Track Focus: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Once again the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is our destination for preseason testing. Despite a huge capacity of 140,000, the track has received heavy critique within the F1 community. The sheer amount of testing that takes place here means that drivers and teams are incredibly familiar with the track layout and the setups needed to get the most out of the car. In addition, the circuit is famous for having a lack of overtaking which is odd considering it has the longest start/finish straight on the F1 calendar. These factors, when all together, mean racing here is usually rather dull and processional.
On the other hand, it is the ideal location for testing. The long straight allows cars to reach speeds close to what is considered to be their maximum. This combined with the sweeping curves of turn 1, 2 and 3 gives the teams a good insight to the downforce the car has. The middle sector compromises of the slow turn 4 and 5 yet the fast corners of 6, 7, 8 and the deceivingly fast turn 9, a corner that test the limits of grip. The final sector focuses towards the slow, tight corners that really test the handling of the car. The 2007 introduction of the unpopular third sector chicane, allows drivers to accelerate hard and gives a good idea of the wheelspin the car produces on exit. When you put all this together, you get a track that tests both straight line speed, downforce, slow speed handling and gives teams a good idea of whether the car is hard on its tyres or not. Therefore it is perfect for teams to see if their cars need any modification before the season gets under way.
The official lap record of this 4.652 km (2.889 mi) track stands at 1:21.670, set by Kimi Raikkonen in 2008. However, the absolute fastest ever lap recorded was a blistering 1:19.995 by Mark Webber in 2010. I fully expect both times to be beaten this season with regulation changes
suggesting cars will complete laps that are 5 seconds faster than last season.
What you need to remember when viewing the time sheets over the next week is that these times are unlikely to be relative to the actual pace of the car when the season begins. Who remembers Ferrari looking the strongest in the preseason in 2016? Turns out last season was one of their worst campaigns in recent years. Although testing will give teams a good idea of their car performance, don't expect to see the true pace of each car and certainly don't make any predictions yet. Its still all to play for and now I'm even more excited than ever to see the season get under way!
