(Renault Sport F1)
Renault Sport F1 head to the inaugural Russian Grandt Prix in Sochi this weekend having had three of their partner cars finish in the top ten. Infiniti Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo finished the Japanese Grand Prix in third ad fourth place respectively while Scuderia Toro Rosso's Jean Eric Vergne made his way through the field from a grid slot of 20th to finish the race in ninth place collecting two points for the Italian team.
2015 Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver Daniil Kvyat was left disappointed after just missing out on a points finish as he ended the race in eleventh place.
It was also a disappointing race for the Lotus F1 Team pairing of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado as they finished the race in 15th and 16th place for the Enstone outfit. Meanwhile at Caterham, Marcus Ericsson finished the race as est of the 'new team's' as he ended the race in 17th place while Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in 19th place.
So Formula One heads to new territory this weekend with Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi circuit. Construction of the track began in 2011 and had to be halted eaerlier this year as a result of the Winter Olympics which took place in Sochi, however the circuit is now complete and ready to host its first Formula One event.
The circuit is classed as a street track but is a permanent facility and has very similar characteristics to the Yas Marina Bay circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The circuit consists of 19 turns and there is a mix of tight corners and sweeping corners along with a number of straights.
Speaking about this weekend's race, Renault Sport F1's Head of Track Operations Remi Taffin stated:
'Sochi is a brand new track on the calendar this year, but the characteristics are very similar to other circuits we have visited in the past or this season. It is actually most like Singapore or the street track in Valencia we visited from 2008 to 2012 – a high-speed, street track with tight corners. From our simulations we see that the average speed will be 200kph, with approximately 56% of the lap spent at wide open throttle, well above the ‘traditional’ street average.
The long lap opens with a short burst of wide open throttle. The pit straight blends into a right hand curve where the driver will keep the speed until the braking point for Turn 2, giving a total burst of speed for some 14 seconds. The ICE and turbo will therefore be put under pressure, but there is only one other period of duress round the lap for these parts; the curve from Turn 10 to 13 at the back of the track.
Sector two is much more point-squirt, with right-angled turns that give theMGU-K plenty of chance to recover energy. The two corners that round the Olympic building, Turns 2 and 4, are the hardest stops and see the car speed drop to 100kph, with each braking event around 2.5 seconds. The back of the circuit has similar corners, such as Turn 13 where the speed drops to 85kph, making it quite tricky for the drivers to judge, but providing several overtaking opportunities.
While a new race requires a lot more preparation before we go, we have been able to work quite efficiently by using data from other circuits with similar traits. It helps, for example, that we visited Singapore relatively recently, which has the same blend of tight corners linked by intense straights. In this respect we believe the Power Unit will perform well here since this type of track suits the characteristics of the Energy F1-2014 quite well. As we saw in Singapore the gap between the cars at the front is likely to be very small so we should be in for a good race.'
© Ben Johnston 2014
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