F1’s last dance with Senna — on a track that time forgot

There’s a ghost in Adelaide’s streets, If you walk through the parklands just north of the city center, past the quiet cafes and office buildings, you might stumble upon faded tire marks on the asphalt. Most people wouldn’t think twice. But for those who remember, these unassuming roads once shook under the scream of V12 engines, the cheers of 200,000 fans, and the last, glorious victory of a legend.

This was the Adelaide Street Circuit—F1’s most unlikely star.

A Mad Idea That Worked
In the early ’80s, Adelaide was just another sleepy Australian city. Then Premier John Bannon and local businessman Bill O’Gorman had a wild thought: What if we brought Formula 1 here?

Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s ruthless kingmaker, laughed at them. But money talks, and by 1985, Adelaide was hosting its first Grand Prix—on a makeshift track cobbled together from public roads.

Nobody expected it to become iconic. But it did.

The Track That Brought Down Giants
Adelaide wasn’t just another race—it was the season finale, where championships were won and lost in heart-stopping drama:

1986 – Nigel Mansell’s tire explodes at 180 mph, handing the title to Alain Prost by two points.

1991 – Ayrton Senna and Prost collide (again), sending Senna into the wall but sealing his third championship.

1994 – Michael Schumacher rams Damon Hill to steal the title in one of F1’s dirtiest moves.

But the real magic happened in 1993.

Senna’s Last Dance
By November ’93, Senna was done. After six brutal years at McLaren—three titles, bitter rivalries, and a car that couldn’t keep up—he was leaving. The Adelaide race would be his farewell.

And somehow, against all odds, he won.

In a car that had no business leading, Senna pulled off a masterpiece. When he crossed the line, even his fiercest rival, Prost (who finished second), climbed onto the podium with him. No fights. No politics. Just two old warriors sharing one last moment.

Three months later, Prost retired. A year after that, Senna was dead.

The End of the Party
By 1996, Melbourne had poached the race with bigger money and a shinier track. Adelaide’s final Grand Prix in ’95 was a funeral—Damon Hill won by lapping the entire field, as if to prove F1 had outgrown this scrappy street circuit.

Today, the track is just… roads again. A few signs mark where the pits once stood. The hairpin at Brewery Corner is now a roundabout. The screaming engines are long gone.

But if you stand there at sunset, when the light hits just right, you can almost hear it—the echoes of a time when Adelaide, against all odds, was the place where F1 legends were made.

And where one of the greatest said goodbye.