Lap Record: Sebastien Vettel (Red Bull) 1min 40.279secs - 2009
Where is the circuit?
The Yas Marina circuit is based on Yas Island, a man-made island near the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. It is part of a large business park that includes the Yas Island hotel, which spans over the circuit, and Ferrari World theme park.
What about the track stats?
The circuit is 3.45 miles (5.554km) long, and like the previous circuit at Interlagos is run in an anti-clockwise direction. Like other recent Tilke circuits, it has a high number of corners – 21 in total – with 12 left hand turns and 9 right hand turns. It also has a unique pit lane exit, which runs underneath Turn 1 and rejoins the track at Turn 3
Lap Record: Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) 1min 11.473secs - 2004
Where is the circuit?
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace circuit is based in the Interlagos region of Sao Paulo, and is often named after the neighbourhodd that it is situated in. The name ‘Interlagos’ means ‘Between the Lakes’ in Portugese
What about the track stats?
The circuit is 2.676 miles (4.309km) long and is run in an anti-clockwise direction, putting tremendous strain on the driver’s necks. It has an official total of 15 corners overall, with 9 left hand turns and 6 right hand turns. It also has the longest pit lane currently in F1.
The brand new Korean International Circuit is based in the South Jeolla region of Korea, 400 kilometers south of the capital city Seoul.
What about the track stats?
The circuit will be 3.492 miles (5.621km) long and will become the fifth circuit on the Formula 1 calendar to run anti-clockwise – the other 4 being Istanbul, Singapore, Interlagos and Abu Dhabi.
What type of circuit is it?
The circuit will be a part-permanent, part-temporary circuit, but unusually for this type of circuit the temporary section will be based around the pit and paddock complex around the harbour.
What about its history?
Korea has no previous Formula 1 history, therefore this will be the first F1 race to be held in the country. The country has, however, hosted an international F3 race between 1999 and 2003 on a temporary street circuit in Changwon.
Which corners will challenge the drivers?
As we have no data at all from which to look at, we can only guess which corners will be challenging. From looking at the circuit map, it looks like the section betweens Turns 6 to 10 may be fast and give the drivers a challenge, but until the drivers drive the track we do not know.
What are the chances of a first corner incident?
From the circuit map it does look tight, but not too tight so there may not be a high chance of a first corner incident. And if it follows the example of recent new circuits and has tarmac run-off areas, then the drivers have an escape route should they get into any trouble.
And safety cars?
Once again we do not know what chances there is of a safety car until the drivers begin to drive the circuit. What may cause safety car periods is the driver’s unfamiliarity with the circuit, although by the race on Sunday I believe the drivers will have overcome this.
Where are the overtaking spots?
From looking at the circuit map, there appears to be two overtaking spots on the circuit. The first is down into Turn 1, as the drivers should carry good speed through the final few turns. The second appears to be at the end of the long back straight into Turn 3 as the drivers should be hitting their top speed just before this corner. However, we will wait and see if this is the case.
What about tyre wear and brake wear?
Again this is unknown. There may be some tyre wear on Friday as the drivers ‘clean’ the circuit and put rubber down on the track, but we do not know how they perform during the race.
And pit stops?
Again unknown as we do not know how the tyres will stand up. Should the tyres not give too much trouble during practice, then the teams will probably go with the norm and only stop the once.
A lap of the new circuit onboard with Karun Chandhok in the Red Bull
The Hungaroring circuit is in the Mogyorad area, around 18km to the north of Budapest. It has built into a shallow valley, giving great spectating areas.
What about the track stats?
The circuit length is 2.722 miles (4.381km), and runs in a clockwise direction. It is 14 turns in total, with 8 right handers and 6 left hand corners, and a top speed going into Turn 1 of around 185mph. Lap times last year were around the 1min 22secs mark last season, so expect them to be hitting this pace towards the end of the race.
What type of circuit is it?
Like the majority of the circuits in F1, it is a permanent racing circuit. But unlike the other circuits it is a low speed circuit which requires high downforce. As it is rarely used during the year, it is also a very dusty circuit which gets faster over the weekend than nearly every other permanent circuit on the calendar.
The Hockenheimring circuit, to give it’s official title, is based in the Baden-Wurttemberg region of northwest Germany. The circuit itself is actually based just to the East of the town of Hockenheim, on the other side of the E50 Autobahn.
What about the track stats?
The current form of the circuit is the third to exist. The previous two were known as fast circuits with high speeds, but the current version is slower. It is 2.842 miles (4.574km) long, and like many other circuits runs clockwise. The circuit has 13 turns in total, with 9 right hand corners and 4 left handers.
The Silverstone circuit is named after the village that it is based in, in rural Northamptonshire near Milton Keynes.
What about the track stats?
The newly-revamped Silverstone has been made longer, with the track length extending by nearly half a mile to 3.667 miles (5.901km). Like many other circuits, it is a clockwise circuit with a total of 18 turns, with 10 right-hand corners and 8 left handers.
The Canadian Grand Prix first appeared on the F1 calendar back in the late 1906’s, but didn’t move to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve until 1978. Since then, it has produced some memorable moments, and is believed by many to be one of F1’s great circuits, producing exciting racing and having a great atmosphere
Where is the circuit?
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is based on a man-made island in the St Lawrence seaway in Montreal, which was the venue for the rowing events during the 1976
Olympic Games
What about the track stats?
The circuit is 2.7 miles (4.361km) long, and like the majority of circuits on the calendar runs in a clockwise direction. Despite the majority of the circuit being made up of straights, the circuit has 13 corners, with only 5 left hand corners and 8 right hand turns. The top speed is expected to be around 200 mph just before the final chicane.
What type of circuit is it?
Similar to Albert Park, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a temporary circuit despite its appearance. Its long straights are only punctured by four chicanes and a hairpin at each end, which usually produces some excellent and close racing.
Recent Comments