Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel talks his way around a lap of the Valencia Street Circuit and the European Grand Prix.
“My first impression last year was that you can’t compare Valencia to a normal street circuit like Monaco. It had new asphalt and was very, very flat, without the camber of a normal street circuit. It looked more like one of the other ‘new’ circuits like Bahrain. Like Bahrain with walls.
Friday morning practice is about getting an idea and building up your confidence. That’s how you start to work here. Obviously after that you try to go quickly and decide which way to go with the set-up.
The layout looks very, very fast and the setup makes it seem quite like Montreal, but the big difference is that there aren’t the hard, aggressive kerbs we see in Canada. That distinction is really important, knowing how hard to go over the kerbs might make the difference between a fast lap and a slow lap, or a good result and ending up in the wall.
Turn One is very, very fast and goes straight into Turn Two. There’s quite a lot of space on the outside and a good run-off at Turn Two – which is something you don’t see on a normal street circuit because of the buildings. The track in general is quite wide and there are good run-offs but it’s still a place where we might see a safety car.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Photofiles
It isn’t quite as fast as Montreal because most of the corners, except Turn One and a couple toward the end of the lap, are quite slow. Turn 10, for example, is a really tight corner. So we can’t run with high downforce because of the really long straights. It isn’t quite the Monza-spec but it’s going in that direction.
The braking points are very heavy and there is lots of stop and start. The best corners are the combination of 18 and 19. They’re challenging; you find out if you have it or if you don’t – you feel those corners deep down in your balls. The challenge is that the left-hander is faster than the right hander that follows, so you have to keep your eye on two things: you want to gain time in 19 without giving it away in 18. You have to compromise on both corners. That can be tricky – but I like it. And on top of everything else, it’s fast!
To sum up, at first glance Valencia looks a bit like the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve: it has some fast combinations and long straights, but look a little bit more closely and actually there aren’t many fast corners. It’s all about stop and go: stopping the car, turning and going again. It requires good braking and good traction.
There are two or three corners that are quite difficult with fast sections leading into slow speed corners. The last corner section in particular will be interesting. I like fast corners much more than slow corners but you can lose or gain much more in slow corners so bravery in the faster corners doesn’t count for much. Unlike a fast corner where you just do it, slow corners are more technical. It’s how you use the brakes, how you control the car, when to turn, how to turn.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Photofiles
I think the Valencia Street Circuit is unusually wide. It looks technically very demanding, and difficult to find the right line, or at least the fastest line. The slow corners are critical; you make or lose more in slow corners than in fast ones, and there are many of them.
The amount of risk you’re prepared to take in the last corner will be important. Exiting corners will be important, because the straights are unusually long. The roads are winding, but it’s all flat, so I’m calling those straights. You need a good exit otherwise you pay on the straights.
Braking for turn two might be an overtaking point, but it’s going to be quite tight as it comes up very quickly after Turn One. The two best spots are at the end of the straight into Turn 12 and braking for 17. Possibly also braking for Turn 25, the last corner. All three are hard braking zones after a long straight.
Comments
Add a comment