DRIVER PREVIEW QUOTES - RENAULT SPORT FORMULA 1 TEAM
Kevin Magnussen - “I’m really excited and I really want to get those first points on the board. Give me a normal race with no puncture and no penalty and I think we can do that! My race (here) in 2014 wasn’t the best, I struggled with the car I had, meaning I finished in 13th position. Certainly I’m hoping for a better result on my second visit.
The (track) layout is interesting but it is a very wide circuit and there’s so much run-off area, it doesn’t feel as spectacular as it could be. It does have some really good fast corners; the entry to turn one is special in particular, you enter it from the fastest part of the track and by the end of what is a pretty long corner you’re at about 60kph!
There are two DRS straights so that’s obviously where you look first for overtaking opportunities. The biggest chance is into the first turn as the DRS zone starts very late on the start-finish straight so you can get close to the car in front. That said, I’m always going to go for any opportunity no matter where it presents itself on a lap!
We know our weaknesses and perhaps Shanghai’s not going to be the friendliest track for us in terms of these but I still think that if we have a good race we can challenge for points. I’m really pumped and excited.”
Jolyon Palmer - “I drove (the Shanghai International Circuit) last year in FP1 so I have a reasonable idea about the track. You can get pretty low temperatures there so there’s the challenge of long corners too, which means front tyre graining. It’s almost the exact opposite of Bahrain, which is rear limited.
There are some very technical corners, like Turn 1 that is pretty unique as it goes pretty much back on itself, on to the back straight, which is another long corner that induces graining on the front left. The straight is very long and there’s DRS so in the race you’ll be looking to be as close as possible to the car ahead to slipstream and make a move, then you’re considering your braking point. It’s one of the longest straights on the calendar and it’s right at the end of the lap. You really need to maximise the potential; you can’t afford to mess it up. The long straight means the tyres are being cooled and the brakes are being cooled; both of which you need to be working at their best when you get into the corner.
There are two sides to the track, you’ve got the really long straight with heavy braking at the end, then there’s the double DRS zones into the first corner as well so there’s overtaking opportunities there. The middle sector is more about high-speed corners where it’s not so easy to follow the car ahead but the corner itself provides the challenge. There’ll always be the element of looking after the tyres in Shanghai.”
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Article Posted By: Amy Hawk
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