If there’s one track which Formula One drivers can lap with their eyes closed it is the Circuit de Catalunya.
Its variety of corners makes it a revealing benchmark track for the season ahead. Especially as teams often use it to introduce their first major upgrades of the season.
But having already logged a combined 7,400 laps of the track in pre-season testing this year alone, the venue is unlikely to offer the drivers any surprises.
Key places to watch will be turns three and nine, which the new-generation cars are expected to tackle flat-out. Will that allow them to qualify five seconds faster than they did two years ago?
They’ve already lapped quicker than that in testing. However that was achieved on super-soft tyres which won’t be available this weekend. This will be the true test.
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A lap of the Circuit de Catalunya
Daniel Ricciardo calls the Barcelona track “one of the better circuits on the calendar” which as “got a bit of everything”.
The entry speed to turn one is fairly high which means drivers have to be fully committed to make an overtaking move work. It’s one of the reasons why passing at this track is especially difficult.
Turn three previously required a lift on the throttle to achieve an entry speed of around 210kph. This is no longer the case, which may allow drivers to adjust their exit from turn two accordingly.
Last year the two Mercedes drivers got no further than turn four during the race as they collided while disputing the lead. On an ordinary lap drivers are minded to avoid locking the front brake before taking an early apex.
The track drops as the drivers quickly approach the next corner. “The hairpin into turn five, going down you don’t see the apex until late, so it’s a tricky corner,” explains Romain Grosjean.
Turn six serves only to keep sign-writers in employment; the next true corner is number seven. This was a significant braking zone last year, where drivers reduced their speed by around half. They should be able to attack it with considerably more commitment this time.
The final sector of the lap is considerably slower than it was when the circuit first opened 26 years ago. Turn ten became a sharp hairpin in the name of overtaking back in 2004, with mixed results at best. It is “very tricky under braking” according to Grosjean. This begins a busy sequence of mostly slow corners.
Turn 12 is the only corner left on this part of the track which is unchanged from the original configuration. The long turn sets the drivers up for the sharp, slow right-left-right which was introduced ten years ago as the run-off on this section of the track was though too small for the old, high-speed final corners. The final corner is much the same as it was, but the approach speed is now so low it’s just an acceleration zone.
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montreal95 (@montreal95)
10th May 2017, 12:21
A ruined and boring track, one of the worst on the calendar from the fans perspective, and much less demanding than it once was for the drivers. Also, if turns 3 and 9 are easy flat, then it means that the last real challenges for the drivers are gone and this circuit is now a “worthy” follow up to Sochi. Not really looking forward to this GP, neither qualy nor race.
Dim sim (@dimsim)
10th May 2017, 12:31
Terrible track made even worse with the tarmac run off and the useless chicane at the end of the lap.
F1 started out as an idea of the greatest drivers on the worlds greatest tracks. Now we have Palmer and Barcelona. Vomit.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
10th May 2017, 12:45
@dimsim To be honest, F1 had had bad circuits and bad drivers from the beginning. All those rich privateers from the 50’s would make Palmer look like a driving god. And AVUS circuit would make Barcelona look like Suzuka. But it’s the balance that is the problem. Now we have too many tracks that are as bad or worse than Montmelo: Sochi, Abu dhabi, Baku, Mexico. That’s fully a quarter of the calendar! And some of the rest are not much better…
mfreire
10th May 2017, 14:13
AVUS was not really a road circuit. It was actually comparable to a NASCAR oval. It was just 2 straights with hairpins at each end and a slight right before one of the hairpins. There has also been Las Vegas, Phoenix (although that was a decent track for racing, and the ’91 circuit was an improvement), Valencia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Nivelles, among others.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
10th May 2017, 15:03
@mfreire I know what AVUS was. I was just mentioning an awful circuit example regardless of the type. All those circuits you’d mentioned are awful too(though Bahrain is better than Catalunya IMO). I’d also add Pedralbes, Jarama, Buddh, Bugatti Le Mans, Zolder, Aida and Zeltweg.
P.S I’d counted all those you and I mentioned up and it’s 20. A full 28 percent of the 71 circuits used so far since 1950! Also exactly the same number as in the current season. Pity some of those don’t exist anymore. Otherwise we could’ve had the magnificent F1 Worst Circuits Ever Championship TM
Daniel
10th May 2017, 19:11
Don’t worry, cars won’t go flatout on T9, as they didn’t on testings.
The 2017 cars are actually slower than the 2006 and 2010 ones, on T9:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6lenTKRdg
frood19 (@frood19)
10th May 2017, 13:05
it gets unwarranted criticism – the layout is superb except for the ruined final sector but even that makes it a bit more interesting in terms of requiring some low speed mechanical performance as well as just pure aero. however, i doubt we’ll see much passing…
mfreire
10th May 2017, 14:00
What I still fail to understand is why a chicane was put on the track before the last corner. Those last 2 corners are absolutely not unsafe at all. It ruins the flow of the track and hurts overtaking into the first 2 corners.
Bustertje
10th May 2017, 15:32
MotoGP used the old lay-out untill Luis Salom’s fatal accident in that corner last year.
Michael Brown (@)
10th May 2017, 19:15
I think there is sufficient run off for F1 to safely use the last two turns of the original track.
Fireblade
10th May 2017, 19:45
It should play to Mercedes strengths, especially their superior top speed. Much like Sochi, the long straight following the start will allow the Merc’s to stay in front (if they’re on the front row) or to pass the Ferrari’s (if they’re on the front row).
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
10th May 2017, 21:05
As I recall, just one Merc did that at Sochi…just. ;)
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
11th May 2017, 8:12
The original track had a really nice flow and was mostly mid to high speed corners.
For the cars in the early 90’s I thought it was a great layout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VIg88o1plM
Zomtec
11th May 2017, 8:40
I watched a video of the 1993 GP yesterday and thought exactly the same. Especially those last two corners :(
Michael Brown (@)
12th May 2017, 23:16
How to improve the final sector:
-Use the original turn 13
-Change the final turn into a slow 90-degree corner