09/11/2020
NEWS STORY
Who would have thought just a couple of years ago that fans would once again witness an F1 season comprising old favourites like Silverstone, Spa and Monza, along with Imola, Istanbul and the Nurburgring not to mention newcomers Portimao and Mugello.
Yet, courtesy of the need to completely revise the schedule in view of the pandemic this is exactly what has happened.
Drivers like Kevin Magnussen admit that they are revelling in some of the tracks being called back into service.
"Generally it's street circuits and old circuits that are the best," says the Dane. "There are a few of the new tracks that are quite cool, but generally they are less exciting because they tend to build them totally flat, with flat kerbs and lots of tarmac run-off area.
"It's basically like driving on a big parking lot between two white lines," he adds, channelling Toto Wolff. "That's not too exciting.
"So, when you go to tracks like Imola or Suzuka - and F1 will go to Zandvoort as well which is cool - these old tracks are just way cooler. Street circuits, of course, are exciting as you're driving between walls on a street at full speed.
"Istanbul is one of the newer circuits that looks pretty interesting," he adds. "There are some big high-speed corners, I expect these cars to be easily flat - full throttle. Nonetheless, it looks pretty cool from what I've seen.
"It's good to watch as much as you can in terms of onboard videos, previous races," he says of preparing for the return to Turkey, "just to kind of get an idea about lines and what kerbs to use and bumps to avoid.
"In the end though you learn a ton more when you go and drive it yourself."
Last time out however, at another track popular with fans and drivers alike, things didn't go quite so well for the Haas driver.
"Well I had a good start," he says, "the first lap was going well and I was up to P13 from P17.
"(Then) I was spun around by Vettel - which was pretty annoying. I got going again and I felt the car wasn't too damaged.
"I started pushing, in the hope that something like a safety car could put me back in the race. It's important to be pushing hard as you can, even though things might not look too good.
"It's a brilliant track, and I was driving a Formula 1 car around one of the best tracks in the world. You can enjoy that as well, even though you're frustrated about being knocked out of the race - so that's what I did.
"Of course, I had the problem with the gearbox, which made things even worse. By the end of it the team called me in."