Just_a_fan wrote: ↑14 May 2024, 18:14
I was talking about Jeddah as you said that Jeddah's high speed corners require skill. I disagree. Jeddah's fast corners don't require much skill because they're basically flat sweeps.
It's not the 'high-speed' that I was hinting at. It was the 'long' that I meant. Jeddah has many back to back fast sweepers all at full throttle. There is driver skill in positioning the car (the lines picked, talking about a few inches differences) that determines how efficient the braking is going to be, for the next slow/medium turn ; and how much tyre was burned over the high-speed. As an example, take 16-17 in Jeddah. It's full throttle from 17 till 22, where there is a dirty kerb between 22-23, before being back to full throttle at the exit of 23-24, which is going to determine how the giant sweeper/straight from 24 to 27 is going to be. How the car comes out of 17, how straight is the straightish line chosen through 18-19-20-21, is going to determine how much left-handedly the car is loaded approaching 22 , is going to determine the braking for 22-23, is going to influence the rotation through 22-23 and the exit at 24.
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑14 May 2024, 18:14
As for the rest of your post, slow corners are just as requiring of skill - perhaps more so - because that is where time can be made and lost so easily. Why? Because the car spends longer "in" the corner and messing up braking or throttle application only adds to the length of time that the car isn't accelerating most efficiently.
Narrow slow turns like chicanes, the 90 degrees in Singapore etc, there is probably only 1 optimal car position, and most drivers hit it, because there is nothing much else to choose. If the cars are the same (and it's a big IF) their braking points will be same, throttle points will be same. Agree that the most laptime sits in the slowest corners, but when the line to be chosen is super-restrictive, and if the car capabilities in the slow turn is same (rotation, mechanical grip, ability to kerb ride) , then there is not much the driver can bring to the table. Most of the time, the slow corner advantage or disadvantage is the car, less so the driver.
Whereas, when the corner is a 'long' one - in terms of length, nothing to do with speed - the giant heavily banked (medium speed) turn in Zandvoort OR the last two turns together (slow speed) in Monaco OR Pouhon (high speed) in Spa -> the corner distance is giant, compared to other corners on those circuits ; and thats where we would see differently skilled drivers from teh same team gaining/dropping time w.r.t each other despite their car capabilities being matched.
