F1 drivers foresee chaos in Madrid: “It’s going to be something crazy”

One of the most repeated themes in the paddock of monza last weekend was what is expected from the premiere of the new circuit of Madringwhere this weekend the Spanish F1 GP.

The protagonists, drivers and team leaders, are looking forward to what they can experience on a track with so much character and uniqueness. But if everyone is clear about one thing, it is that the difficulty for the pilots will be enormous and they warn that the pilots will have no margin for error. The race could be exciting and chaotic, with a high probability of safety cars and red flags.

“What will Madring be like? Very crazy”, Hülkenberg said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo that we will publish in the coming days. “You’ll see…”he said with a smile, without wanting to give many details. But his face said it all.

“It will be a track that evolves a lot. But with what I have seen, I think that It will be exciting. I classify it as something between Jeddah and Monaco. “The wall is very close and leaves no room for error.”he expressed for his part Aston Martin’s Mike Krack.

“A car wrecker, the F3 broke three chassis and six suspensions”

One of the most forceful when talking about Madring was the head of Williams, James Vowles. After the 19 red flags that occurred in the recent two days of testing carried out by the FIA ​​F3 drivers and after the drivers have tested it in the simulator to prepare for the race, Vowles is clear.

Firstly, he expressed the enormous difficulty that it represents not only for the pilots, Also for cars, the long iconic curve of this track, ‘La Monumental’. And unlike other banking on the calendar such as Zandvoort, it is a very long banked curve, with a final length of 547.82 meters and a bank with lateral inclinations that range between 18% and 25%an inclination that varies and with a final change in gradient that makes you exit that curve blindly, looking only at the sky.

“We have been surprised in the data by the amount of sustained Gs that we are going to have on the cant. “I think we’re talking more than four and a half seconds at very high G-force, which is a challenge for oil systems… It’s something that’s pretty much non-existent on the calendar, so it’s a unique feature,” Vowles said.

I think it will be a challenge. I see the smile on your face. “We also want to.”

And also, probably the most important thing for me, in the Formula 3 test there were nine red flags: three broken chassis and six broken suspensions. Okay, they are Formula 3 drivers, but it is a circuit that destroys cars (he defined it in English as ‘car killer track’). So it will be interesting to see what happens,” said the Briton.

And after the words of his boss, Sainz confirmed it.

“Seeing the circuit and knowing what happened in the Formula 3 test, I think we are all expecting safety cars, red flags, yellow flags, problems in qualifying and things like that,” said Sainz.

“Because of how they have placed the barriers and the design of the circuit, it is going to be one of the biggest challenges we have seen recently in Formula 1. I think the layout reminds me a lot of Jeddah, also of Baku and even, in some aspects, a bit of Macau. So having a circuit like that in Formula 1, with 1,000 horsepower cars, is going to be a quite interesting challenge. We will see how it goes,” said the local driver.

“You have to wait for it to happen and then take stock, but I think the F3 test went quite well in that the drivers came out of the circuit surprised, I think it is one of the most difficult circuits they have ever done in their lives,” argued Carlos, who helped the promoter with his assessments prior to the growth of the design, with the aim of giving character to the track.

“That already gives the circuit character, it gives the circuit personality, which I think is important when you enter F1 new, having character and personality, which is what I asked of the circuit. And then we will have to evaluate whether it has gone beyond character and personality and has become crazy. circuit or if it is a very fun circuit with overtaking and so on, so for that we will have to wait.

“I’m excited about Madrid, of course. It’s another new circuit to discover. It’s going to be an incredible feeling. Before Madrid I will be in Barcelona on Wednesday. I have an event there where I will also drive some cars. So I’m looking forward to being in Spain again next week,” he commented. Fernando Alonso last Thursday.

High degradation

Another problem added to the difficulty of the track and the high probability of making a mistake that takes you against the wall is the high degradation that the tires could have.

“Yes, I agree,” said Vowles.

“What usually happens is that, as the track has little grip and the grip increases, we actually tend to get away with it, strangely enough. But you’re right, it could be a problem. It could be temperatures, degradation and also the new surface material. “If you remember the first year in Miami, the asphalt was not entirely adequate and, in reality, we did not end up having degradation, but a lot of movement and sliding, and we had to repave the circuit as a consequence,” recalled the Williams boss.

“Any time you create a new circuit quickly — and this one has been created quickly — there are these risks. In my opinion, the biggest risk is that we may not have the quality of racing that you expect on Sunday, in addition to some technical problems that could include breaks in the cars,” he concluded.

Advances?

Vowles considered that it seems like a circuit where it will be difficult to overtake. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz considers that there will be opportunities to do so thanks to the current regulations, since they allow them to closely follow the car in front and have a difference in electrical energy to attempt the attack.

“Yes, you said it well,” Carlos responded when asked if this regulation allowed overtaking at the Madring on a track that with the previous regulations would have made it difficult for overtaking to occur.

“I think that looking at the first circuit like this there don’t seem to be clear overtaking pointswhich is still one of the things that can be improved after the first race, if we give feedback to the circuit and the circuit is available to improve, because everyone wants to see races with overtaking and we will have to find a way and that is where I will also be able to contribute my grain of sand to see how it can be improved. Therefore, an open mind to the feedback that can be given and flexibility to be able to improve or change the things that need to be changed,” said Sainz who launched a final request.

“The only thing I ask of everyone who is involved in the project, both Formula 1, the drivers and the circuit, is to have an open mind to the feedback that the drivers may give after the Grand Prix and that like all the destinations we have been to, as Miami, Mexico, for the first time, Baku… which always improved over time as feedback was given and the project was improved. And be patient, because it is impossible to get everything right in the first year, so as long as there is flexibility and the desire to improve and learn, I believe it is destined to be a Grand Prix,” he concluded before the Spanish press in Monza.