F1 drivers enjoy Madring’s adrenaline rush but criticize lack of overtaking chances
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MADRID (AP) — Formula 1 drivers enjoyed the high adrenaline produced by the Madring track at the Spanish Grand Prix while complaining about the lack of overtaking opportunities on the new circuit.
They also called for other improvements such as reducing the pit lane length. Madrid has produced a hybrid urban circuit using existing roads and purpose-built sections for its first grand prix in 45 years.
“In terms of track design I think it can be better,” Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said on Saturday. “Input from drivers in the future on track design can also help a lot. … If you want to have better racing, overtaking, I think there can be a few corners that can be changed.”
Verstappen added, “There’s always a way to find an overtaking opportunity around a track.”
There were only a few overtaking maneuvers in the first days of action at Madring across F1, F2 and the F3 series. Some commentators called Madring the Spanish Monaco.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult (to overtake),” Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli said. “In practice I spent two laps behind the Williams trying to painfully get past … just really difficult, especially because already the deg (tire degradation) is quite big and when you’re behind you start sliding more and it just makes your life a bit tougher.”
Pole-sitter Lando Norris of McLaren said he hopes the pit lane, which is divided in two sections, will be improved next year.
“If we’re going to build a new track and spend so much money in building a new track, this is probably one of the main factors, I would say, in making a track, is you have a short pit lane so people can pit and you then create overtaking,” Norris said.
The 5.4-kilometer (3.3-mile) Madring, designed by Jarno Zaffelli, has 22 corners and combines high-speed zones, heavy-braking areas, changes of gradient, blind angles, technical sectors and long, high-load corners that have proved challenging for drivers.
The banked corner “La Monumental” is the highlight of the new track. It is 550 meters (yards) in length and a maximum banking of 24%, though drivers were not able to go flat out on it because of energy-saving requirements needed in the cars.
Drivers called the track “insane” and “crazy” because of the high adrenaline it produced. Some compared it to the circuits of Jeddah and Baku.
Madring signed a 10-year contract for the Spanish GP.
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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here