Circuito do Estoril

Estoril, a vacation-destination beach town located 20 miles west of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon has had a motor racing dating back to the 1930s, with a 2.8 km (1.7 mi) street circuit used in 1937 for a local race. The current Estoril circuit was built and completed in 1972 on a rocky plateau near the village of Alcabideche, 9 km (5.6 mi) from Estoril, the town lending its name to the circuit. The course has two hairpin turns, noticeable elevation changes, and a long (986 metre) start/finish straight.[3] Its original perimeter was 4.350 km (2.703 mi), and the maximum gradient is nearly 7%.[4] Monsanto Park, another street circuit in Lisbon hosted a variety of motor racing events in the 1950s, including the 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix, an event it shared briefly with the Boavista street circuit in Porto.

Its first years saw many national races, as well as an occasional Formula 2 race. However, the course soon fell into disrepair due to the owning company having been taken over by the state between 1975 and 1978, and a significant redevelopment effort was needed before international motorsport returned in 1984.

Estoril became a popular event on the F1 calendar, the setting for many well-known moments including Niki Lauda winning the 1984 championship, his third and final, from McLaren teammate Alain Prost by just half a point by finishing second to Prost at the 1984 Portuguese Grand Prix; three-time world champion Ayrton Senna's first F1 win in 1985; Nigel Mansell's notorious black flag incident and subsequent collision with Senna in 1989; Riccardo Patrese being launched airborne in a near-backward flip after colliding with Gerhard Berger on the main straight in 1992; and Jacques Villeneuve overtaking Michael Schumacher around the outside of the final turn in 1996.

Estoril was dropped from the F1 calendar for the 1997 season, though it continued to play host to top-level single-seater, sports car and touring car events, including the FIA GT Championship, the DTM and the World Series by Renault.[3] A new redesign of the parabolica turn which saw its length reduced to 4.182 km (2.599 mi) was implemented in 2000 in order to obtain FIM homologation.

Start of the second race of SuperLeague in Autódromo do Estoril

On 3 September 2000, the Autódromo do Estoril held its first Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix, an event held annually. On 23 October 2005, the circuit hosted the third round of the first ever A1 Grand Prix racing season, with both races in the event being won by the French team.

In the 1980s, the Rally de Portugal had a special stage at the circuit.[5][6]

The track hosted Superleague Formula series events in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In 2020, due to rescheduling of major international sport series due to COVID-19 pandemic, Estoril hosted the final race of 2020 Superbike World Championship (after hosting the series in 1988 and 1993) and the final race of 2019–20 FIM Endurance World Championship (after hosting the series in 1987 and 2000).

Throughout the years, Estoril has had numerous problems with safety, failing safety inspections on more than one occasion. After the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a chicane was added which increased the circuit length to 4.360 km (2.709 mi). Estoril sometimes has high crosswinds, which remind many of its Spanish counterpart, the Circuit de Catalunya, which has a similar layout. Many teams were fond of using Estoril for winter testing.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Autódromo do Estoril.

• Satellite picture at Google Maps.
• Official website
• Audio walkthrough of the track, for use with games.