f1fan
08-18-2008, 02:19 PM
This is an interesting article from the ITV website. Valencia should be a very challenging track with lot's of action.
It has been 19 long years and Formula 1's first visit to Phoenix since a genuine new street circuit made its debut on the calendar – so it's not surprising so much excitement surrounds Valencia's new harbourside offering.
Sweeping around the streets of the picturesque Spanish port city, the inaugural race at the 3.4-mile venue represents a large step into the unknown for the grid with teams only able to gauge so much from even the most realistic computer simulations.
So what should we expect from this weekend? Itv.com/f1's expert analyst Mark Hughes takes a closer look...
Formula 1 makes its first visit to Valencia’s new street circuit this weekend and the technical and sporting demands should combine to produce a race of interest and incident.
At first glimpse the track looks similar in nature to Montreal, with lots of long high-speed straights followed by slow corners.
As such, it’s likely to be highly demanding of brakes.
There is never any question of the teams not being able to make brakes last; that’s the easy bit.
What is difficult is achieving an acceptable level of brake cooling with the minimum cost to the car’s aerodynamic performance.
Brake disc wear rates go exponential once a certain critical temperature – around 850C – is reached.
Repeated hard braking from very high speeds increases temperatures and keeping wear rates within check is all about having adequate cooling to the discs for whatever demands are being made of them by the circuit.
The way teams do this is to increase the size of the brake cooling ducts.
However, the ducts are sited right behind the front wing and increasing their size creates a blockage to the airflow over the wing – costing the car downforce, grip, drag and lap time.
The real trick is to get good brake cooling with minimal aerodynamic cost.
Ferrari has been at the forefront of using flush covers for its wheels to aid brake cooling.
If this has led to a more sophisticated flow, they might be able to improve brake cooling by increasing the size of the exit hole in the wheel cover rather than by making the inlet bigger.
If they were able to do this, it would cost them less in downforce.
On the other hand, the circuit’s collection of slow, short duration corners potentially spells trouble for Ferrari in qualifying.
Theirs is a car usually reluctant to get adequate temperature into its front tyres quickly enough for qualifying.
An out-lap is often insufficient preparation for them, and consequently their true potential is often not revealed until the race.
At tracks where passing is difficult, this trait often ruins Ferrari’s chances.
But the Valencia lap would seem to offer three genuine overtaking opportunities, so even if the red cars do qualify behind the McLarens, they may still be able to overtake if their race speed proves superior.
The slow corners should suit the McLaren’s ability to get its tyres quickly up to temperature and its superb traction.
Combine that with Lewis Hamilton’s ease with street circuits that demand a blend of commitment and precision, and they should be favourites for pole.
BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica is another street circuit ace who might be expected to transcend his car in qualifying.
The run-off in a couple of places is quite marginal and at a couple of spots – notably the entry to the bridge – it’s quite conceivable to have a car hitting the concrete on the way in rather than on the exit.
As such there are likely to be safety car periods in the race. This inevitably brings a random element of luck into the outcome, as where you are relative to your refuelling window when someone else has an accident is a factor that can’t really be planned for.
Those fighting for the first three rows of the grid cannot afford the qualifying time penalty of a one-stop strategy – which would minimise your vulnerability to a safety car. Those further back could.
So, depending when the safety car periods come – and it really does seem to be a question of when rather than if – there could be a few unfavoured runners lucking into unlikely positions.
The track is unusual in comprising partly existing street surfaces and partly newly created purpose-built race track surface.
The contrast in the two types of surface is significant; from low grip to high, from crowns and cambers to level.
Repeated hard braking supported by 2000kg of downforce will likely lead to the ‘street’ surface braking areas becoming rippled, creating more potential for drivers to lose control under braking and therefore yet more potential safety car periods.
This one is going to have the pit crews every bit as much on edge as the drivers.
It has been 19 long years and Formula 1's first visit to Phoenix since a genuine new street circuit made its debut on the calendar – so it's not surprising so much excitement surrounds Valencia's new harbourside offering.
Sweeping around the streets of the picturesque Spanish port city, the inaugural race at the 3.4-mile venue represents a large step into the unknown for the grid with teams only able to gauge so much from even the most realistic computer simulations.
So what should we expect from this weekend? Itv.com/f1's expert analyst Mark Hughes takes a closer look...
Formula 1 makes its first visit to Valencia’s new street circuit this weekend and the technical and sporting demands should combine to produce a race of interest and incident.
At first glimpse the track looks similar in nature to Montreal, with lots of long high-speed straights followed by slow corners.
As such, it’s likely to be highly demanding of brakes.
There is never any question of the teams not being able to make brakes last; that’s the easy bit.
What is difficult is achieving an acceptable level of brake cooling with the minimum cost to the car’s aerodynamic performance.
Brake disc wear rates go exponential once a certain critical temperature – around 850C – is reached.
Repeated hard braking from very high speeds increases temperatures and keeping wear rates within check is all about having adequate cooling to the discs for whatever demands are being made of them by the circuit.
The way teams do this is to increase the size of the brake cooling ducts.
However, the ducts are sited right behind the front wing and increasing their size creates a blockage to the airflow over the wing – costing the car downforce, grip, drag and lap time.
The real trick is to get good brake cooling with minimal aerodynamic cost.
Ferrari has been at the forefront of using flush covers for its wheels to aid brake cooling.
If this has led to a more sophisticated flow, they might be able to improve brake cooling by increasing the size of the exit hole in the wheel cover rather than by making the inlet bigger.
If they were able to do this, it would cost them less in downforce.
On the other hand, the circuit’s collection of slow, short duration corners potentially spells trouble for Ferrari in qualifying.
Theirs is a car usually reluctant to get adequate temperature into its front tyres quickly enough for qualifying.
An out-lap is often insufficient preparation for them, and consequently their true potential is often not revealed until the race.
At tracks where passing is difficult, this trait often ruins Ferrari’s chances.
But the Valencia lap would seem to offer three genuine overtaking opportunities, so even if the red cars do qualify behind the McLarens, they may still be able to overtake if their race speed proves superior.
The slow corners should suit the McLaren’s ability to get its tyres quickly up to temperature and its superb traction.
Combine that with Lewis Hamilton’s ease with street circuits that demand a blend of commitment and precision, and they should be favourites for pole.
BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica is another street circuit ace who might be expected to transcend his car in qualifying.
The run-off in a couple of places is quite marginal and at a couple of spots – notably the entry to the bridge – it’s quite conceivable to have a car hitting the concrete on the way in rather than on the exit.
As such there are likely to be safety car periods in the race. This inevitably brings a random element of luck into the outcome, as where you are relative to your refuelling window when someone else has an accident is a factor that can’t really be planned for.
Those fighting for the first three rows of the grid cannot afford the qualifying time penalty of a one-stop strategy – which would minimise your vulnerability to a safety car. Those further back could.
So, depending when the safety car periods come – and it really does seem to be a question of when rather than if – there could be a few unfavoured runners lucking into unlikely positions.
The track is unusual in comprising partly existing street surfaces and partly newly created purpose-built race track surface.
The contrast in the two types of surface is significant; from low grip to high, from crowns and cambers to level.
Repeated hard braking supported by 2000kg of downforce will likely lead to the ‘street’ surface braking areas becoming rippled, creating more potential for drivers to lose control under braking and therefore yet more potential safety car periods.
This one is going to have the pit crews every bit as much on edge as the drivers.