Circuito do Estoril

Motorsport track in Portugal

Estoril, Above the Portuguese Riviera

On a windswept plateau inland from Estoril, west of Lisbon, this circuit held the Portuguese Grand Prix for thirteen seasons and gave Ayrton Senna his first win.

The name belongs to a beach resort on the Portuguese Riviera, about 32 km west of Lisbon, but the circuit stands well back from the sand, on a rocky plateau near Alcabideche some 9 km from the town. Estoril's racing began with a street circuit in 1937. The present track, officially the Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, was completed in 1972 and at first hosted national races and the odd Formula 2 event. After the state took over the company that owned it in the late 1970s it fell into disrepair, and a good deal of work was needed before international racing could return.

A lap pairs a start and finish straight of nearly a kilometer with two hairpins and real changes of height, the steepest grade close to 7 percent. Strong winds sometimes cross the plateau, and many teams made it a favorite for winter testing, the Riviera having its uses out of season.

The Portuguese Grand Prix arrived in 1984 and stayed through 1996, 13 championship rounds in all. The very first one decided the title by a margin that could hardly have been smaller: Alain Prost won the race, but Niki Lauda's second place made him champion by half a point. In 1985 Ayrton Senna won here for Lotus, the first Formula 1 victory of his career. The circuit had a habit of producing incidents. In 1989 Nigel Mansell was shown the black flag and then collided with Senna, in 1992 Riccardo Patrese was launched into the air after contact with Gerhard Berger, and in 1996 Jacques Villeneuve swept around the outside of Michael Schumacher at the last corner on his way to victory. Prost and Mansell each won three times, the best record at the circuit.

Safety was a recurring worry, and after 1994 a chicane stretched the lap to 4.360 km. Formula 1 left after 1996, but sports cars, touring cars and single seaters kept the circuit busy, and in 2000 a reshaped Parabolica, which brought the length to 4.182 km, readied it for the Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix. The Superbike World Championship races there today.

Every Grand Prix here

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