French GP: Minardi circuit analysis

After the first and historic double team BMW Sauber F1 and Red Bull podium with the Scottish David Coulthard in the Grand Prix of Canada, the F1 circus is ready to revive again the weekend of all the fans around the world : Theatre stage of the Eighth World will be France and the scenery of the route Magny Cours.

The engineer Gabriele Tredozi, backbone of the Minardi Team, analyzes the circuit of Nièvre. "The planned route of Magny Cours presents a very smooth asphalt and this allows you to have a machine very low, even 2-3 mm less than the other tracks. Once again we are going to run on a track where traction is very important because there are different lengthen followed by slow corners. For example curves 2 and 3 (Grand courbe and Estoril) are very fast and after the long straight to get there all'Adelaide, the curve slower across the path.

After that the pilots are faced with two fast "S", the Nurburgring and Imola, from a broken left medium-slow. Precisely for this reason it is essential to find the right compromise between sectors fast and slow.

Another aspect to consider when you study the balance of the machine is to have a car agile, which allows the pilot to jump on kerbs, as may happen to their "Chicane", the last "S" before the "Lycee" who places on the final straight.

Compared to Canada, Magny Cours is not a trace of brakes, just when they are solicited. Based on these analyses tend to use an aerodynamic load medium-high and, in my opinion, is a track very difficult, for both the pilot and for the technicians who must study the optimal balance. In addition to this weekend are expected very high temperatures.

After seven Grand Prix the championship drivers and constructors is very open and uncertain, in fact for the first time after so many years to find a command pilot wearing a casacca other than the red Ferrari and McLaren silver: the leader is a Polish at the wheel of a German car, Robert Kubica with his BMW number 4.

-credit: minardi.it