Formula 1
A lap of Barcelona with Button
Renault's Jenson Button takes us round a lap of the Circuit de Catalunya. I approach the first corner at a maximum speed of 310km/h in top gear and then brake very hard for turn one, a second gear corner taken at around 130km/h. The corner is ...
Published: Apr 23, 2002, 12:10 PM
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Renault's Jenson Button takes us round a lap of the Circuit de Catalunya.
I approach the first corner at a maximum speed of 310km/h in top gear and then brake very hard for turn one, a second gear corner taken at around 130km/h. The corner is effectively an s-bend and I shift into third gear to take the second apex.
I have to balance the car on the throttle and then immediately enter turn three, which is a very long, hard corner. I reach the apex at around 220km/h in fourth gear although I need to be careful to protect the car from understeer and prevent overheating of the front-left tyre.
Coming out of turn three there is a short straight and I reach a speed of 290km/h in top gear before braking for the second-gear turn four, taken at around 125km/h.
Exiting this corner I reach 255km/h in fourth gear before once again braking to 95km/h for the second gear left-hander. A short straight sees me up to around 265km/h before braking again and taking the next left-hander at around 140km/h in second.
On the next short straight, I reach around 225km/h in fourth gear before very lightly braking into a right-hand corner at around 215km/h, mainly in fourth gear. On the back straight I hope to touch around 300km/h in sixth gear before braking for the next left-hand corner, which I take at 110km/h in second gear.
Next there is a very short straight where I will reach 225km/h before that leads me to the final second gear corner, taken at around 110km/h.
The final two corners are very challenging - the first one I need to take at around 240km/h in fourth gear. On a good lap I shift up into fifth gear at around 270km/h, before dropping down to fourth for the final 225km/h corner.
On the exit, I need to use all of the kerbs in order to get good speed onto the start-finish straight, crossing the line at 280km/h.
-renault-
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