03/02/2017
NEWS STORY
In light of the fact that the new aero regulations and wider tyres are going to lead to faster lap times and higher cornering speeds, the FIA has already written to every circuit on the F1 calendar warning them to make the necessary modifications - which won't be too easy for the likes of Monaco, Baku, Singapore or Yas Marina.
Indeed, what at some tracks were previously referred to as turns and corners, could now become straights as the new regulations will lead to a change in driving style.
"Engineers define a corner as a point on the track where the driver has to lift and essentially drive and handle the car through the corner," explains McLaren's Technical Director, Tim Goss, to the team's website. "Even if he's going round a bend, and his foot is flat to the floor on the accelerator, we class that as a straight. And as the cars will be going faster, some of 2016's 'corners' will be classified as 'straights'."
"I'm really hoping that we'll be able to take Turn 3 at Barcelona flat this year," admits Stoffel Vandoorne. "It's a corner that I've been able to take flat in the junior series, such as Formula Renault 3.5, so you'd expect it to be flat in Formula 1 as well, even though there's a lot more horsepower.
"Obviously, I've still only driven it in the sim," he admits, "but using our current predictions, it should be flat, whether it actually will be, we'll have to wait and see."
Asked if corners becoming straights will make things easier for drivers, the Belgian youngster says: "When a corner is flat, you don't really think about it too much. You know you can't do anything else except put your foot to the floor, and then be as smooth as possible with the steering wheel so as not to scrub too much speed off.
"So then your focus shifts towards other parts of the circuit: if some corners become easy-flat, then you shift set-up focus elsewhere; towards the slower parts of the track. We'll be working harder to extract the most performance from those areas of the track.
"I think everything will take a step up," he admits, "high-speed corners will probably become flat, or close to flat; mid-speed corners will probably become high-speed corners. And I think the low-speed stuff will still be very similar, it will just be a general step up everywhere."