Valencia street circuit – spectators’ experiences

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Tell us about your experiences of visiting the Valencia street circuit.

You may wish to include:

  • When you visited the track
  • Where you watched from
  • How easy it was to get to
  • How much of the track you could see
  • What support races there were
  • What you liked and didn’t like
  • How much it cost and whether it was good value

Please use the reply box below to leave your comments.

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15 comments on “Valencia street circuit – spectators’ experiences”

  1. went to the 1st ever race in Valencia this year and it was a bit of a mixed trip.
    as it was the 1st grand prix i had no real idea of where to sit. after looking over the map of the track for a couple of days, i went for stand T18. which was the braking zone at the end of the fastest part of the track. unfortunately this was over in the docks part of town and was a bit of a nightmare to get too. at one point i had to climb down the side of a motorway embankment on my 2 hour walk to the track on the friday. did manage to get that down to an hour by sunday.
    the view was not too bad but behind the stand we where fenced in, so it was almost like the being in a football ground in the 80’s
    there was nowhere to go, with only a few horrible food stalls which where a rip off. plus the toliets where placed underneath the stand and by the afternoon the smell of unrine would drift across the air.
    there was no merchandise stalls for the teams or kangaroo tv. which i had hoped to get.
    the one big screen we had was not working on friday and was so far away that you could not read the times. all this for 480 euros.
    the city itself is great and the beach that runs along next to the track is fantastic. plus it was very hot.
    it was the 1st year and i hope that things will be better. if i ever went again and that’s a big if i would sit over by the pit straight or the 1st corner.

  2. I know this is a new circuit for Valencia but our “Street Circuit” was more like watching the race in a National Car park, (T24) the old derelict buildings were concealed with fancy awnings advertising “We have the Formula”. No view of the harbour, the luxury yachts, no white sofas or free lolly pops, we even had the bottle tops removed from our water upon entering. The view was pitiful 24 rows back; my home TV is bigger than their “ Big screen” and watched the entire race on the screen through my binoculars. Commentary was excellent, however when the racing started you couldn’t hear it. After many attempts at the information marquees they couldn’t tell us what frequency the commentary was being broadcast on so that we could pick it up on our radios as is normal practice.

    Beer was 9 euros with mega queues, the toilets were so filthy that I heard a young boy tell his Dad that he couldn’t use them because the smell and filth made him feel sick.

    My son and friends who flew in for the race sat behind the back of the Very large screen which spectators in T25 & T26 were viewing. He was even further away from the viewing screen for T24.

    Upon leaving the circuit on Sunday, queueing to go over the Santander Bridge, the tarmac leading to the bridge had melted, creating a huge bottleneck as people avoided it.

    Harry

  3. I had seats in the T3 stand on the pit straight. Unfortuntately the two covered stands (T1 and T2) are reserved for corporate guests, so the next stand available is T3, which is not directly opposite the pits but nevertheless provides an excellent view coming out of the final corner, up the main straight and into the first sweeping corner. The stand also has a great view of the podium, close enough for Hamilton to spot the union jack and give a wave, probably pleased to see somebody who was not booing and hissing him as he collected his trophy (The Spanish are still very very bitter about the Alonso feud, I can vouch for that with some of the looks I received on the metro wearing a Mclaren t-shirt!!). Having read the other comments from Jayb and Harry, it would appear I was fairly lucky with my choice, afterall this was the first race there and therefore choosing a grandstand some 4 months in advance was a bit of a lottery.

    Overall I think the event was very well organised considering it was the first to be held there. We stayed at a hotel right in the city centre, about a 5 min walk from the main square. There were tourist advisors on hand to offer maps of the city and directions to the circuit. We opted to grab the metro half of the way, and then sample the atmosphere by walking the rest. It would have been equally as easy to get the metro/tram the whole way however.

    A great F1 weekend, despite the fact that the race was not exactly enthralling. Hopefully the new regulations for 2009 should see this circuit come alive over the next few seasons. It truly is a great circuit, and would definately consider returning in the future!!

  4. Just to let people know, the tickets for the 2009 race go on sale on Tuesday, February 24th. The prices are the same as last year, but they have made some minor changes (hopefully improvements).

    http://www.valenciastreetcircuit.com/noticia-111-Formula-1-Grand-Prix-of-Europe-Tickets-at-the-Valencia-Street-Circuit-will-be-on-sale-from-February-24th-ENG.htm

  5. I live just down the coast from Valencia. We didn’t go last year, probably just as well as there were many complaints from spectators. Have researched it extensively for this August on Spanish F1 websites. The ‘general’ area is in a nice location and is cheap.However it is flat, high fences therefore no view!!
    They are going to raise a lot of the stands so the view will be better. We are looking at M7 and G4 as probably the best without having to pay a fortune. Hope this helps.

  6. can anyone help with more advice? did anyone sit in the M or G stands last year and can comment on the view and services?

  7. Hi, someone can tell me how the “general” sector is?
    I took tickets for friday, in the half of my holiday.
    Thanks

  8. Hi, i can´t wait for this. We have tickets for Saturday & Sunday. I would like to know what you can and can´t take in to the circuit. I have tickets for the general area and was wondering if you can take food/drink in? Or do they expect you to buy the food/drink at ridiculous prices once inside?
    C´mon Schumacher! (my girlfriend is Italian and is almost exloding with excitement!!)

  9. My wife and I will be in Valencia for the race on Sunday; I procrastinated and did not get tickets when they first went on sale. Are tickets going to be available for sale on Sunday for anything less than what they can be purchased for now? We will not be there for the whole weekend so it seems a shame to purchase tickets for Friday and Saturday when we won’t be there.

  10. I live in Spain, further north in Vinaros. I went to watch the practice sessions on the Friday. It cost €50 for stand G1, not far before the start/finish. I travelled by train to Valencia (cheap) and walked the 4 km from the station to the circuit, although I could have used the metro.
    The weather was (too) hot, requiring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water. I had 2 bottles of water with me. At the gate they take the bottle tops off and confiscate them. I took some spares so screwed these on after. This was my first experience of live F1. I dont think I will bother again. The coverage on TV is better. You do need earplugs. Unfortunately, you cannot then listen to the commentary which was given in Spanish and English. The stand I was in, G1 did not have long distance views so no sooner was the car in view then it had gone around the next bend.
    They will allow you to leave when you want and give you a pass-out. You need to keep your ticket all the time though. I went out for lunch. Plenty of places behind the Malvarrosa beach. I watched both the morning and afternoon F1 sessions but I skipped the gp2,formula BMW and the Porsche cup. Next year I believe the F1 in Valencia will be held in October so it will not be so uncomfortably hot.

  11. polishboy808
    6th May 2010, 14:53

    I’m going this year to grandstand g1 or 2 (i think) Is there anything really important I should know? I know it will be hot and I’m used to hot (its 93 F 34C degrees in spring time here in Florida and 100+ F 38+ C in summer) but anything else? And sorry if my temperatures are a bit off, I’m used to stupid Farenheit so I had to try to remember celsius off the top of my head.

  12. I’m just about to book for the 2011 Valencia race. As a street circuit I’m expecting crap viewing like Monaco. But is there any grandstand that might be slightly better than others?

  13. Can I make a harsh suggestion. Don’t book it. I went there in 2008 and the racing was rubbish. I don’t think we have seen an exciting race there since it started. If you read Coulthard’s assesment of the track in the beeb mag he says it was designed alk wrong. I reckon you are better of saving ur cash for obe of the better tracks. I’m a big F1 fan and have booked tickets to Spa for the first time in the hope it will be a better race than my only abroad f1 experience in 2008. Hope this isn’t too depressing but would hate you to make the same mistake as me.
    Cheers
    Andy

    1. I can’t make it to some races in the heart of summer as I’m a farmer. But wish to add to my collection of races done. Having done over 20 foreign trips, this is one more to tick off. So it’s my only possibility his year.

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