Lap Record: Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) 1min 11.473secs - 2004
Where is the circuit?
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace circuit is based in the Interlagos region of Sao Paulo, and is often named after the neighbourhodd that it is situated in. The name ‘Interlagos’ means ‘Between the Lakes’ in Portugese
What about the track stats?
The circuit is 2.676 miles (4.309km) long and is run in an anti-clockwise direction, putting tremendous strain on the driver’s necks. It has an official total of 15 corners overall, with 9 left hand turns and 6 right hand turns. It also has the longest pit lane currently in F1.
I just wanted to let everyone know that I have been busy behind the scenes and have not contributed any blogs lately. The self-imposed break will last and few days longer. One of my British friends, known to many of you as Speedworx, has flown over to the States and we're gonna go to a Nascar race. Race 7 of the Chase for the Cup is at Talledega this weekend and we're loading up the RV and heading to the race.
I figure a change of scenery will do me good and we will have a great time. I haven't been to a Nascar race since 1991, and Speedworx has never been to the States.
In other news, we have been rebuilding our old forum, Wheelnuts, and it is back online, but rebadged as "The Forum of the Formula 1 Journal." It has little content on it now, mostly just archives from the past, but we intend to build it back up. One of our hopes is to attract American fans who may have been drawn into the sport by the attention the Austin race is generating. There is a link button at the top of the blog page. We have an association with "Friends of Formula 1 Austin, TX" facebook page. The forum has also added an Austin based moderator, Wood.
Next week things will get back to normal with the blog. There are two races to go before crowning the 2010 World Driver Campion and 5 drivers still could be within striking distance.
The brand new Korean International Circuit is based in the South Jeolla region of Korea, 400 kilometers south of the capital city Seoul.
What about the track stats?
The circuit will be 3.492 miles (5.621km) long and will become the fifth circuit on the Formula 1 calendar to run anti-clockwise – the other 4 being Istanbul, Singapore, Interlagos and Abu Dhabi.
What type of circuit is it?
The circuit will be a part-permanent, part-temporary circuit, but unusually for this type of circuit the temporary section will be based around the pit and paddock complex around the harbour.
What about its history?
Korea has no previous Formula 1 history, therefore this will be the first F1 race to be held in the country. The country has, however, hosted an international F3 race between 1999 and 2003 on a temporary street circuit in Changwon.
Which corners will challenge the drivers?
As we have no data at all from which to look at, we can only guess which corners will be challenging. From looking at the circuit map, it looks like the section betweens Turns 6 to 10 may be fast and give the drivers a challenge, but until the drivers drive the track we do not know.
What are the chances of a first corner incident?
From the circuit map it does look tight, but not too tight so there may not be a high chance of a first corner incident. And if it follows the example of recent new circuits and has tarmac run-off areas, then the drivers have an escape route should they get into any trouble.
And safety cars?
Once again we do not know what chances there is of a safety car until the drivers begin to drive the circuit. What may cause safety car periods is the driver’s unfamiliarity with the circuit, although by the race on Sunday I believe the drivers will have overcome this.
Where are the overtaking spots?
From looking at the circuit map, there appears to be two overtaking spots on the circuit. The first is down into Turn 1, as the drivers should carry good speed through the final few turns. The second appears to be at the end of the long back straight into Turn 3 as the drivers should be hitting their top speed just before this corner. However, we will wait and see if this is the case.
What about tyre wear and brake wear?
Again this is unknown. There may be some tyre wear on Friday as the drivers ‘clean’ the circuit and put rubber down on the track, but we do not know how they perform during the race.
And pit stops?
Again unknown as we do not know how the tyres will stand up. Should the tyres not give too much trouble during practice, then the teams will probably go with the norm and only stop the once.
A lap of the new circuit onboard with Karun Chandhok in the Red Bull
This weekend sees the debut of yet another country on the Formula 1 calendar, as Korea host it’s first-ever F1 grand prix. It is the latest in a long line of new circuits and countries to join Formula 1, and there has been a mixed reponse over the years.
There have been in total 10 brand new circuits introduced to the Formula 1 calendar since 1997, discounting the circuit changes at the likes of Silverstone, Monza, Hockenheim, Nurburgring and the Hungaroring. The majority of these new circuits have been solely the project of renowned F1 architect Herman Tilke, and all appear to have followed the same pattern of state of the art facilities, wide circuits and an overtaking spot. But while many people believe that the first Tilke circuit appeared in F1 in 1999, it in fact first appeared in 1997, when F1 returned to Austria for the first time in 10 years. The Osterreichring, once regarded as the greatest circuit in F1, had been reprofiled and reshaped, and the new circuit had been renamed the A1 Ring. While it bore a resemblance to the previous circuit, it was never really popular with the F1 fraternity and only lasted until 2003, when it held its last grand prix.
The joint land-use committee (City of Austin, Travis County, and State of Texas) submitted a lengthy set of questions to the promoters of the Austin F1 event, Full Throttle Productions. These are routine questions that must be answered before permission can go forward.The questions deal with transportation, emergency response, the environment, and the existing floodplain.
This is not bad news. The committee has put their combined concerns into one document and that helps the promoters to organize their response. Many of these questions have already been answered by the engineers, particularly the onsite issues, but none of that has been formally submitted to the authorities. The formal response is a couple of weeks away.
Their response to the traffic issues are the biggest unknown at this point. The committee wants an analysis of improvements needed in an eight mile radius of the site, and that is well beyond the scope of the promoters. This radius includes many of the highway-to-highway intersections that are clearly the responsibility of the State and Federal governments, but traffic analysis will be provided.
It is expected that Full Throttle productions will provide funds for road improvement in the direct vicinity of the circuit, but it is doubtful that they would fund major highway improvements to State and federal highways many miles away.
Here is the full text of the questions:
Texas Department of Transportation, Travis County and City of Austin Questions and Issues Regarding F1
Transportation
We are concerned about the ability of the existing roadway network to support the transportation and traffic demands of the proposed Formula 1 site and related activities. A substantial amount of planning will be necessary to address traffic and transportation related to this facility, including traffic forecasts, traffic operations and management planning, traffic impact analyses, and ultimately roadway improvements. Accordingly, we ask the following questions:
1.What are the applicant’s thoughts on how to handle and fund traffic control on local streets before, during, and after events? When is it expected to have an on-site and off-site transportation plan finalized?
2.Describe the proposed locations where the site will be accessed from the surrounding roadway network. Has the applicant considered increasing the number of access points to the site?
3.Has the applicant set aside funding and a schedule for improving offsite roadways?
4.We understand the site plan to be conceptual in nature at this time; however when can we anticipate that a final site plan will be available?
5.When does the applicant anticipate completing a long range, regional transportation study that encompasses up to a 6-8 mile radius and that evaluates approaches to the site from all directions (including other cities) and the loads on those highways? This study would also include future arterial roadway placements, possible rail feasibility, etc. (in other words, a multi-modal, multi-jurisdictional approach)
Lap Record: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) 1min 31.540secs - 2005
Where is the circuit?
The Suzuka circuit is based in the Mie area, which is based in the southern part of Central Japan on the country’s main island.
What about the track stats?
The circuit’s length is 3.609 miles (5.807km) long, and is Formula 1’s only figure of 8 circuit, meaning the circuit runs both clockwise and anti-clockwise. There is a total of 18 corners, with an equal number of right and left hand corners.
The 2010 world championship has been one of the closest championships in recent history. For the majority of the season we have had 5 drivers in with a shot of winning the title, and all have had their chances to break away from the chasing group and take a firm grip on the title charge. Sometimes the drivers’ cars have held them back, but the drivers aren’t exactly innocent in their failure to have a championship lead.
There have been many questions raised about the plans and preparations for the Austin USGP. This is understandable. However, apparently the plans are very mature as evidenced by the pictures below. I have a few first impressions: 1.The plans are very mature and complete; 2. The concerns over the floodplain and the environmental impact of the development have been brilliantly considered; 3. There is evidence that the design team have employed local experts familiar with the environmental requirements; 4. The location of the gas pipelines have been identified and plans are to relocate them.
For those of us who favor the development this is very good news. To those who oppose the development, the news is also good in that the developers are very aware of the environmental concerns. They have taken the proper measures to mitigate the damage and to provide a very eco friendly solution by developing the wetlands and encouraging the propagation of plants and animals.
We have seen many great drives around the Suzuka circuit since it made its F1 debut back in 1987, but not all of them have involved race-winning races. When it comes to listing Michael Schumacher's greatest drive, what one comes to your mind? Belgium 1992, where he took his first win? Spain 1994, where he drove half the race stuck in fifth gear? Europe 1995, where he made a do-or-die move on Jean Alesi to take the lead? Spain 1996, where he won in terrible conditions? Without a doubt these are all great drives, but there is one which many remember for the wrong reasons, and tend to forget about just good how good a drive it was.
The race I'm referring to is the 1998 Japanese Grand Prix - a race that showed all that's good about the German. Going into the race, Schumacher was 4 points behind championship rival Mika Haikkinen, having been soundly beaten at the previous race at the Nurburgring, their respective teams, Ferrari and McLaren, had a full 5 weeks to prepare for the race, and it looks like Ferrari had done the better job when, after a thrilling duel in qualifying, Schumacher took pole from Haikkinen in the final minutes of qualifying. In these days of a 4-point difference between first and second, it looked liked Schumi was all set for the win which would give him the title, and Ferrari’s first in 19 years.
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