Chris
Premium
Turn One is a hard-braking zone, down to first gear and into a very tight right-hander that is more than 180 degrees. Although a driver can make a few positions here on the first lap, the start is normally ok because it's quite a wide first corner.
Turn Two is where it becomes tricky. If cars are going to touch anywhere on this circuit, it is likely to be at Turn Two as it pretty much files down to single file on the exit. It's a tricky corner to get right at the best of times, which is when you're on your own, let alone when you are surrounded by other cars at the start. It's also hard to get your foot down for traction on the exit of Turn Two because you can get a lot of wheel spin here.
Turn Three is an easy full-throttle corner - it's just a kink - but it can be quite a wearing corner physically because you are pulling quite high G-Forces for quite a long time. It wears you down and so you quite often see drivers taking little rests here by leaning their heads in the cock-pit.
There's a bump into Turn Four and over the years it has become quite a severe part of the track. It also means that we might see a lock-up or two here and that it has become a bit of a challenging corner.
Into Turn Five is where the circuit becomes exciting. You take a nice swooping entry up the inside of the exit of Turn Five - which is a bit of a sacrifice - to open up Turn Six and this is an area where a good car will make a difference because you need a lot of downforce to carry the momentum.
The run down to Turn Seven is a really nice part of the track as it leads into a double apex corner - there are actually two corners but you treat them as one because you clip one, run out wide, clip one, run out wide and it's really satisfying to get right. But it's also an area where having a good car will make a difference.
Braking down into Turn Nine, there's a 100-metre board on the right-hand side to look out for. Most of the time it's a first-gear corner - sometimes second, but mostly first - and it's easy to lock-up and make a mistake here. Again, traction is really important on the exit of Turn Nine into Turn Ten because you are turning all the time into ten and the car naturally wants to break away. That makes it very difficult to stay committed, especially when you're in a bad car that doesn't have much downforce. It's not unusual to see cars run wide around Turn Nine and into Turn Ten when they are struggling for grip.
Normally on the exit of Turn Ten you will hug the outside of the track, running the outside line, and then enter Turn Eleven from a blind crest.
Turn Eleven is a really difficult corner. It's a bit of a strange corner because you have to tighten up as you are downshifting and braking and then it immediately opens up on exit - which means it's one of those corners where you have to carry more speed than you really want to and you always exit thinking 'I could have carried more speed' but on the day that you do carry more speed you end up on the exit kerb. It's really frustrating to get right!
And then the circuit plummets down the hill towards Turn Twelve...
Turn Twelve is a true sign of which team has a good car or not because the guys who have a good car will take it full throttle whereas the guys who don't have good grip will have to back out. It's an incredibly fast part of the track and you can't believe when driving the car that you will be able to take it full throttle because the corner comes at you so fast. You have to run right up to the exit - but not too far, because it's a really severe exit kerb that can launch a car into the air and damage it.
The Turn Thirteen-Fourteen combination is, in my view, one of the hardest corners on the entire calendar. It's like Turn Eleven, but just even more exaggerated: it's a faster approach than thirteen, it's even harder to pick your line, it's tighter when slowing down and then it tightens even more before going uphill with an off-camber exit. And all of that is coupled with your rear tyres screaming at this stage of the lap that they've had enough of being overheated by such a fast section of the track.
It's a really important corner and, honestly, I don't think I've ever found the right line around there - it's one of the corners that feels different every single time. It's a really clever design but it frustrates the hell out of every single driver.
And more importantly, the exit of fourteen leads on to a massively long straight and an obvious overtaking opportunity so you can't afford not to get it right.
At the end of the straight, Turn Fifteen is a second-gear corner which leads into the pit-straight...and the start of another lap of a great circuit.
Turn Two is where it becomes tricky. If cars are going to touch anywhere on this circuit, it is likely to be at Turn Two as it pretty much files down to single file on the exit. It's a tricky corner to get right at the best of times, which is when you're on your own, let alone when you are surrounded by other cars at the start. It's also hard to get your foot down for traction on the exit of Turn Two because you can get a lot of wheel spin here.
Turn Three is an easy full-throttle corner - it's just a kink - but it can be quite a wearing corner physically because you are pulling quite high G-Forces for quite a long time. It wears you down and so you quite often see drivers taking little rests here by leaning their heads in the cock-pit.
There's a bump into Turn Four and over the years it has become quite a severe part of the track. It also means that we might see a lock-up or two here and that it has become a bit of a challenging corner.
Into Turn Five is where the circuit becomes exciting. You take a nice swooping entry up the inside of the exit of Turn Five - which is a bit of a sacrifice - to open up Turn Six and this is an area where a good car will make a difference because you need a lot of downforce to carry the momentum.
The run down to Turn Seven is a really nice part of the track as it leads into a double apex corner - there are actually two corners but you treat them as one because you clip one, run out wide, clip one, run out wide and it's really satisfying to get right. But it's also an area where having a good car will make a difference.
Braking down into Turn Nine, there's a 100-metre board on the right-hand side to look out for. Most of the time it's a first-gear corner - sometimes second, but mostly first - and it's easy to lock-up and make a mistake here. Again, traction is really important on the exit of Turn Nine into Turn Ten because you are turning all the time into ten and the car naturally wants to break away. That makes it very difficult to stay committed, especially when you're in a bad car that doesn't have much downforce. It's not unusual to see cars run wide around Turn Nine and into Turn Ten when they are struggling for grip.
Normally on the exit of Turn Ten you will hug the outside of the track, running the outside line, and then enter Turn Eleven from a blind crest.
Turn Eleven is a really difficult corner. It's a bit of a strange corner because you have to tighten up as you are downshifting and braking and then it immediately opens up on exit - which means it's one of those corners where you have to carry more speed than you really want to and you always exit thinking 'I could have carried more speed' but on the day that you do carry more speed you end up on the exit kerb. It's really frustrating to get right!
And then the circuit plummets down the hill towards Turn Twelve...
Turn Twelve is a true sign of which team has a good car or not because the guys who have a good car will take it full throttle whereas the guys who don't have good grip will have to back out. It's an incredibly fast part of the track and you can't believe when driving the car that you will be able to take it full throttle because the corner comes at you so fast. You have to run right up to the exit - but not too far, because it's a really severe exit kerb that can launch a car into the air and damage it.
The Turn Thirteen-Fourteen combination is, in my view, one of the hardest corners on the entire calendar. It's like Turn Eleven, but just even more exaggerated: it's a faster approach than thirteen, it's even harder to pick your line, it's tighter when slowing down and then it tightens even more before going uphill with an off-camber exit. And all of that is coupled with your rear tyres screaming at this stage of the lap that they've had enough of being overheated by such a fast section of the track.
It's a really important corner and, honestly, I don't think I've ever found the right line around there - it's one of the corners that feels different every single time. It's a really clever design but it frustrates the hell out of every single driver.
And more importantly, the exit of fourteen leads on to a massively long straight and an obvious overtaking opportunity so you can't afford not to get it right.
At the end of the straight, Turn Fifteen is a second-gear corner which leads into the pit-straight...and the start of another lap of a great circuit.
