Some of Formula One’s greatest corners could be among those considered as ‘straights’ thanks to the 2017 cars, according to McLaren technical director Tim Goss.
Such is the increase in grip expected this year, through wider tyres and more aggressive aerodynamics, he predicts some circuits will have less official corners than before, at least in the minds of those in the garages.
“Engineers define a corner as a point on the track where the driver has to lift and essentially drive and handle the car through it,” he explained to Autosport.
“If he’s going round a bend and his foot is flat to the floor on the accelerator, we class that as a straight.
“As the new cars will be going faster, some of 2016’s ‘corners’ will be classified as ‘straights’.”
Under that definition then, corners such as Spa’s Eau Rouge and Suzuka’s 130R, which were already pretty comfortable in terms of being flat-out, could very easily become the bendiest ‘straights’ on the calendar as the increase in grip will mean a driver simply turns the steering wheel.
The increase in speed through the corners does come at a cost to the driver, however, and it is one of the major factors some are pointing to that could make F1 a greater thrill and potentially more exciting for the spectator in 2017.
“The aim was to make the cars look more aggressive; to make them faster, so that F1 was very much at the pinnacle of motorsport in terms of outright speed, and to make them more difficult to drive,” Goss said.
“By that we don’t mean they’re more of a handful for the drivers, but that they’re more physically demanding, so they get out of the car having had to work hard – like they did in years past.
“Because they’ll be going through the corners faster, they’ll be subjected to more G-forces and that’s tiring on the body.”
“The drivers say these new cars will be more challenging to drive, and they’ll have to work harder and concentrate more to get the best from them.”
The impact of the new cars has already meant changes are being made to circuits to accommodate them.
Monza’s current redevelopment was planned and made allowances for lap times considerably faster than the 2016 machines were achieving. 1:18’s was one estimate as the lap times a car could safely set, compared to a 1:21 which Lewis Hamilton set for pole and a 1:19.5 which stands as the fastest ever lap of the ‘Temple of Speed’ by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Albert Park is also beefing up tyre walls as well as introducing Tecpro protection at the high-speed chicane of Turn’s 11 and 12 for the first time ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
