How did they get the Madring track so wrong? – F1 Q&A
How did they get the Madring track so wrong? – F1 Q&A. Given that half the track is custom built (ie not having to conform to street layouts), how did they get it so wrong and will substantial changes be made ahead of next year? – MattIt's a good question.
What happened
Image source, ReutersImage caption, Kimi Antonelli in the lead of the Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris behindPublished7 hours agoMercedes' Kimi Antonelli stretched his lead in the drivers' standings with victory at the first Spanish Grand Prix held at the Madring. Antonelli wins as Norris loses out under virtual safety carPublished1 day agoThe new Madring circuit looks like one of the worst on the calendar for entertaining racing. Even before the race weekend began, drivers were predicting that overtaking would be next to impossible at the new Madring, and they were proved right.
The track is effectively a start-from-scratch layout built partly as a new track and partly on existing roads around the Ifema exhibition centre near Madrid's Barajas international airport. It is, therefore, mystifying as to how they got it so wrong, as the problems could be foreseen by anyone with an understanding of F1. Another is, as the drivers pointed out, a lot of the corners have entries where drivers have to combine braking and turning, which makes overtaking extremely difficult, as well as walls that come back towards the track on corner exit.
They can make it into a track that's good for racing, and I'm excited to come back here next year if they can make these changes because I think it's a track that is good fun to drive and it can be a great race track.
The wider picture
This was more fractured and over a much larger area than at any other track, which made working for F1 personnel difficult in a number of ways. The VSC has always had issues – it freezes a race rather than resets it, which can be a bit boring compared to an actual safety car – but it has the benefit of minimising disruption when a track hazard can be cleared relatively quickly. What happened to Norris – a driver lost a race win because his specific track positioning at the time of a VSC meant he alone was unable to pit under it – is, to the best anyone could remember on Sunday, unique.
"Is it correct to give enough duration such that everyone will have been subject to the same track conditions? BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after the Spanish Grand Prix. Max Verstappen finished second in the Red Bull and McLaren's Lando Norris completed the top three. Norris, who was leading, lost out having passed the pit entry immediately before the virtual safety car was called. As Lando Norris put it witheringly after the race: "I don't know how someone looks at this design and goes: 'Mint. '"There are some key issues.
What has been reported
The main one is the lack of a long straight leading into a big braking zone. And another is the ultra-long pit lane – the longest on the calendar. The longer a pit lane, the more the time loss for a pit stop, so the less chance of having more than a one-stop race. And if tyre degradation is high, that means more tyre management, driving further under the limit, and less chance of accidents and therefore safety cars.
The good news is it is not hard to see how it could be fixed. "Norris suggested removing turns 18 and 19 and "making a straight line from 17 to 20, have a much wider entry like Austin Turn One or Turn 10 in Austin. . . big hairpin". That, he said, would "create much better opportunities for everyone and you'll be able to enjoy the race". He also advocated what he called "some trickier changes", such as changing the unpopular, clumsy chicane at Turn Five, and the section from there to Turn Seven.
What happens next
While they're at it, it would also be worth looking at the location and layout of the pits and paddock. The many large exhibition halls on what is, frankly, a pretty unprepossessing site – it's a bit like holding a grand prix at the NEC in Birmingham – clearly don't make this the easiest task. But finding a location for a pit lane that is not split in half by a building and making it somewhere the pits and paddock can be together and entirely outside would be another step in the right direction.
Madrid F1 circuit set for changes after criticismPublished1 day ago'It started as a joke, a fantasy' – F1 hits football-obsessed MadridPublished5 days agoSpanish GP Review: VSC or not to VSCThe virtual safety car (VSC) definitely throws jeopardy into races, but it does not do virtually what the safety car does. Would it not be more balanced to have a minimum of at least one full lap? Yes, this would dampen the jeopardy effect but what happened to Lando Norris feels like a chance card in Monopoly. – KyleLando Norris' bad luck with the virtual safety car at the Spanish Grand Prix has certainly focused attention on the ways this can disrupt races.
It has long been an opportunity for someone to benefit over a rival, because making a pit stop under a VSC takes significantly less time than under racing conditions.