After Valentino Rossi's frightening near-miss at the 2020 MotoGP race at the Red Bull Ring, it was deemed necessary to slow things down on the long uphill drag from turn one to turn three. The new chicane might slow things down but it has changed the nature of this fast and flowing circuit for all time.

New Chicane at the Red Bull Ring Has Spoiled The Circuit

The old Österreichring in Austria was a beautiful and fast track that wound its way through the Styrian mountains and was used for Formula 1 between 1970 and 1995. In 1996, it was shortened into the track we now today as the Red Bull Ring and used for both Formula 1 and MotoGP racing.

The shortened track was still formidably fast and hosted some fantastic racing, most notably in MotoGP: Marc Marquez vs. Andrea Dovizioso in 2017 and 2019 and Brad Binder's against-the-odds victory in the wet on slick tyres in 2021.

But it also was the venue for one of the most insanely dangerous accidents in MotoGP history, when Johan Zarco and Franco Morbidelli came together on the fast uphill section between turns one and three at the beginning of the 2020 MotoGP race. Morbidelli's Yamaha continued at unabated speed to fly within millimetres of Valentino Rossi, who was exiting turn three at the time.

Rossi recently claimed that the incident, which left him clearly shaken as he pulled into the pits after the race had been red-flagged, influenced his decision to retire: "It got me thinking. I already knew it, but it was really proof that it's not enough to pay attention in the races. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong moment, you're screwed."

That incident prompted changes to the circuit in the form of a chicane on the run from turn one, through the fast sweep of turn two and towards the tight and slow turn three.

There were hopes that the chicane might be a flowing interruption, slowing the bikes - and cars - but not too drastically. Now, however, images have appeared of the new chicane which is a real stop-turn 90°-squirt-stop-turn 90°-accelerate affair.

While it is no doubt going to make the circuit much safer, it means the Red Bull Ring has lost all that flowing glory that was so distinctive in this age of artificial and bland circuits.