A historic track
There was great curiosity on the eve of this weekend to understand how this new Formula 1 would behave on one of the iconic tracks of the world championship calendar: Suzuka. The Japanese circuit is, together with Spa, the one most loved by drivers who are aware of how this is one of those tracks where the talent of true champions. Unfortunately, however, these new single-seaters have at least partially ruined the spectacular nature of one of the most loved and feared corners of the entire championship, the legendary 130R.
Over 50 km/h of slowdown, remaining at full throttle
It was already known that the previous straight leading to the very fast left-hand bend before the Triangolo chicane would have caused these cars to crash. super-clipping phenomenonthat is, that slowing down of the car even in a situation in which the driver keeps the accelerator pressed all the way down. Now, however, after the conclusion of FP2, we have the real data how much speed each individual car lost when entering this curve and in the immediately following section. The images taken from Verstappen’s onboard camera are perfect for understanding the phenomenon: despite always remaining with the accelerator pressed to maximum, the Dutchman reaches a peak of 324 km/h along the straight and then slows down little by little, reaching the braking point at 269 km/h.
It’s about impressive numbers that certainly do not do the Circus much creditespecially thinking back to the times in which the challenge was precisely to always manage to complete (or almost completely) this stretch and to push the braking of the following chicane to the limit. The data, however, now certifies an average speed loss between the peak speed and the braking point following the 130R of approximately 55 km/h.
Alpine snail
The car that slows down the least due to clipping appears to be theAudiwith Nico Hulkenberg yielding 46 km/h and Gabriel Bortoleto 51. The rest of the group then oscillates between 52 and 58 km/h lostclear demonstration of how This type of single-seater makes the difference, regardless of the team. The negative exceptions are Aston Martin, partly Williams and above all the Alpine: Gasly in fact loses 64 km/h between the point of maximum speed and the short straight stretch following the bend that leads to the braking section; Colapinto even yields 70 km/h.
