F1 Fanatic

All of it, really. Maybe just the straight going up the hill doesn’t, but the rest, it’s just old tarmac and not in brilliant shape.

They are saying they might sign the contracts in two months, so we’ll see!

Shame the more I look at it the more I like the general shape. But I don’t like this ‘official’ configuration. I wouldn’t mind the slow switchback section with the roundabout- if there wasn’t a slow chicane preceding it. I wouldn’t mind the slow chicane- if the track continued relatively straight to the next hairpin without the roundabout. And I wouldn’t mind that whole section at all if the chicane were fast. And the rest, long straights and hairpins, is relatively unique, and could lead to close pack racing. What I hate are the first 2 corners, and probably the turns 4-7 complex.

Has anybody else noticed that there has been a sudden shift in Formula 1 from Asia to the Americas? We used to have just Canada and Brazil. Now we’re getting two rounds in America in the space of two years, plus the possibility of another in Argentina, and the Mexicans are said to be looking at potential venues for a race. Where just 10% of the races took place in the Americas last year, they will host a quarter of the calendar in 2013 (if Argentina happens).

This coincides with the WRC teams pushing for extra rounds in the Americas.

Well, he has said that he wants to get South Africa back in the game once the Russians have joined in 2014. If he does it, we will then have a race on each and every continent.

Would you be willing to trade Portugal for Russia? Portugal isn’t going to happen any time soon. I doubt South Africa is, either – maybe Malaysia can have that because Sepang is a great circuit and the temperature and humidity make it a physically demanding race.

Sochi doesn’t look too bad. It’s all nice and fast sections, with regularly-spaced corners, and it’s about six kilometres long. It looks like a cross between Albert Park and Monaco. I am also led to believe that venues like the ice hockey rink and the skating rings will be separate, but use a centralised cooling system. This will involve a network of pipes running under the entire park to keep the facilities cool, so the circuit surface will actually have a relatively low and sable tempterature, which will make getting heat into the tyres difficult.

And while it is cost-cutting, the design of the circuit was integrated into the plans for the Olympic Precinct, rather than added in afterwards.

@cjpdk – I think it would be boring for two reasons: first of all, ever since the circuit was opened, people have been hyping it up as the perfect venue for Formula 1. Any race at the circuit would have to meet massive expectations. Looking at the circuit itself, it would probably demand higher downforce settings than most circuits, so passing would be a bit of a problem.

Secondly, everyone is basing this hype on the TC2000 and GT1 races at the circuit. Touring car and GT1 racing is wildly different to open-wheel racing like Formula 1, so the races TC2000 and GT1 have produced are not necessarily representative of the racing Formula 1 would produce.