EAU ROUGE, SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

There aren’t many corners in the world where a driver can declare, “That was my best ever crash.” But that’s exactly what Jacques Villeneuve did after his 175mph shunt in 1999, when he took on the legendary rising left-right-left during qualifying in his BAR.

PERALTADA, MEXICO CITY

This final corner on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been tamed in recent years- they even re-routed the track through a baseball stadium – but in its heyday, it was mighty. ‘Peraltada’ translates as ‘banked’ in Spanish, and even Ayrton Senna flipped his Mclaren on the evil bumps. But in 1990 it was immortalized for Mansell’s pass on Gerhard Berger – on the outside.

WOODCOTE, SILVERSTONE

Nah, not the current Woodcote. The old classic, without the chicane. Think 160mph, flat-out, no run-off – cars sliding off a wet track. Think James Hunt in his nimble Hesketh scything down the inside of Ronnie Peterson’s Lotus to win in ’74. It was a corner that caused trouble – in ’73 Jody Scheekter discovered this to his peril as, on cold tyres, he spun to face the field piling into him.

13OR, SUZUKA

When the car is squirming for grip, it takes a brave man to keep his foot down. Many tried to tame the blazing left-hander: Alonso nailed Schumacher there in 2005. But many have failed. Remember McNish’s tank-slapper in ’02 that caused him to fly through the Armco on the exit? Nasty!

TARZAN, ZANDVOORT

As a tricky 180 degree right hander after the start-finish straight, two cars can theoretically drive side by side around it. But if your name is Gilles Villeneuve – then you can slide past Alan Jones around the outside. Look out for all the sand billowing in from the beach over the dunes.

GRAND HOTEL HAIRPIN, MONACO

The tightest corner in F1 has had more name changes than Lewis Hamilton’s best mate P Diddy. Named after the successive hotels built in place of the old railway station: Loews Hotel, Grand Hotel, Fairmont Hotel (anybody?). But one thing’s constant: drivers have been negotiating that palm tree for 80 years with the inevitable first-lap traffic jam.

TURN 8, ISTANBUL

Deep Breath. Turn in. Hold it. Keep accelerating as one, two, three, four apexes fly past. G-Forces building, neck straining- dancing on the edge of the adhesion on the exit. A moment off-line will take your wider still. Thankfully there’s enough run-off. Phew! It’s over for another lap.

OSTKURVE, HOCKENHEIM

Okay, so it’s a chicane. But it was a pretty damn quick chicane. Narrow too- make a mistake and you would probably hit a tyre wall. It always offered a great chance to overtake if you were brave enough. Sadly, along much of the old Hockenheim, its been returned to the forest.

KARUSSELL, NURBURGRING

Banked concrete sits on the inside line- Tarmac on the outside. Entry is blind. The way to drive into the bowl, according to Jackie Stewart. Is to aim at the tall fir tree, drop to second gear and gradually accelerate out- lifting up, out of the bowl on the exit.

PARABOLICA, MONZA

Is there a better final corner to decide a motor race? After the long stripstreaming duel from the Ascari chicane= whoever brakes later and deeper into Parabolica could, theoretically, come out the other side ahead. Unless they went in too quick… Surtees nipped back inside Brabham in ’67. Others have done the same since.