‘The most interesting part is the end of the long straight, where you should be getting up to around 310kmph. All the overtaking will be happening there, due to the breaking going into the corners. That is the best opportunity to overtake.’
‘This can be a good overtaking point. It looks quite tight in the first part, and then in the second part it’s like a 90-degree corner so the line will also be compromised. Given the sequence of corners, you will have good overtaking, and after this there is another long straight line. It will definitely be good for racing.’
‘Monaco is a classic example of a tunnel that drivers have an issue with because it’s dark and you come out into bright sunlight, but with it being a dusk race you don’t have these problems at the Yas Marina Circuit. But the sun can be a concern for the drivers – we had this problem in Australia this year and last. The problem is when the sun is low and sometimes you can have an issue with vision and having too many shadows.’
‘Turns five, six and seven have got a left-hander and right-hander leading into a chicane, with the hairpin afterwards. Basically, because it’s a sequence of corners, you continually need to think about the next turn and breaking for the one after because you need to be careful that you have a good exit. You have a straight line after that and that’s where you can be overtaken.’
‘This continuous radius corner keeps on going forever. It’s a big, long, open right-hander; it’s high speed and you cannot make any mistakes. Drivers will have to careful in terms of line; if you’re even a little off you’re going to lose time.’
How the drivers prepare…
It’s not all done on PlayStation games y’know. ‘We either scan the existing circuit or collect data from the car and GPS references to model the track so we get all the camber on the circuit and the runoff,’ says Nakajima. ‘If it’s a laser scan it’s accurate to three centimetres, so they can render a track that is a perfect physical replica of the real thing. It means drivers can use it to familiarise themselves with the track, plus it can help teams set their car up, so that you should be within 10 per cent of your perfect set-up.’
