As can be seen from the above photo the new section of track commences at the old turn one of the track, comprises of a slow hairpin and new turns two and three that lead into turn five. As for how the drivers felt about it after their first runs on it the reaction was varied.

Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld said: "I like it. It's been well done and now all the new corners are quite difficult. You need to be very precise. I hope Turn One is going to be better at the start, and I'm sure it will be because it's quite wide whereas the old layout was more like a chicane."

Jordan’s Takuma Sato agreed. Sato added: "The changes to the first part of the circuit are excellent, as I think there are more opportunities for overtaking, which is quite exciting."

Another driver who supported the changes was Toyota’s Mika Salo, who said: "I really like the new circuit layout, especially turns 2 and 3 - the circuit is quite tricky and more demanding."

But there just as many drivers who felt that the new corners were too slow and did not add anything to the lap in terms of adding another passing opportunity. Also it was criticised for the bumpy nature of the track.

"The new chicane is much too slow for me - I preferred it as it was before," said BMW-Williams driver Juan-Pablo Montoya. He was joined by Eddie Irvine, who added: "I don’t like the new layout at all. It’s slow and completely unnecessary in my opinion."

David Coulthard said the bumps could prevent overtaking. He said: "The new section of the track is fine but it's very bumpy which might result in not a lot of overtaking at the first corner,’ he suggested. "However, overall it's good."