Portimão, Algarve · PT
A modern circuit with dramatic elevation changes overlooking the Atlantic coast. Portimão's blind crests and undulating terrain create unique challenges that rewarded brave driving when it joined the F1 calendar in 2020.
Autódromo Internacional do Algarve is a permanent racing circuit, located in Portimão, Algarve. Drivers cover 4.692 km (2.915 miles) and 15 corners each lap, run clockwise.
The circuit opened in 2008 and holds FIA Grade 1 licensing. It appears on the Formula 1 and MotoGP calendars. Around 100,000 spectators can attend.
The circuit was announced in 2002 but stalled for years while the finance was assembled. Once it started, it went up fast — construction took about seven months — and it opened in October 2008 at a reported cost of €195 million, designed by Ricardo Pina Arquitectos. The FIM homologated it on 11 October and the FIA two days later, and the World Superbike Championship held its final round there on 2 November.
The development was always more than a track: the site includes a karting circuit, off-road course, technology park, hotel, sports complex and apartments. What made the circuit's reputation is the terrain. It runs over hills with severe gradients, blind crests and corners that fall away out of sight, and drivers who came to it during Formula 1's 2020 and 2021 visits described it as a genuine rollercoaster.
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