F1: Valencia's arrival heralds new age in F1. Maybe.

In software, when something doesn't work, it's a "bug." Unless the designers can't fix it, in which case it becomes "a feature." One of the features of modern race track design, from Sepang to Shangai, from Turkey to Bahrain is that they are, for want of a better word, artificial.

Think of the world's great tracks - the ones that you want to go, the ones that feel - well, right. Monza, Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, Nurburging, Brands Hatch, Spa - even circuits like Knockhill, Oulton Park and Oliver's Mount that doesn't even do car racing. Why are these tracks so great? It's simple: they are road courses, plain and simple. They follow the natural topography of the land.

Translate that to a city environment and you have Monaco, Macau and Pau but not, the terrible Beijing track tried out for A1GP last year and the plainly silly Durban circuit. These latter tracks are artificial tracks in an urban environment. It's not the same at all.

However we define street circuits, they have one thing in common - unlike "occasional tables" which are tables all the time, street circuits are "occasional circuits" which means that when they are not race tracks all the time: they are public roads for much of the year.

And that means they are full of holes, bumps, lifting manhole covers, have ridiculously tight corners, short straights, and the only run-off area is through someone's front window.

Well, not in Valencia. It is by any definition a magnificent circuit. It's wide: cars could start three abreast in safety. It's got long straights - for slower formulae, this might prove troublesome with too long at full revs. It has long corners - several of which are flat out even for an F1 car. It has a couple of slow corners - which some teams thought would be brake killers but proved to be no significant problem except for the rears on the Honda cars.

There is a bump - a tiny one at the crossing onto the bridge - yes, there is a swing bridge as part of the track as it crosses a very busy dock (it's closed for race weekend!).

The track surface is smooth (watch the video below - it puts many purpose build tracks to shame in this respect).

There are areas where there is no run off but for much of the track there is plenty of space to have a moment and get back on without trouble (although Sutil managed to completely miss one corner and run into the tyre wall alongside a large run-off area, providing much amusement for everyone except his team).

The track runs around a working dock and a beautiful marina, around dockland regeneration and 100 year old buildings. It is, quite simply, the most stunning setting of any new F1 track since, er, pause for thought - actually, for at least 50 years.

Who knows what it will be like in the wet? Or if strong sea winds hit the circuit? But on a warm, calm and dry day, Valencia pulled off the impossible: it brought F1 back to its roots with a fast track that emphasised the differences between drivers and cars, challenged them to get the set up just right and un-mercilessly punished those that came up short.

The predicted safety car incidents didn't happen, and even the F1 website claims there was little overtaking. I didn't see that - I saw lots of racing between evenly matched cars on a track that rewards the best driving, not necessarily the most aggressive.

Welcome Valencia: you deserve a regular place on the F1 calendar. And who cares whether you are a street circuit? You are just a bloody fine place to race, and to watch racing.

We can't show you the F1 in action at Valencia but in an apparently authorised posting from one of the GT teams at YouTube, here is the GT race earlier this year that launched the track - from which you get a full drivers' eye view and proof that it is possible to overtake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52uNQfqiwk

(8 minutes)

And thanks to RSV Motorsport for posting their incar video online.