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Added on the 09/05/2014 09:59:04 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
It’s time for the Japanese Grand Prix, one of the most popular events on the calendar for enthusiasts and F1 folk alike. Suzuka first featured on the World Championship trail almost four decades ago and along with two races at Fuji in the mid-70s and again in 2007 and 2008 and with two Pacific Grands Prix in the Nineties, the Land of the Rising Sun has played an important part in the history of the sport. Suzuka is special, not just because of the beautiful figure-of-eight track, but also because of the electrifying atmosphere around the circuit, the grandstands packed with local fans, both young and old who love to dress up in race suits, often wearing the most bizarre home-made caps made to look like the race cars, as they wander around the track and even in the paddock.If the 18 corners that make up Suzuka circuit could talk, they would tell the tale of some of the most memorable moments in the history of the sport. So many world championships have been decided here, many of them in favour of Scuderia Ferrari. In 2000 came the “Red Dawn” as the tifosi called it, when Michael Schumacher won the race to clinch his first title in red, repeating the feat in Japan in 2003. There were also moments of disappointment for the Prancing Horse, in 1990 when Alain Prost was beaten to the crown by Ayrton Senna and in 1998, when Schumacher was bested by Mika Häkkinen.
Formula 1 arrives in Australia for what will be the first race this year to be held as usual on a Sunday, after the first two rounds of the season were run on Saturday in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Australians love their motorsport and Ferrari is particularly popular here, making for a very special atmosphere. The Albert Park circuit is spectacular and everything points to it being an interesting weekend. Carlos Sainz is expected to be back in the car, having had to miss Jeddah with appendicitis and he and team-mate Charles Leclerc will most likely be fighting at the front of the field, as they have done in the first two rounds.The circuit. The Albert Park track made its first appearance on the Formula 1 calendar in 1996. It features plenty of medium to high speed corners, with four DRS zones to provide plenty of excitement. Turn 1 is a quick chicane with walls on one side and a gravel run-off on the other, making it one of the trickiest sections, especially as it is followed by a long straight, before drivers brake heavily for turn 3, a favourite overtaking spot, as it comes at the end of a DRS zone, but mind out, here too there’s a gravel run-off area lying in wait. Turns 9 and 10 are definitely among the quickest corners on the track and overtaking is possible here, although drivers can also opt to stay in the slipstream and then give it their all to pass into turn 11, where overtaking carries a bit less risk.
The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit returns to the layout used up until 2006, doing away with the chicane in the third sector, as it hosts the seventh round of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix. It is Carlos Sainz’s home race, at which he finished fourth last year, his best ever home result in Spain.
As was the case last year, Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit hosts the third round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
And they’re off! The 74th Formula 1 World Championship season gets underway in Bahrain, the longest ever with 23 races on four continents. The 5.412 kilometre-long Sakhir track is a very familiar one for the drivers as it was used twice in the same season in 2020, while it has also seen hundreds of laps completed during pre-season testing.Drivers will complete 57 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, covering a distance of 308.238 km. Its key features are long straights and very heavy braking points, especially at turns 1 and 14. There are three DRS zones, where the moveable rear wing can be used: on the start-finish straight and after turns 3 and 10. As always, qualifying and the race will start after sunset at 18 (16 CET) run under floodlights. As the sun goes down, so too does the track temperature and therefore the cars pick up pace.Last year, when the new generation of ground effect cars raced for the first time, the Scuderia secured a one-two finish, Charles Leclerc leading team-mate Carlos Sainz past the chequered flag.
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