Mugello Circuit

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For the region, see Mugello.

Autodromo del Mugello
Mugello Racing Circuit track map 15 turns.svg
LocationScarperia e San Piero, Tuscany, Italy
Time zoneGMT+1
Coordinates43°59′51″N 11°22′19″E / 43.99750°N 11.37194°E / 43.99750; 11.37194Coordinates: 43°59′51″N 11°22′19″E / 43.99750°N 11.37194°E / 43.99750; 11.37194
Capacity50,000
FIA Grade1
Opened1974
Major eventsMotoGP
Italian motorcycle Grand Prix
Formula One
Tuscan Grand Prix (2020)
Formula Regional European Championship
DTM, World SBK
Closed course (1974–present)
SurfaceAsphalt
Length5.245 km (3.259 mi)
Turns15
Race lap record1:18.833 (United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2020, Formula One)
Road course (1919–1970)
SurfaceAsphalt/Concrete
Length66.2 km (41.3 mi)
Turns400+
Race lap record29:51.100 (Italy Arturo Merzario, Abarth Corse, Abarth 2000 SP, 1970)
Websitewww.mugellocircuit.it

Mugello Circuit (Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello) is a race track in Scarperia e San Piero, Tuscany, Italy. The circuit length is 5.245 km (3.259 mi). It has 15 turns and a 1.141 km (0.709 mi) long straight.[1] The circuit stadium stands have a capacity of 50,000.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing host an annual event at the circuit (for MotoGP and smaller classes). In 2007 and 2008 the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters held an annual event. The track is owned by Scuderia Ferrari, which uses it for Formula One testing. The first race of the A1GP 2008–09 season was originally planned to be held at the Mugello circuit on 21 September 2008. However, the race had to be cancelled due to the delay in building the new chassis for the new race cars.[2]

The circuit hosted its first ever Formula One race on 13 September 2020, named the Tuscan Grand Prix, as part of the season being restructured due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] This Grand Prix was the 1000th Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari.

History[]

Road race (1920–1970)[]

The start-finish line of historic road circuit (1955).

Road races were held on public streets around Mugello from the 1920s. The start was in the village of Scarperia e San Piero, less than half a kilometer from the current permanent circuit. The circuit went north up the SP503, twisting and turning through mountains through multiple villages, up to the town of Firuenzola. The circuit then went west from Firuenzola, continuing on the SP503 towards the village of Pagliana. The circuit then made a left on the SR65, heading south through the villages of Covigliaio, Selva and Traversa, where the circuit got a bit faster. The circuit then went past a German military cemetery (from 1946 onwards) and entered the famous Futa Pass, which was used for the prestigious Mille Miglia. After this twisty section, the course stayed on the SR65 and went down multiple short straights and fast curves before getting to the villages of Le Maschere and Colle Barucci. The circuit then crossed a bridge going over a narrow section of the Bilancino Lake, going through an ultra fast left hand curve and 2 long straights before turning left onto the SP129, heading towards the town of San Piero e Sieve. The circuit then went north back onto the SP503, heading back to Scarperia to end the lap.

Giuseppe Campari won at Mugello in 1920 and 1921, and Emilio Materassi took victories in 1925, 1926 and 1928. The Mugello GP was revived in 1955 and from the 1964 to 1969 as a Targa Florio-like road race consisting of eight laps of 66.2 km each, including the Passo della Futa. The anticlockwise track passed the towns of San Piero a Sieve, Scarperia, , Firenzuola, Selva, . It counted towards the 1965, 1966 and 1967 World Sportscar Championship season. The last WC race was won[4] by Udo Schütz and Gerhard Mitter in a Porsche 910. After two Porsche wins, 1968 saw the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 of Luciano Bianchi, Nanni Galli and Nino Vaccarella prevail over the Porsche driven by Rico Steinemann and Jo Siffert. In 1969, Arturo Merzario won with an Abarth 2000, and he won again in 1970 with the same car, where Abarth finished 1–2–3 with Leo Kinnunen and Gijs van Lennep finishing second and third respectively.

The 1970 event brought about the end of the 66 km Mugello public road circuit; a seven-month-old baby was killed when  [de] crashed his Alfa Romeo GTA into a group of people in Firenzuola during a private test there, when the roads were open to the public (the roads were only closed on race day and for qualifying). Four other people, including two young children, were seriously injured. Although there had only been one previous fatality at the original Mugello circuit (that of Günther Klass in 1967), the incident badly damaged the event's reputation, and the 1970 race turned out to be the last one held on the public road circuit, which was won once again by Merzario. After the incident, Dini spent two months in prison, and after his time served he left Italy and did not return for many years.

Permanent circuit (1974–present)[]

The main straight of permanent circuit (2011).

The present-day closed Mugello circuit was constructed in 1973 and opened in 1974, about 5 km east from the easternmost part of the original road circuit.

The circuit was used for the in-season test during the 2012 Formula One season, by all teams except HRT. An unofficial track record of 1:21.035 was set by Romain Grosjean during the test.[5] The track was praised by Mark Webber, who stated that he "did 10 dry laps today around Mugello, which is the same as doing 1000 laps around Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction".[6] Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel said “unfortunately we don’t have this track on the calendar. It’s an incredible circuit with a lot of high-speed corners”.[7] Vitaly Petrov was however critical of the decision to test at Mugello, claiming the circuit was "unsafe".[8]

On 10 July 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix on the circuit would be the ninth race in the 2020 Formula One calendar, marking the 1000th Grand Prix for Ferrari.[9]

At the 2021 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix, Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier was killed in an accident. The 19 year old Swiss rider fell at Arrabbiata 2 on his final qualifying lap and was struck by the bikes of Jeremy Alcoba and Ayumu Sasaki. The latter two riders escaped without injury, but Dupasquier was immediately airlifted to Careggi hospital in Florence, with his condition described as “very serious”. He would undergo emergency thoracic surgery that evening, but died of his injuries the following day.

Mugello has the 3-star FIA Environmental Accreditation, and the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 20121 and Eco-Management and Audit Scheme certifications. It was ranked the most sustainable racetrack in the world in a 2021 report.[10]

Winners of the Mugello Grand Prix[]

The winners of the Mugello Grand Prix for cars (1919–1967: Circuito del Mugello, 1968–2000: Gran Premio del Mugello) are:[11][12][13][14][15][16]

Winners on the closed circuit (5.245 km/3.259 mi)[]

Year Driver Constructor Class Report
2000 Brazil Ricardo Sperafico Lola Formula 3000
1998–1999 Not held
1997 Brazil Ricardo Zonta Lola Formula 3000
1996 Brazil Ricardo Zonta Lola
1992–1995 Not held
1991 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Reynard Formula 3000
1987–1990 Not held
1986 Italy Pierluigi Martini Ralt Formula 3000
1985 Not held
1984 New Zealand Mike Thackwell Ralt Formula Two Report
1983 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Ralt
1982 Italy Corrado Fabi March
1981 Italy Corrado Fabi March
1980 United Kingdom Brian Henton Toleman
1979 United Kingdom Brian Henton March
1978 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Chevron
1977 Italy Bruno Giacomelli March
1976 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Elf
1975 Italy Maurizio Flammini March
1974 France Patrick Depailler March

Winners on the road circuit (66.2 km/41.3 mi)[]

Note: The 1926 race was held on the Cascine circuit.[17][18]

Year Driver Constructor Class Report
1970 Italy Arturo Merzario Abarth Sports car
1969 Italy Arturo Merzario Abarth
1968 Belgium Lucien Bianchi
Italy Nino Vaccarella
Italy Nanni Galli 		Alfa Romeo
1967 Germany Gerhard Mitter
Germany Udo Schütz 		Porsche
1966 Germany
Germany Jochen Neerpasch 		Porsche
1965 Italy
Italy 		Ferrari
1964 Italy Gianni Bulgari Porsche
1956–1963 Not held
1955 Italy Umberto Maglioli Ferrari Sports car
1930–1954 Not held
1929 Italy Gastone Brilli-Peri Talbot Grand Prix
1928 Italy Emilio Materassi Talbot Formula Libre
1927 Not held
1926 Italy Emilio Materassi Itala Formula Libre
1925 Italy Emilio Materassi Itala
1924 Italy OM
1923 Italy Gastone Brilli-Peri Steyr
1922 Italy Alfieri Maserati Isotta Fraschini
1921 Italy Giuseppe Campari Alfa Romeo
1920 Italy Giuseppe Campari Alfa Romeo

Lap records[]

The official lap record for the current circuit layout is 1:18.833, set by Lewis Hamilton in the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. The official race lap records at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello are listed as:

Category Time Driver Car/Bike Event Ref.
F1 1:18.833 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix [19]
FIA F2 1:33.295 United Kingdom Dan Ticktum Dallara F2 2018 2020 Mugello Formula 2 round
FIA F3 1:37.127 Germany Lirim Zendeli Dallara F3 2019 2020 Mugello Formula 3 round
Euroformula Open 1:38.334 Austria Lukas Dunner Dallara 320 2020 Mugello Euroformula Open round [20]
F3000 1:38.367 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Reynard 91D 1991 Mugello Grand Prix [19]
FREC 1:42.535 Brazil Gianluca Petecof Tatuus F.3 T-318 2020 Mugello FREC round [21]
GT1 1:45.013 Germany Bernd Schneider Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR 1997 FIA GT Mugello 4 Hours [19]
MotoGP 1:46.810 France Johann Zarco Ducati Desmosedici GP21 2021 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix [22]
Formula 4 1:47.236 United States Juan Manuel Correa Tatuus F4-T014 2016 Italian F4 Championship Mugello round [23]
Moto2 1:51.208 United Kingdom Sam Lowes Kalex - Triumph 2021 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix [24]
Moto3 1:56.628 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Honda NSF250RW 2018 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix [19]

Multiple winners[]

MotoGP[]

# Wins Rider Wins
Category Years won
7 Italy Valentino Rossi MotoGP 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
6 Spain Jorge Lorenzo MotoGP 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018
5 Australia Mick Doohan 500cc 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Mugello Circuit". GPcircuits.
  2. ^ "A1GP : News". A1gp.com. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  3. ^ "Formula 1 adds Mugello and Sochi to revised 2020 F1 race calendar". Formula One World Championship Limited. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. ^ "World Championship 1967". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  5. ^ "Mugello day three – Grosjean ends test on a high". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Mark Webber about Mugello circuit". Twitter. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Sebastian Vettel on Mugello". James Allen on F1. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  8. ^ "Vitaly Petrov claims Mugello is not safe enough for Formula 1 testing". Autosport. 3 May 2012.
  9. ^ "Formula 1 adds Mugello and Sochi to revised 2020 F1 race calendar". Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  10. ^ Racing towards a sustainable future - A Review of the sustainability performance of international racing circuits - Enovation Consulting and Right Hub, June 2021
  11. ^ "Grand Prix winners 1919–1933, The golden era of Grand Prix racing". Kolumbus.fi. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  12. ^ "Non Championship Races, The World of Sports Prototypes Racing". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  13. ^ "World Sportscar Championship, The World of Sports Prototypes Racing". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  14. ^ "F2 Register - Index".
  15. ^ "Gran Premio di Mugello, The Racing Line". Theracingline.net. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  16. ^ "Mugello Grand Prix 1968". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  17. ^ Etzrodt, Hans. "Materassi wins the Coppa del Marchese Ginori at the Cascine Circuit". The Golden Era of Grand Prix racing. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  18. ^ Higham, Peter (1995). The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. p. 415. ISBN 0851126421.
  19. ^ a b c d "Mugello Lap Records". Mugello Circuit. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  20. ^ "2020 Euroformula Open Mugello Race 2 Results" (PDF). Euroformula Open. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  21. ^ "ACI Racing Weekend Mugello 01-04 Ottobre 2020 Formula Regional European Championship - Results Race 3" (PDF). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  22. ^ "GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA OAKLEY MotoGP Race Classification" (PDF). MotoGP. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Race 2 Mugello Italian F4 Championship" (PDF). ACI Sport.
  24. ^ "GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA OAKLEY Moto2 Race Classification" (PDF). MotoGP. Retrieved 31 August 2021.

External links[]

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