The Formula 1 drivers have prepared for hours for the first Grand Prix on the Madring, but only when they actually hit the track on Friday will they get the answer to the most important question. How does the new circuit feel at speed? Lando Norris expects that especially the combination of grip, speed, and blind corners can cause surprises.
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“It is a difficult circuit with many blind corners and many corners where you cannot look around well,” Norris says during the media session in Madrid. “That makes it quite challenging from the cockpit because you find it hard to judge things.”
Although the drivers have now driven hundreds of laps in the simulator, a new track remains a special challenge according to the McLaren driver. “I always enjoy going to a new circuit. There are opportunities there and you have to prepare as well as possible and use everything you can to your advantage.”
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However, according to Norris, there are important differences between the simulator and reality. “You miss the feeling of speed in the sim and the fear that a street circuit instills. The biggest question mark is the grip, because this gives you confidence in the car or not.”
The simulator may be very realistic nowadays, certain aspects simply cannot be replicated. “You just miss the perception of acceleration and speed,” Norris explains. According to him, this becomes especially clear in one of the most challenging sections of the Madring. “When you go through corner 12 here, you come in quite fast. You don’t feel that in the sim, so that will be the hardest to adapt to.”
The first real meters on the Madring must therefore immediately remove some of the biggest question marks. Only then will the drivers discover how much of their simulator work actually corresponds to reality.
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