The Hindu : Sport : Catalunya circuit is the most challenging

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Sport

Sport

Catalunya circuit is the most challenging

Raceday will be an action replay of the thrilling qualifying rounds, writes Narain Karthikeyan

With just a week's break between the European GP at the Nürburgring and the Spanish GP, the teams have had no time to make significant changes to their cars. As for me, I have been spending some time at the Williams headquarters in the U.K. Next week I will be in Italy where I have an intensive test programme scheduled. I'm really looking forward to spending some more time testing and learning about this year's FW28.

The Catalunya circuit, a 30-minute drive from the city, has been a fairly happy hunting ground for Williams. Ever since its introduction to the Formula 1 calendar in 1991, the team has notched up five victories at the track, two with Nigel Mansell, and one each with Alain Prost, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve.

The 4.627-km circuit remains unchanged from its layout in 2005, when Kimi Räikkönen won in a McLaren. The track is one of the most well known to the teams, as a great deal of winter and mid-season testing is carried out here. In fact, the FW28 has already clocked up over 6,000 km of testing here, and all of us will be looking to draw upon that experience to improve our performance.

The circuit is one of the most technically challenging of the season. The set-up of the car is dictated by the fast sweeping corners, which requires a fairly high level of downforce to ensure good grip. It combines tight corners like turns 5 and 10, which are very slow, and old-style high-speed corners, like turns 3, 9, 12 and 13, which are a rarity on relatively new tracks.

Although aerodynamic efficiency is a critical factor here, it can be compromised by the unpredictable winds. It has an effect on what gear ratios you choose, but most of all when the wind blows almost directly across the main straight.

The enclosed grandstand in the shape of the `C' of Catalunya, which goes up to halfway along the main straight, creates a big problem, as it blocks the wind. While a driver is alongside the grandstand, he is protected from the wind, but as he comes out from its shadow, the wind creates instability in the car.

Another one of the challenges of the weekend is the weather once again, though the forecast for the weekend is for partly cloudy skies with temperatures around 20°C, pretty ideal racing weather. Moreover, the engines will not be put under undue strain, as only 61 per cent of the lap is at full throttle.

The track had been resurfaced before last year's race. The old track used to have a very abrasive surface, which caused a lot of graining problems with the tyres. The new smooth surface will ensure a larger tyre contact patch.

The practice sessions were dominated by Ferrari and Renault. World champion Fernando Alonso dominated the first qualifying session in front of his home crowd, setting a blistering lap. Michael Schumacher bounced right back in the second session with an amazing lap which was one whole second quicker that the fastest race lap of 2005.

Bearing in mind that the cars have smaller capacity engines with almost 200 bhp less than last year, this is quite an amazing achievement, and it shows the brilliant engineering skills of today's Formula 1 teams.

However, Alonso and Renault won the final qualifying battle, with Giancarlo Fisichella lining up alongside his teammate to make it a front row lock-out for Renault.

It was an incredible last few minutes, with the Renaults and Ferraris trading fastest laps. I think the race will be an action replay of the qualifying with the same four cars battling it out for the right to spray the champagne.

Gameplan

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail