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Mark Gillan, Chief
Operations Engineer:
After a disappointing qualifying in Suzuka both drivers demonstrated
very good pace in the race, with Pastor securing a solid 8th place. We
now move onto Korea looking to capitalise on this pace and therefore
need to ensure a better qualifying result. The 55 lap Korean race will
be run using the soft and supersoft tyres, as per Monaco, Canada and
Singapore. This is a medium to high speed circuit with a smooth track
surface. In previous years we have seen a large grip evolution
throughout the sessions and one should expect the same this weekend.
With this large amount of evolution it is important to ensure that both
cars set-up also evolves with the circuit so track time is therefore
very important. Currently the forecast is predicting a dry weekend.
Bruno Senna:
The Korean Grand Prix is different to other races. It's a high downforce
circuit so should suit our car. It’s also one of the tracks we have the
least amount of practice on as it is fairly new to the calendar and
therefore we haven’t had any running in our simulator, so it will be
interesting to see how we get on. There’s a mix of high speed corners
with lower speed technical sections. We’ll need to work very hard to
score some good points.
Pastor Maldonado:
The Korean International Circuit is not a typical track for us but it is
one of the newest and we’re enjoying racing there. We aim to be
competitive and will be working to adapt the car set-up to this low grip
track. There is a good combination of corners and the last sector is a
medium speed flowing sequence which is very technical. I look forward to
getting there and having a great race.
Rémi Taffin, Head of
Renault Sport F1 Track Operations:
Korea is pretty much in the middle of the table for engine challenges.
The first sector has three long straights linked by either sharp
hairpins or right angled, slow speed corners. Since a high percentage of
this is taken at full throttle, we’ll be working on providing good top
speed, but also optimal engine braking and traction in the heavy braking
zones of turn one and three. The second sector is reminiscent of Suzuka,
with fast flowing turns leading into the final, slower sector, which
represents a technical challenge to both engineers and drivers alike.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli
Motorsport Director:
For Korea we have the P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft
compounds, and it’s likely to be the last time that we see the
supersofts in action this year. Last year we made the same nominations
for Korea and some people thought that was a bold choice in view of the
demanding nature of the circuit, although in the end it worked out
really well. This year we have the same nomination, but the soft is
softer than the equivalent compound last year, so there should be a
smaller gap in performance between two tyres. As the circuit is not used
extensively during the year, we expect to see quite a high degree of
track evolution as the weekend goes on, so car set-up is vital to avoid
graining at the start of the weekend in particular.
Race Data
Friday:
Practice 1: 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2: 14:00 - 15:30
Saturday:
Practice 3: 11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying: 14:00 – 15:00
Sunday: Race: 15:00
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