[Official] Russian GP Race Weekend Thread

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Some said it wouldn't happen, perhaps it still shouldn't happen, but this weekend the Formula 1 circus rolls into the Olympic surrounds of Sochi.

Not everyones minds are fully on the racing, at Sochi, though perhaps not for the reasons everyone thought about a few months ago.

All the cars will carry a message of support for Jules Bianchi as he remains serious but stable in hospital in japan #forzaJules

This 5.848km circuit is made up from the wide avenues around the Olympic ice rinks and the roads that were built for the event.

53 laps make up the 309.745km race distance.



There are 2 DRS activation Zones,
Zone one is between T1 and T2 (timing point is on the Start finish straight)
Zone two Runs through the Sweeping T9 and T10 in the above map(timing point is before T8) ***

*** it would appear that on the official maps the corner numbering differs as the little kinks between T5 and T6 and the between T7 and T8 have been numbered resulting in 18 numbered corners rather than the 16 shown above.

There are no Previous winners, no lap records, so a clean sheet of paper for the driver looking to put their names at the top of that page when the lights go green.

Surprisingly or not for a totally new circuit, there are FP1 drives for Sergey Sirotkin in the Sauber and Roberto Merhi has another Fp1 in a Caterham.

The latest news is that Alex Rossi has been named as the replacement driver at Marussia this weekend, although it's still completely certain that Marussia will run the second car.

[mikuni]

Nice intro.

As mentioned, it is going to be hard to be enthusiastic about this weekend for obvious reasons, Forza Jules.

[sweetchuk]

All that can be thought about Jules has been expressed in the forums already .. and he will continue to be in our thoughts & prayers no doubt, as he will be in the F1 teams thoughts too.

But in fairness to this Grand Prix ... it is a brand new Grand Prix, in a country never before experienced with the event, so respect and support for Jules' recovery, but lets examine the track and event and have some enthusiasm for it ... it's not too often a new circuit in a new F1 country happens.

Has there been any sighting laps done at this circuit yet, or preliminary reports from it re the F1 event?

[Nicholosophy]

Kinda glad to see a new race thread so I can avoid the Japan one.

Despite the circumstances, we're going to see the first US driver in F1 for a while now (was it Scott Speed?) and we'll know how he stacks against Max Chilton at least.

Personally I'm looking forward to the race and seeing what the track is like. I can do a range of emotion, so can be a little excited but also still concerned for Bianchi.

[Moneyseeker]

Only one car at Marussia for Chilton, no Rossi.

[steve_r]

I guess we will not know until the race, but are the overtaking oppertunities at turn 2 and 11?

Forgive my ignorance, but have any other motorsport events run here? WTCC?

[skells22]

RTCC was the touring cars you thinking off as that was a tester to find out if track was ready

[steve_r]

It's always interesting watching F1 at a new track. Let's hope the excitement is not short lived, like Valencia for example...

[werner]

I very much doubt that in T 3 speeds of over 300kp/h will be reached...

[canamman]

Curious why Ricardo's Red Bull died towards the end
of P2.

[Lancsbreaker]

Power unit at the end of its life, according to Horner - it just died 7 minutes early....

Turn 13 looks like the one likely to cause a lot of incidents....but for a Tilke circuit, quite interesting.

[canamman]

Ah. Thanks.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Thanks for the intro.

A new GP. After all the hype and speculation, I hope this race can deliver.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

EDIT: Russia also forbids tobacco & alcohol advertising.

[Sodemo]

Well as predicted, the track is dreadful. It really is Valencia 2.

[bella]

i'm sure that like valencia, the modern nurburgring and the hungaroring that it's a good fun circuit to drive, but... hopefully it's going to produce a reasonable race.

(hey i'm trying to be optimistic)

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Well as predicted, the track is dreadful. It really is Valencia 2.

According to this article, http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116265 the drivers like it.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

According to this article, http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116265 the drivers like it.

Yknow, there is a kart circuit near me which I think is fun, but frankly it's a terrible layout, it's basically short straights into hairpins. Is it the best track ever? Nope. Is it better than spending a afternoon staring at a blank wall, well probably yes.

They are required to say that stuff as well. It's the usual PR bullcrap. Get an opinion of someone like JV and maybe he might say the truth. I'm sure there was a driver recently that said a venue was garbage and they got hauled over the coals for it, it may have been Webber.

[Purist]

Well, I know multiple drivers panned Korea back in 2010.

Tilke can say that all those 90's have different radii, and whatever, but if they all look the same, it doesn't matter.

My biggest general issue is with how tight the inner radii are at Turns 2, 4, 7, 8, 13, 15, 17, and 18. They pinch the line down so much, and would bog the inside car down so much, that going through side-by-side is almost certainly out. And it's not as if Turns 2, 4, or 13, especially, would be too quick if they were opened up a bit. Those would still be more than adequate braking zones for overtaking. How fast are Les Combes or Les Fagnes at Spa?

My greatest particular concern is the Turn 2 complex, which has the kink back to the left, effectively narrowing things down further. It is also narrower in actual width than the front stretch (13m, instead of 15m). It just seems like a recipe for a mess on the initial start, as well as on any possible restarts.

They were talking in FP1 about the lack of punishment for totally botching Turn 2, but putting in one of those speed bumps would seem to just about guarantee a melee on the start. Once the first car launched, it would be chaos.

I'm not sure that the meanders on the back stretch will do much to inhibit overtaking into Turn 13; I think the acuteness of Turn 13 itself will be the greatest hindrance to the racing in that area.

Finally, having all those tight corners, with moderate braking zones between some of them, could really spread the field out in the final sector, and make the front stretch kind of a catch-up zone, using the slipstream, as much as anything else.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Bottas showing some very good pace...

[Dixie Flatline]

Looks like a boring place to go to. Nobody in the stands at all, as far as I can tell from the pictures. Simply a homage to Putin's massive ego.

Massa the surprise failure to get through to the second qualifying session.

[canamman]

The camera angles I have seen from our tv coverage
looks like stands are 70 percent full. Had no idea
Russia had that many motorsports enthusiasts.

[helgi]

20000 for Thursday and 35000 for Friday - not a bad statistics. And believe me, lots of enthusiasts watch it over TV. No wonder - with all our drivers in junior series, FIA WEC, Indycar, a works team in WTCC. And if you leave all that politics aside it would help you to see the situation clear.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Kvyat has done exactly what I thought he would - he's shut everyone up with 5th - fastest of all Red Bull backed cars. Massive shame about Bottas, and how he lost a certain front row and potential pole. Hopefully he can race the Mercs. As for JB, how can you sack him? Just how? Alonso, Ricciardo and Vettel all underachieved, to add to the madness of the silly season. Awesome Q3...

[bella]

out of interest, who do you think kvyat was shutting up?