Fuente: © Honda Racing F1 Team
http://www.hondaracingf1.com/

FORMULA 1 – HONDA RACING: News Hockenheim: The technical challenge

/noticias.info/ An in depth look at the 2008 German GP track

Hockenheim was built in 1939, but racing only took off at the venue in 1964 when Dutch circuit designer John Hugenholz, who also penned the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit, created the 6.8km (4.2-mile) super-fast layout that was to remain largely unchanged until 2001. It was on this track, which had an average speed in excess of 242kph (150mph), that the Honda Racing F1 Team’s Rubens Barrichello scored his maiden F1 victory in 2000.

Hockenheim was re-designed by Hermann Tilke in 2002 when the circuit was shortened and safety improvements were made. The revised circuit provides the teams and drivers with an interesting technical challenge and the 67-lap race is sometimes incident-packed.

The new Hockenheim is a very different challenge to the old layout. What was once a flat-out blast through the forest is now a modern stadium circuit, but the old Motodrom section, with its testing mix of elevation changes and double-apex corners, has been retained in the new layout.

Car set-up is a compromise between this twisty infield section and the straights at the back of the circuit. The teams spent last week’s three-day test session at the track trying to establish good levels of mechanical grip with their cars, while minimising the amount of aerodynamic downforce in order to be fast in a straight line.

Stability under braking is also important because there are a number of heavy braking areas on the lap, particularly at the Spitzkehre hairpin (Turn 6) where the cars slow from 310kph (193mph) to 60kph (37mph). It’s one of the slowest corners on the F1 calendar and the best overtaking point at Hockenheim.

With only two high-speed corners on the lap, into and out of the Motodrom, tyre wear is not such a factor at this race, but the high track temperatures sometimes witnessed in late July can create large fluctuations in grip.

Full throttle: 65%
Brake wear: Medium
Downforce level: Medium - 7/10
Tyre compounds: Hard / Medium
Tyre usage: Medium
Average speed: 215kph (134mph) notas_de_prensa_archivo