ‘old’ European tracks, which would like to return to the top category of motorsport, after hosting Grands Prix decades ago. The precedents of Zandvoort and Imola, that are back on the calendar after many years of absence and have become fundamental cornerstones of the World Cup, give hope to other venues.
One of such venues is the historic Jarama circuit, the motorsport racetrack located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, 20 miles (32 km) north of Madrid. It was home to the Spanish Grand Prix nine times between 1968 and 1981, and the Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix 15 times between 1969 and 1988.
The track was made famous by the legendary victory secured here in 1981 by Gilles Villeneuve for Scuderia Ferrari, but the Spanish track has no longer been part of the F1 calendar since that season. The circuit is currently still active, but hosts smaller events such as the Clio Cup Europe, the FIA ETCR and the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. However, the managers of the venue would be ready for the big leap and, according to what was reported by the Spanish newspaper Autopista, they would have sent a letter of intent to the F1 top management.
Obviously, as happened for Zandvoort, the entire circuit structure should undergo a modernization work process. According to Industrial Engineer specialized in racetrack design Jarno Zaffelli, the main architect of all the work carried out on the Dutch track, making such changes at the Jarama track would not represent an insurmountable problem:
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“We are working with many circuits that have the same characteristics as Jarama. Not just in Europe, but practically all over the world. We have 25 projects underway – the founder of Dromo Circuit Design told the Spanish site – many of them in the United States, where we already know that there are very special circuits. We do not start from a blank sheet but we try to exploit everything that exists, making it safe and making sure that the layout does not lose its identity. We don’t have to redo things to make them perfect. In our opinion, the track must maintain the same difficulty level it had before, with the necessary improvements to adapt them to the present day.” – racetrack designer Jarno Zaffelli concluded.
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