The 2025 Formula 1 World Championship is one of the most ambitious in the sport's 75-year history, with 24 grand prix across five continents. Over the course of the season, 22 countries host F1's traveling show, which begins in March and stretches to December. Starting on the streets of Melbourne at Albert Park, the show has stopped at legendary venues like Suzuka, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, and, of course, the crown jewel of Monaco.
Other circuits like Mexico City and Circuit of the Americas, while newer to the F1 Calendar, have quickly become beloved to those watching trackside or around the world. Of course, not all 24 can be winners, and there's a handful of tracks on the calendar that most fans wouldn't miss should they disappear in upcoming years, whether it's trackside amenities making race weekends miserable or poor layouts turning Sundays into snooze fests. Straight from the fans, here are four of the worst Formula 1 tracks on the current calendar.
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First introduced in 2009, Yas Marina was part of a major construction plan to turn Yas Island, which is just east of Abu Dhabi, into a top tourist destination. The 3.28-mile circuit features a Ferrari theme park, yacht-filled marinas, and a colossal hotel overlooking the track's penultimate corners. While in theory this makes the track a perfect place for the glitz and glamour of Formula One, what Yas Marina has in form is lost in function. For a track that hosts the season finale, the racing has struggled in Abu Dhabi, but why?
"It's a track built around a fan experience and not vice versa, that's literally it," explains Reddit user u/ExtraKrispyColonel. "The first turns are excellent. However, turns 5 and 6 eliminate an overtaking opportunity at turn 7. Turn 8 isn't a bad overtaking opportunity, but it is [easy] to overshoot and have a bad line into turn 9. Same with the 11-13 complex".
Changes were made ahead of the 2021 edition of the Grand Prix to help encourage racing, with the chicane of turns 5 and 6 being removed, and turns 11 to 13 transforming into a long, sweeping left. These tweaks, however, were far from the headlines leading up to the race that year, as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton came into the final round of the year dead even on points. What followed was most mind-melting finishes to a Formula One season, with Verstappen passing Hamilton on the final lap to secure his first championship.
Sadly, that iconic lap remains the highlight of Yas Marina's tenure, as the updated layout has still struggled to produce memorable races. With a contract keeping it as the final round through 2030, we can only hope that finales deliver yet another thrilling title fight.
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No circuit has felt shoe-horned into Formula One's traveling circus quite like Lusail. After opening its doors in 2004, the circuit in Qatar started life primarily hosting motorcycle racing before becoming an emergency addition to the 2021 calendar to host the inaugural edition of the Qatar Grand Prix. A couple of years later, it would become a full-time addition to the schedule in 2023 under a 10-year contract.
The move hasn't been met with much fanfare, with one Redditor calling it an "absolutely soulless track in the middle of nowhere where every corner looks the same," on the r/formula1 subreddit. Others agreed. "Zero overtaking opportunities, no interesting corners, no atmosphere, nothing. It's so bland I often forget it exists," said another user. Some of the problems come from teething issues in the race's maiden years. 2021 and 2023 saw a handful of tire problems, with the track's high kerbs digging into the Pirelli rubber. Combine that with the high lateral loads on the tires, and punctures were a major problem in the early races.
No issue has been as glaring, however, as the desert heat that's left drivers and fans suffering. Despite the race being held at night, Qatar's extreme heat and humidity has had cockpits reaching temperatures well above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In the 2023 edition of the race, drivers were withdrawing due to heat exhaustion, with those still in the race vomiting in their helmets and needing assistance out of their cars in parc fermé.
Add in Qatar's concerning human rights and history of sportswashing, and it's not surprising to see why so many want this Grand Prix gone.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, Formula One tried to grab some of the league's top drivers, as well as large social media names, and put on full, grand-prix-length races in the "F1 2019" game for the fans combating cabin fever. When the mystery calendar revealed that its next stop would at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, it was met with the collective groans of Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon.
That was the reaction of two drivers realizing they were going to have to go back to a track — albeit virtually — where the league had already put in a combined 7,700 laps in the real world that past February. Sure, the layout might have been interesting at the start, but after years of hosting F1's preseason testing, drivers went on to find the track's format stale. Such repetition could also be the result of poor, parade-like racing, since every team returns to the 2.89-mile circuit for the Spanish Grand Prix with literally hundreds of laps worth of data.
All this is due to the track's ability to test all aspects of the car, but fans are convinced that it only hurts the racing as well. "Turns 1,2, and the first half of 3 are fine, but after that it's a dull series of medium-speed constant-radius corners," said Reddit u/Disastrous-Beat-9830. "The whole thing feels like it was designed to fit into a parcel of land with no real consideration beyond getting as much circuit into the land as possible."
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A few years ago, we asked what you thought were the worst race tracks in history. One notable response wasn't just a Formula One circuit — it's what is widely considered to be the series' biggest race of the year.
Since 1929, cars have been ripping through the streets of Monte Carlo each May, and aesthetically there isn't anything like it. The fastest racers on the planet ripping by casinos, yachts, and swimming pools truly is a scene unlike any other. Unfortunately, as the cars have gotten bigger and faster, the track has remained unchanged to accommodate modern Formula One.
"It's a race where racing does not happen," said Quora user Indiana Jon. "It's short, it's narrow, and there is no space for... well, for anything." How much does it hurt the racing? In another article looking at frustrating race tracks, Jalopnik reader Toobs-n-Stuff wrote, "When Ricciardo won with a car who's KERS had completely failed simply because even with 160 more hp it is impossible to pass, Monaco went on the 'it's not a race, it's a made-for-Instagram event' list."
That doesn't mean Monaco is always a boring track. When Formula E visited this year for its E-prix on the same circuit, the on-track product made by the slower, smaller cars was nothing short of phenomenal. Formula 1 tried to improve the racing in 2025 by mandating two pit stops during the Monaco Grand Prix, but with modern regulations leaving cars larger and heavier than ever, it was to no avail, with just a single overtake occurring during the 78-lap race.
Hopefully, new regulations will make overtaking at least a tad more possible on this still iconic circuit. With its unique environment and long-lasting legacy, Monaco isn't going anywhere.
