Video lap of the new Bahrain circuit
Mark Webber drivers the revised Bahrain circuit in Red Bull's simulator
Red Bull have used their F1 simulator to produce a video lap of the revised Bahrain Grand Prix circuit.
Mark Webber narrates and drives the lap of the track which will hold the first practice session of the 2010 season in one weeks’ time. See below for the video.
Unfortunately the video doesn’t show the new section in great detail, but Webber does comment that it’s “very slow”.
From other images we have seen the new section looks narrower than the rest of the track and, given that it is not used as often as the rest of the circuit, it is likely to offer less grip.
When details of the change were announced the circuit chairman said he expected the new loop would offer “new overtaking opportunities” but from seeing this it doesn’t seem very likely.
Thanks to Red Bull for the video. I especially like that the second thing Webber could think of to say about the Bahrain Grand Prix was “not many people around…”
Read more: Bahrain gets longer, slower new layout
I wonder if the Red Bull simulator throws in the odd engine failure for real authenticity?
Good one man!! really funny..he he..:-)
Probably depends on wether it’s practice or the race.
They had only one engine failure during the race for both cars.
Yes, it does. But only when Vettel is driving.
Yeah it does only when Vettel is driver, but it does have some hydraulic failures when Webber is driving…
I like Webber. I wish him all the best this year because the clock is ticking for him
He looked very quick and consistent in testing (I know it was only testing), I think he’ll be closer to Vettel this year maybe even in front, I certainly think he can race better.
Actually, last season Webber was ahead of Vettel with only 6 races to go.
Of course, in those last few races, he got punted off by Kubica in Monza, suffered a brake failure in Singapore and had a multitude of technical problems in Japan.
Yeh, it was great to see him finish the season with the 1st & 2nd finishes in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Great video. Often wondered what these pro-simulators looked like (yes, a sad F1 gamer/overlooked F1 champ to the core).
Agree Webber seems to be one of the good guys. And in true Aussie style, tells it like it is. Certainly wish him all the best for the new season, but suspect Vettel will pip him again though. Key to this will be in Vettel curbing his enthusiasm and thus managing his car better, especially now tyre wear is going to prove a major factor in deciding postions, and ultimately, the championship.
Webber, I suspect, finds himself in the uneviable postion, of having to drive with a pacey racey teammate. Perhaps Button and Webber could spill a few beers on the subject before the season is out.
“Pretty slow to be honest”…Mark doesn’t sound convinced that the circuit change will have much of an effect.
Interesting that the “3 genuine overtaking opportunites” are all at corners which were on the “original” layout.
This extended circuit doesn’t provide new one’s it looses an old one. It does come at the end of an old one so I suppose what it is really for is to try and induce wheel to wheel from diferrent exit lines on the precedeing corner in an overtaking attempt.
It’s a bit like the luffield section really, a silly mickey mouse corner which subtracts from the overall character of the circuit.
Anyone agrees with me that Red Bull should do this as a video series for every race of the season?
Hope they do, would be good to see more of the track than the driver though.
They should have had a picture-in-picture on track at all times…
agree. It irritated me that they kept cutting away.
Agreed.
I agree. Also how awesome would it be if you actually have a go in one of these, assuming you’re good enough. I’d probably spin out on the first corner.
One of my friends did work experience with Mclaren in secondary school and he got to have a go in the simulator.
Lucky guy.
He’s not even really interested in F1 so it was wasted on him!
I drove a Stewart Simulater ages ago in Edinburgh’s Museum of Scotland! Must have been about 12 or so, great fun, harder but more engaging than PS or Xbox!!
I had a go in the Hexatech simulator recently:
Driving the F1 simulator which gives teams “the best way to cheat”
I’m looking into arranging a return visit to drive a fully F1-specced version for a future article.
It would be really great. Completely agree.
Compared to the new layout http://pickle92.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/800px-bahrain_international_circuit-endurance_circuit-svg1.png, the old track basically went straight from turn 4 to turn 15 – they’ve added 10 turns. And although the new section makes the track more interesting on paper, there’s something that feels pointlessly convoluted about it.
I’ve driven the 2010 Bahrain layout in rFactor and the new section is simply awful.
Very slow and fiddly – it will provide zero overtaking opportunities. To be honest I don’t know how anyone involved in designing this section ever thought it would help.
After having looked at the map that maciek posted they must have thought that turns 9, 11 and 14 were the “new” overtaking opportunities. But after having seen Webber’s simulation lap, they seem to have just added 9 corners for the sake of making the circuit a bit longer, thus reducing the number of laps in the race, which means that there will be a few less chances to overtak though the “3 genuine overtaking opportunites” that Webber pointed out.
Good point. Agree.
In the long run the have removed more overtaking opportunite because now there is only 49 laps instead of 57 laps so thats at least 24 less chances.
I like this new track. Is bigger, more emotion on one lap!
Less laps though, so less overtaking = Less “emotion”.
I actually think I agree with Ylan Marcel, it really divided the circuit into a slow twisty part and a faster free flowing part.. After they are done with the new section I actually felt quite excited about the faster part, which didn’t really stand out for me in the past..
It’s interesting that it goes from one extreme to the other.. I think it made the circuit much more diverse, not sure how will it affect the racing, but it will affect they way they set up the cars..
The editing makes it very difficult to follow the circuit.
For the circuit management to claim this loop will offer “new overtaking oppurtunities” is quite simply a lie.
Mickey Mouse just moved from Disney World to Bahrain. It’s very poor stuff.
Mark webber is so cool
Is there a rule somewhere that forbids fast tracks???
This loop is simply stupid.
Off topic but the forums aren’t here anyway there’s an interesting piece on Stefan GP here http://www.f1technical.net/news/14333?sid=068c8c094f83a122ed0c2d2069d648a3 I don’t know how trustworthy it is mind so any help would be great.
Went and read that, then popped around the net to see what else was to be had.
From what I can gather, a lot was lost in the translation. AMCO has released a statement apologising for any misunderstandings. But, geeez, if they are trying to communicate with a sector that is primarily English-speaking, they really needed to employ a native English speaker to write their website/press releases.
They say, what they meant to convey was that one of their engineers had worked on the engine project with another company. Said project of other company was sold to Bundeswher. They mentioned this evidently to illustrate the calibre of employees on the payroll.
And there was a lot of talk of AMCO being some sort of “shell” corporation, only put together in 2008, having a small income and only one employee. And AMCO supposedly owns StefanGP. Well, actually, I don’t see a problem there. It’s common practice to create a limited liability corporation to own another company, to protect one’s main company(NOT AMCO) from untoward loss if a new venture goes toes-up. That of course is the intent of a “limited liability” corp–most all countries have this business option, and if you check I’ll bet your dentist and his partners share the practice under a LLC. I believe Zoran Stefanovich owns, or is a stockholder, in companies other than AMCO. So AMCO, to own StefanGP, was his way of—quite legally–protecting his other investments and other shareholders.
There was also a lot comparing AMCO to Qadbak, which I reject. At least AMCO’s info was readily available, which is more than I can say for Qadbak.
Of course, I could have read it all wrong, and am open to correction.
The least they could have done was employ a good translator to make sure there weren’t any misunderstandings like this.
Thanks Dsob. I agree with you and Mark, would think they would have got a good translator :S
Another pointless Mickey Mouse piece of crap.
Shame that during the new section it mainly showed Webber talking rather than the simulation.
yer I watched this video podcast earlier today, good stuff from RBR, they seem to be the only team that do something for the fans…
Also good little video too….cheers Red Bull
Is that a James Bond orchestral piece? I just thought of a new job for Webber when he finishes up
Also wish he’d taken a swipe at Bahrain nicking our first GP status!
You know what…you may just have a good thought there.
Webber certainly has the physique for it, also the accent…well, AN accent…big square jaw, dark hair. And he already has a sort of raffish attitude about things.
Never really enjoyed any of the Bond actors after Connery, but Webber just might do it.
Yes, I can see Webber as Bond, James Bond.
Webber’s favourite film is, for real, the uber-lame Top Gun. No James Bond.
Touche! That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the background music too. But seriously, that simulator looks fun as hell. I find it odd though that they have modelled so much of the trackside scenery and sponsor logos and what not in the simulator. Seems kind of pointless…
Drivers use trackside scenery to determine braking points, I think Alonso said that he aims for a specific tree on the entrance to Eau Rouge. So in this respect, the more realistic the better.
Which James Bond music is it?
Couldn’t agree with you more on the first GP status. Through many years of watching F1 I’ve always found Albert Park to be the best opening race of the season. Great track, great atmosphere, and it came on at a wonderful time (10:00 pm) here in the states, before they made it a twilight race.
I think the Bahrain circuit is one of the worst on the calendar, and I can’t help to think they’ve been given the opening race to try and increase attendance and tv ratings.
Great video tho from RBR, hope to see many more even if they’re edited in a not so great fashion.
The background music was used last year in their dreamsphere video as well.
It sounds a lot like Muse’s Map of the Problematique
- Mark Webber is great; a driver who says what he thinks. My favorite example of this was when Formula1.com interviewed him about Valencia and they asked “Do you like this circuit?” and he simply answered “No.”
- I don’t understand the Bahrain’s first corner followed by a kink. Isn’t that going to stretch out the cars the same way the first sequence of turns does at China?
At China? Don’t know where you mean.
The first 3 corners of Bahrain actually work quite well because you can overtake into turn 1, then there’s a switchback for 2 and 3, which are laid out so it doesn’t feel like a chicane (and therefore doesn’t drive and have the effect of one), so cars can stay closer together there than a chicane.
If people wrote forum posts DUN DUN DUN DOON DOON DUN DUN Hi, I’m the writer and look at my face like they cut that DUN DUN DOON DOON video, nobody would COMPUTER GRAPHICS COMPUTER GRAPHICS be able to DUN DOON DOON DUN DUN DUN understand I have a chiseled jaw and look very cool COMPUTER GRAPHICS understand anything COMPUTER GRAPHICS DUN DUN DUN DUN anyone wrote.
very much agreed. That extends to TV generally these days.. it’s why I threw mine in a skip
Two different mediums, doesn’t translate the same. I agree it was cut in an irritatingly sensationalized way like most TV is anymore, but your comparison falls a little short. It still made sense, it only focused on the wrong things. Always know your audience: most people watching this will be fans wanting to get an in-car view of the new track.
I don’t like how this was cut either, but if you’re going to compare apples to oranges at least have a good grasp of how both mediums work.
Still don’t understand why we need this new loop anyway.
They said it was partly because of the extra cars and they said it would create an overtaking opportunity.
I don’t think the former was necessary even with 26 cars – and we’ve only got 24 now. And I’m not convinced at all there’ll be an overtaking opportunity in that sequence.
Two possible explanations spring to mind.
This slower section will probably reduce the demand on the brakes over a lap, and with fewer laps that’ll mean less pain for the brakes. That could be why they’ve done it, especially with this being the first race of the season, but it’s not a very good reason.
Alternatively they might be hoping that this slower section will cause teams to run higher-downforce setups, increasing drag and therefore making it easier for the cars to slipstream each other on the straights.
But this is just guesswork!
That slipstreaming thing is a great point Keith.. I hadn’t thought of that.
The most memorable quote I ever heard on F1 was live on ITV from Ralf Schumacher when he was driving for Jordan – he was asked a question about what had gone wrong and his response was “Basically we ****** up”. Classic!