F. I. A. Formula 1 World Championship – Grand Prix of Europe Spain – Valencia

Pre-Race Report

VALENCIA

The Valencia Circuit is located in the harbour of the port of Valencia. It is one of 3 street circuits on this year’s Formula 1 calendar, the others being Albert Park Circuit (Melbourne – Australia) and Monaco (Principality of Monaco). Herman Tilke designed certain street sections of the circuit. A notable feature of the circuit is the 140m long “swing bridge”. The circuit was first used for F1 racing in 2008.

Valencia is known as the “garden of Spain”. The surrounding countryside is beautiful and a real tourist attraction, along with the city’s location next to the sea. In 2009 Valencia hosted the America’s Cup yacht race. The port where the yachts for this race were based is right next to the Valencia Circuit. It is a great location to host a Formula 1 race: a stunning locale where fans have a good opportunity to get close to the thrill and excitement that is the action of F1 racing.

TRACK STATS:

Length:                                  5,440 km’s

Turns:                                                25

Race Distance:                      310.080km’s (57 Laps)

Current Lap Record:           Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault) (2010) 1:37:587

2010 Winner:                                    Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault)

RACE TIME

Qualifying:                           14h00 (SA time – Saturday 25^th June 2011)

Race:                                      14h00 (SA time – Sunday 26^th June 2011)

WEATHER:

Saturday:                               19/29 

Sunday:                                20/29

There is a chance of fog on Saturday and Sunday due to the close proximity to the sea, but no rain forecasted.

TECHNICAL

Valencia Circuit is a fairly demanding street circuit where the cars will need to be well-balanced: there is an almost equal amount of left and right turns (14 left, 11 right – 25 turns in total). The brake balance will also be critical.

It is a relatively fast track: speeds will vary from +-76km/h to +-315km/h; whilst the force of gravity or “G” forces that will be exerted on the drivers will vary from 0 “G’s” to around 3 “G’s”. It is a good mix of fast and slow corners.

The cars will take Turn 1 (off the start/finish straight) at a speed of around 290km/h in 6^th gear. There are 4 good overtaking opportunities: the first being the start/finish straight, secondly the long straight between Turns 11 and 12 (the fastest point on the track where speeds of +-315km/h will be reached), thirdly the 90 degree right hander that is Turn 12 (the drivers will be pulling 2 “G’s” here) where rival cars will try to out brake each other and take the inside line, and fourthly Turn 17 (2 “G’s”) which follows after a fast straight (the cars will slow down from +-309km/h to 76km/h).

The Pirelli “soft” compound tyre should offer the most traction out of the corners on a circuit like this, expect most of the top teams to qualify and start on these tyres. It is essential at this circuit to qualify well in order to stand a chance of winning the Grand Prix. Who will claim pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session?

Most of the teams appear to have sorted out their “KERS” issues; in Canada an extra “DRS” overtaking zone was used for the first time this year, and it made for some interesting overtaking action.

The use of exhaust manifold outlet gases to create extra “down force” at the rear of the cars remains a controversial issue.

2011 – F1 CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER STANDINGS:

1. Sebastian Vettel                    RBR-Renault             161
2. Jenson Button                       McLaren-Mercedes  101
3. Mark Webber                        RBR-Renault             94
4. Lewis Hamilton                   McLaren-Mercedes  85
5. Fernando Alonso                 Ferrari                        69
6. Felipe Massa                         Ferrari                        32
7. Vitaly Petrov                                    Renault                      31
8. Nick Heidfeld                       Renault                      29
9. Michael Schumacher           Mercedes                   26

10.  Nico Rosberg                                    Mercedes                   26

2011 – F1 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS:

1. RBR-Renault                         255
2. McLaren-Mercedes              186
3. Ferrari                                    101
4. Renault                                  60
5. Mercedes                               52
6. Sauber-Ferrari                       27
7. STR-Ferrari                            12
8. Force India-Mercedes          10
9. Williams-Cosworth             4

10.  Lotus-Renault                       0

11.  HRT-Cosworth                     0

12.  Virgin-Cosworth                  0

SUMMARY

Montreal, Canada, was an epic race: Button blasted through the rain chaos to secure the best win of his career. There was a long rain delay, and plenty of Safety Car periods, yet despite this we were treated to some brilliant racing.

RBR-Renault continues to dominate this year’s racing, with only one other team, McLaren-Mercedes, having won a race so far this year.

Valencia is a tight circuit by nature, with not too many good overtaking opportunities – but we could still be in for some close racing. There are plenty of good vantage points from which to watch the race: the balconies of the surrounding buildings, the decks of the luxury yachts and also the various grandstands.

It was said that Monaco (a similar “street-circuit” to Valencia) would be a boring “procession” of a race; yet it delivered a thriller.

All that remains are 5 lights, and when the lights go out…

We are racing in Valencia!

Written by Mark Batchelder, Road and Race’s F1 Connoisseur