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I've always wondered if there was a list out there or a rating scale of what the best F1 races there have been?

Almost like a Top 10. Love to download or re-watch some of them.

long beach 83

Kyalami 1978
Long Beach 1983 as already mentioned
San Marino 1985
Jerez 1986
Mexico 1990 (!!!)
Spa 1995
Melbourne 1997
Melbourne 1999
Suzuka 2005
Interlagos 2008

Brazil 2003

Only because of the last two laps, where everyone knew Glock would had no chance to keep fifth place with his dry tyres.

69/71 laps were boring. Only two laps were exciting.

My Top 10:

1. Melbourne 2010
2. Nürburgring 1999
3. Suzuka 2005
4. Melbourne 2003
5. Montreal 2007
6. Montreal 1999
7. Sao Paulo 2001
8. Suzuka 1998
9. Budapest 2006
10. Indianapolis 2003

And 2001. Take the crash away, and you get one of the most boring races of the decade

Not really. The 2001 Melbourne GP was full of incidents, just as all the other races we have seen there.

no that was a very good race

and i know much more than you about good races

And for those into the older stuff...

Monza 1967, 1969, 1971 (67 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8JhWyxekzQ. 69 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQURylYN13w 71 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VB8Ry5kKjQ)
Silverstone 1973, 1975
Austria 1976
Kyalami 1978
Austria 1978
Zandvoort 1980 (another fantastic battle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihqmHa315Pw)
Hockenheim 1981 (Great battle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzyNJWXwBlI)
Brazil 1982
Austria 1982 (dull in places but a great final 5 laps)
Long Beach 1983
Dallas 1984 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFEPMb7IP6Q
Monaco 1984
Zandvoort 1985
Estoril 1985
Jerez 1986
Imola 1988
Canada 1989
Hungary 1989
Imola 1990
Hungary 1990
Spain 1991
Silverstone 1993
Japan 1994
Spain 1996
Spa 1998
Nurburgring 1999

Probably loads I've forgotten.

I'm sure F1 Racing has probably done something like this. They usually come up with some arbitrary list bollocks every couple of months

It all depends on what you mean by "best". One thing I've noticed is that some great races aren't actually that interesting to watch back in hindsight, like Spa 98 or Monaco 96. You can never really replicate watching something live. That's why I just prefer to watch random races I don't know the result of or what's about to happen next. I don't think watching back Brazil 2008 would be as much fun, although I still get the shivers watching it back (though if you didn't watch it live to start with, you wouldn't get that either)

Also I can't really judge too well races I didn't see live, although that's not to say I can't judge them at all. I missed Hungary 2006, for instance, but I have watched it back and it's brilliant. We all have our own personal favourites as well. Germany last year was obviously very exciting for me but others might have found it quite dull. Equally I found last weekend's race to be shit and yet common consensus was that it was wonderful

Plus then you have to take into account that some truly great races - the slipstream races at Monza, Germany 1957, and anything else before the mid 70s - don't necessarily have live coverage footage surviving. So there's obviously going to be a bias towards more modern races. As well as this, because you're watching in hindsight, generally older races, particularly from before the reintroduction of refuelling, aren't that interesting to watch, with a few exceptions - Mexico 1990 is a good shout, though I've only seen highlights of it

Taking all that into consideration, if I was to give you 20 races that you should watch (as opposed to the best or greatest races) out of the ones that I either remember well or have watched back:

Europe 1993
Japan 1994
Australia 1994
Belgium 1995
Europe 1995*
Germany 1997
Europe 1997
Italy 1998
France 1999
Europe 1999*
Germany 2000*
Japan 2000
Australia 2003
Brazil 2003*
Japan 2005*
Hungary 2006*
Europe 2007
Monaco 2008
Britain 2008
Australia 2009

I guess you've probably seen some of these already, though. I've *'d the best ones

Anything from 1997 is a good place to start because the majority of races that year were very good - in terms of the quality of the races, it's probably the best year ever

Some good other nominations in the thread, though, as far as great races go, although I'm not convinced some would make compulsive viewing if you knew what the result was

Yeah, on it's own Brazil 08 is merely a slightly interesting battle for 5th over the last few laps, but in the context of everything, it means that the title was going back and forth.

I always think that Monza 08 is one of those races that you can put on and it makes you feel warm inside like Goran winning Wimbledon etc.

On the other hand Hungaroring 97 makes me feel like 2006 Winged Foot or last seasons Europa Cup fiinal.

James B, you talk sense. But what was worth mentioning in Germany 2000? That was terrible

Many great races mentioned, except for one that I could think of.

That's Suzuka 1998. Two restarts with Schumacher being dropped back to the grid. He fought his way up the field, then had puncture due accident that happened at the Chicane. The race had overtaking and action on the track. It was also an end of an era, Tyrrell had their last race.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

What? It's a brilliant race. You've got Schumacher out at turn 1, Rubens clawing his way through the field with some great passes, a madman running on the track, the resultant safety car mixing the order up, a thunderstorm out of nowhere with rain on half the circuit, a mix of choosing to pit for wets or stay out on slicks, and a tense finish to see if Rubens could hold on for his first win on slicks with Hakkinen on wets, which he did. And then he cried. Loads happening

You must be thinking of a different race. It's an all-time classic

I agree, this was a great race.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

best F1 race ever followed by Silverstone 2003

Yes! I love that race, its pretty underrated. Noone seems to talk about it anymore. I remember at the time being absolutely gutted that it ruined Montoya's championship hopes. Its up there with Silverstone and Brazil that year imo. In fact 2003 was such a frickin awesome season

2003 had some great races, but unfortunately I don't remember a great deal as it all blurs into the one long Schumacher domination era, so I didn't really pay a great deal of attention, which I regret. In the opposite sense, I love 1997, because that was just as I was really getting to grips with F1 and the ITV coverage was much greater and better than the BBC's in 96. It was my honourary first season in that sense, even though I'd been following for a while before then

Silverstone that year's a great shout. I had forgotten about that. And some of the Indy races in general were pretty reasonable - wouldn't put it down as an all-time classic but the first race there wasn't too shabby, and 2007 was pretty decent as well with Lewis and Alonso battling and Vettel becoming the youngest points scorer ever

You've all forgotten Suzuka 2003, you clots.

Great race. Raikkonen tries his best to win the world title, Michael tries his best to lose it.

EDIT: Hang on, there's no Spa 2004 here either.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.