Circuit designer Hermann Tilke: "It hurts sometimes"

Hermann Tilke has been designing the new circuits that appear on the Formula 1 calendar for many years. He also redesigns many of the existing circuits, so that they are up to date for the current F1.

Circuit design

Unfortunately, designing is not without criticism. Although Tilke may have designed some of the best new circuits such as Circuit of the Americas and Bahrain International Circuit, there are also some failures, such as the boring Abu Dhabi and Sochi Autodrom.

Circuits have to meet the requirements of several clients, such as F1 and MotoGP. "We always get criticism because of runoff areas", says Tilke in conversation with Formule1.nl. "But these are necessary for moto racing. When a car hits the crash barrier at 30 miles per hour, it dents and the driver is fine. If a motorcycle driver hits the crash barrier at that speed, he could get hurt."

Criticism

Tilke is clearly not satisfied with the criticism he often receives on his new circuits. "It does hurt a little when Formula 1 finally arrives on one of our circuits, after all the time you've put into it, you immediately complain about the runways", Tilke says.

"And we take all the criticism seriously, we look in the mirror, are we doing everything right? But sometimes it's unavoidable, people see an exit lane that doesn't feel like cars and immediately sigh: Tilke again. But it's often meant for motorcycles", Tilke concludes.