(Motorsport-Total.com) – “I would definitely bet my money on a red flag, that much is certain,” says Pierre Gasly when asked what he thinks of the new street circuit of the Madring. Risk and difficulty level were the common denominator in almost all conversations with the drivers about the track and its layout.
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While all drivers have completed the course in the simulator, the only real reference – apart from a slightly controversial Ferrari filming day in July – was a Formula 3 test at the end of last month. It can safely be said that this went anything but smoothly: no less than 19 red flags and three completely destroyed cars were recorded in the end.
The incidents that caused the red flags and uncomfortable repair bills were by no means concentrated in one spot but were spread over the entire lap – especially in the second sector with its numerous chicanes, blind corners, and the steep curve “La Monumental”.
One of the most fascinating insights from the interviews was how few drivers spoke negatively about the Madring – even compared to Jeddah, whose layout had to be revised after criticism between its first and second appearances on the calendar.
The impression arises that the drivers can hardly wait to take on this challenge.
Between fun and danger
“I think this track will be extremely difficult for us drivers,” says Franco Colapinto. “In the simulator, it took me hours to put together a single error-free lap. So imagine how it will be here when you only have two or three laps to do that. Hitting that perfect lap will be damn hard.”
“The course has a bit of everything. If you take everything you find spread over the 24 races on the calendar and mix it together, you probably get something like this track. So I’m happy and looking forward to trying it out.”
“It’s a bit intimidating,” admits Sergio Perez. “It reminds me a little of Jeddah. A good, real race track. I’m really excited to be here, and I think the atmosphere will be one of the best ever.”
When asked how mercilessly the track would punish mistakes, Perez answers like a shot: “I think: extremely. It all depends on how much grip we get, but I believe there is absolutely no room for errors. It’s very rare – depending on which corner you make a mistake in – that you get away with it. In most places, there simply is no margin for that.”
In the consequence-free world of the simulator, most drivers have already made their biggest mistakes. Now it’s about fine-tuning: “As far as driving goes, I have to say it was extremely fun and very exciting in the simulator,” explains Gasly.
“I got to know pretty much every single wall at every single corner very well – so I now know very well what I should and shouldn’t do. But I think it will be a huge challenge, especially regarding track evolution. It will probably build up an extreme amount of grip,” says the Frenchman.
“Then there are these slightly slanted braking zones that don’t run completely straight but rather snake, very twisty corner sections, many blind corners, banking, uphill and downhill – it’s up and down all the time.”
The flow will be important
Photos and TV images tend to make inclines and declines look flat, so the elevation changes will likely be less noticeable to viewers at home. However, the flow of the track will have a huge impact on lap times.
From the end of the first sector through the entire second section, the course presents a highly technical challenge. For example, the second chicane leads directly into an incline, so the drivers have to carry as much momentum as possible – but at the exit, the wall is right there, and the approach line is further complicated by aggressive curbs.
New Formula 1 tracks since 2000
Regarding the balance of risk and reward, the section shows parallels to the chicane at the Norisring, where the fastest line is to kiss the wall at the exit. However, at the Norisring, there are no aggressive curbs at the entrance that inevitably catapult the car into the wall if the approach is not perfect.
This is an aspect of the track that drivers will have to adapt to extremely quickly, as the simulations may not have been able to depict the curbs with ultimate precision.
“I think Monaco is even less forgiving,” assesses Arvid Lindblad. “But yes, it is not a very forgiving track. I believe there is hardly any room left on all today’s street circuits. This one definitely leaves very little room for mistakes.”
Reality hard to simulate
“That is probably also the hardest thing to simulate. In offline simulations, but also in the simulators we drive, the developers, I believe, get measurement data from the FIA with a photo that says: ‘It looks like this, and it is so and so many centimeters wide and long,’ or whatever,” says the Brit.
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“But yes, that is exactly what is hardest to simulate. Therefore, I would say purely from a driver’s perspective that this will be a challenge. These are not small kerbs; these are real curbs – so we will have to attack them hard.”
Unlike the steep curve in Zandvoort, which most drivers hardly perceive as a real corner because the speed there is limited more by engine power than by mechanical grip, “La Monumental” is a corner where grip is the limiting factor.
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So there could be some experiments before the drivers agree on the ideal line. Also, one or two accidents are not excluded when drivers test the limits of a corner where they are at full throttle for over four seconds – or close to it.
After the Formula 3 test, the track was cleaned intensively to remove the greasy layer that forms when freshly laid asphalt cools and part of the binder comes to the surface. Nevertheless, grip conditions remain uncertain, and the track will change massively over the weekend.
It is equally likely that the ideal line will develop faster than the rest of the track surface. This could lead to scenarios like in Miami, where the course is extremely slippery off the ideal line – especially when the tires deposit rubber during practice, qualifying, and the race.
This would punish lack of precision doubly and make overtaking maneuvers extremely tricky, as a defending driver can simply “park” the car on the ideal line.
Many blind corners
One thing that will not change this weekend is the technical challenge of the many blind corners. Most of them are corners with late apexes that require drivers to turn in before they can even see the apex.
“You basically approach the corner from a blind spot and have to try to hit an imaginary point a few hundred meters ahead,” explains Alexander Albon.
“That is damn hard. It requires countless repetitions and muscle memory to get the timing right. Because you simply don’t see the apex. So you fully rely on your internal clock and almost try to hold on to imaginary reference points to know where the apex is.”
As in Jeddah, the blind corners are likely to cause fireworks especially in qualifying when drivers on fast laps suddenly catch up to competitors on in- or out-laps.
Top teams still at an advantage?
The demands of the track will also amplify the differences between the cars, as vehicles with more efficient downforce can extract better performance from the electric components of their power units.
“Technically, there are many corners on this track that are driven at between 90 and 100 percent throttle,” explains Albon. “I think the top teams will manage that fully. For the midfield and backmarker teams, that means more lifting, which in turn has huge effects on energy deployment. Whether you can drive a corner flat out or not changes the way deployment works massively.”
“And you don’t want to experience in qualifying that these corners suddenly all go flat out and your deployment becomes completely unpredictable. That’s exactly what we’ve seen so far,” says the Williams driver.
“The technical component will be: Can you build a car that cleans the curbs well from corner 1 to corner 5? At the same time, you want stiffness in the car for sector 2 and sector 3 because a stiffer car simply generates more downforce there,” he says. “But then you sacrifice running over the curbs in corners 1 and 2.”
“And the last question is: Will it be one of those weekends where you just throw the car over the curbs in the second run of Q3 – or for us in the third run of Q1? I mean, these corners 5 and 6 … I hope there is a rhythm there and it’s not that bad. But it feels like there is an angle where you just go full throttle.”
“If you come out cleanly on the other side, you’re two or three tenths faster. And if you don’t want to take the risk, you lose those few tenths. What we’ve also seen in the simulator: The tires will absolutely scream for help here.”
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