The oldest F1 circuit: Spa, Monza and the oldest tracks still in use

Which is the oldest F1 circuit?

It depends on how you measure a circuit’s age. There are three ways to do it, and each gives its own answer among the tracks on the 2026 calendar:

• Where racing began earliest — Spa-Francorchamps: its first race was held on public roads on 12 August 1921. If you count only circuits built for racing, it is Monza, opened on 3 September 1922.
• Which track hosted the World Championship first — Silverstone: the first championship race was held there on 13 May 1950.
• Where the most Grands Prix have been held — Monza: 76 championship races from 1950 to 2026.

The oldest tracks on the 2026 calendar

Of the 23 tracks on the 2026 calendar, nine date from before 1970. Here they are in order of when they began — the opening, the construction or the first race on the site:

The years each circuit began come from the circuits, their owners and Formula 1. The first Grand Prix and the number of Grands Prix are from f1db as of 11 October 2026, after the Singapore Grand Prix. The 2026 races in Mexico City (1 November) and at Interlagos (8 November) are still to come, and they will take Hermanos Rodríguez to 26 Grands Prix and Interlagos to 43. For the dates of the next races, see the season calendar.

The other 14 tracks on the calendar are younger. The first of them to host a championship Grand Prix was the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, in 1978; the last was Madring, in September 2026. Albert Park in Melbourne did see racing in the 1950s: it hosted the Australian Grands Prix of 1953 and 1956, both outside the World Championship. But the current circuit on the park’s roads was laid out for Melbourne’s first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1996.

Spa-Francorchamps: racing since 1921

Spa has the longest racing history of any track on the calendar: the circuit’s official birthday is 12 August 1921. The first car race planned there was cancelled because only one driver entered, and a race for 23 motorcycles was held instead.

The original lap was a triangle of public roads almost 15 km long. Spa has been part of the World Championship since its first season: Juan Manuel Fangio won the Belgian Grand Prix on 18 June 1950, when the lap was 14.12 km.

The Belgian Grand Prix was held at Spa until 1970 and returned in 1983 to a different track: Spa was rebuilt in 1979, with a lap half as long as the old one. Since 1985 the race has been held at Spa every time it has been on the calendar. Today the lap is 7.004 km, the longest of the 2026 season.

Monza: the oldest purpose-built track on the calendar

Monza is the oldest permanent circuit on the 2026 calendar. Spa is older by its first race, but in 1921 it ran on ordinary roads, and Monaco is a street circuit. Monza was built for racing from the start: it went up in 110 days, opened on 3 September 1922 and hosted the Italian Grand Prix a week later.

According to Monza itself, only two racing circuits in the world were built before it: Brooklands in England and Indianapolis in the United States.

The Italian Grand Prix has been held at Monza every year from 1950 to 2026 except 1980, when Imola hosted it. That adds up to 76 Grands Prix — more than at any other track. In 1950 Monza closed the first season: Nino Farina won the race on 3 September and became the first World Champion.

Which track hosted the first World Championship race?

Silverstone: the British Grand Prix on 13 May 1950 was the first race of the World Championship, and Nino Farina won it in an Alfa Romeo. Silverstone is a former RAF base and held its first British Grand Prix on 2 October 1948. For how the championship came about and how its first race went, see the article on how Formula 1 began.

The 1950 season had seven races at seven circuits, and four of those circuits are on the 2026 calendar:

Monaco was also there in the first season, but the race through the streets of the principality is older than the championship: it was first held in 1929. Monaco was not part of the championship in 1951–1954, and since 1955 it has missed only one year, 2020.

Where have the most Grands Prix been held?

Monza has held the most World Championship races: 76 from 1950 to 2026. Next come Monaco (72) and Silverstone (61): all three were on the first season’s calendar.

We count every championship race at a circuit, whatever the Grand Prix was called and whatever the layout. Silverstone’s 61 races include the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix of 2020, and the Nürburgring’s count covers both the Nordschleife and the newer track.

Silverstone trails Monza and Monaco because from 1955 to 1986 the British Grand Prix moved between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch. It has been held at Silverstone every year since 1987. Spa has a similar story: in 1972–1982 and in 1984 the Belgian Grand Prix was held at Nivelles and Zolder.

Old circuits no longer on the calendar

Three of the seven circuits of 1950 are no longer on the calendar: Indianapolis, Bremgarten and Reims — and Indianapolis is older than both Spa and Monza. Here are all the tracks that joined the championship in 1950–1955 and are not on the 2026 calendar:

The years are the first and last championship Grands Prix, not every year in between. The number of Grands Prix is from f1db. In 1957–1959 six more circuits joined the championship, all of them long gone: Pescara, Porto, Ain-Diab, AVUS, Monsanto and Sebring — each hosted one or two Grands Prix.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in the spring of 1909. Its championship races were the Indianapolis 500 from 1950 to 1960 and the United States Grand Prix from 2000 to 2007.

Brooklands in England is older still: opened in June 1907, it was the world’s first circuit built for racing. But it never hosted a single World Championship race — the circuit is not in f1db. If you go by Monza’s own count, only Brooklands and Indianapolis were built before it, which makes Indianapolis the oldest purpose-built track in championship history.

The Nürburgring opened on 18 June 1927. Grands Prix were held on the Nordschleife until 1976, and from 1984 on a new, shorter track. For why Formula 1 left the North Loop, see the Nordschleife article.

How have the old circuits changed?

The old circuits are still in the same places, but the lap is different now. Lengths are from f1db:

• Spa — 14.12 km in 1950, 6.94 km after the rebuild, and 7.004 km since 2007;
• Monza — 6.3 km in 1950–1954, 10 km including the high-speed ring and its banking in 1955, 1956, 1960 and 1961, and 5.793 km since 2000;
• Silverstone — 4.649 km around the former airfield in 1950, and 5.891 km since 2011;
• Monaco — 3.18 km in 1950, 3.145 km in 1955–1972, and 3.337 km since 2015;
• Nürburgring — 22.81–22.835 km on the Nordschleife until 1976, a new track of 4.542–4.556 km from 1984, and 5.148 km in 2002–2020.

Why the long old tracks became shorter, and which track is the longest today, is covered in the article on track length and speed. For the current layout, corners and winners of each circuit, see its page in the Circuits section.