Why the change to the Catalunya circuit?

Fabio · 10-05-2009 12:27pm #1

Hi guys,

A quick question for you all: As I have only back into F1 this year, I don't know why the final corner at the Circuit de Catalunya is now a slow "acceleration zone" and not the 150mph sweeper it used to be.

Why did they put that chicane thing in front of it?

Very annoying!

That_Guy · 10-05-2009 1:00pm

Safety first perhaps.

Or maybe the Spanish crowds complained that the cars were going too fast to get a good photo op.

cooker3 · 10-05-2009 1:10pm

A bigger question is why do they insist on going to a track which produces dull uninteresting races year after year.

projectmayhem · 10-05-2009 1:16pm

F1 bosses have made horrific decisions regarding tracks in the last few years. I'll never forgive them for allowing the refit of hokenheim to go ahead.

amacachi · 10-05-2009 2:42pm

Can't understand why they choose the tracks they do. Like how come the Hungarian Grand Prix seems to be safe always?

As far as I remember the modification was made partly to keep lap times up, and partly to try and close the cars up before the main straight so as to give a possibility of overtaking.

enzo7 · 10-05-2009 3:07pm

cooker3 wrote: »

A bigger question is why do they insist on going to a track which produces dull uninteresting races year after year.

money, alonso attracts the crowds there still going to come to see him and dont care if the race is good or not.

EvilMonkey · 10-05-2009 4:14pm

As far as i remember it was to try and increase the chance of overtaking at the end of the main straight by bunching up the cars before the last corner so they could slipstream down the main straight.
Obviously it doesn't work!
It also increased the short lap time for the circuit.

Fabio · 13-05-2009 1:37am

Ah right...makes some sense I suppose but what if a car was to go full throttle through that corner unlike the car in front of them and then overtaking could occur...

Now if they ever touch Eau Rouge...

ednwireland · 13-05-2009 3:04pm

Fabio wrote: »

Now if they ever touch Eau Rouge...

didn't they make some small changes in 2002 ? (no idea what they were though)

EvilMonkey · 13-05-2009 11:37pm

ednwireland wrote: »

didn't they make some small changes in 2002 ? (no idea what they were though)

They made changes to the back of the circuit, reversed the chicane at the end(bus stop?) and a couple of other minor changes maybe changed the pits nothing major they didn't touch Eau Rouge

Why the change to the Catalunya circuit?

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