Alex Albon says the Madring’s flat-out corners could disrupt teams’ hybrid deployment calibrations over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
Albon’s opinions on the Madring proved to be amongst the most blunt in the build up to on-track action in Madrid.
Throughout Media day, drivers gave their take on the circuit, many talking about the challenges of the layout.
Albon’s feedback went further than others. Detailing the amount of throttle the cars can take, whilst also revealing the impact of cornering on deployment.
“There’s a lot of corners on this track that will be between 90 per cent and 100 per cent throttle,” Albon said. “I think the top teams will be flat out, for the midfield teams and the backfield teams, a bigger lift, which has a big effect on deployment.”
“Without going too technical, if you can do a corner flat or not, it massively changes the way the deployment works,” he added.
Albon said the danger is that cars may only find certain corners flat once fuel loads drop and tyres are fresh in qualifying — after most of a team’s calibration work is already done.
Albon said cars may only take certain corners flat once fuel loads drop in qualifying, after most calibration work is complete. “You don’t want to go in qualifying, suddenly these corners start to become flat, and your deployment starts to move around a lot,” he said. “That’s what we’ve found in the [simulator] so far.”
“You’ve got to set some corners as straights if they become flat,” Albon said. “If they go from corners to straights, then that can confuse the [pods].”
He said teams that reach the limit early stand to benefit most. “What I hope for us is that the top teams are already flat by P1, P2, P3,” Albon said. “So that by the time we get to quali, we know what calibrations are needed. So there will be an element of that for sure.”
Alex Albon rivals challenges of Madring
He also addressed the track’s low-grip surface, which organisers have treated with high-pressure water jets ahead of the race to clear dust and residue from the recently laid asphalt. “I worry about the marbles in the race,” Albon said. “From what I’ve heard, it’s very low grip at this point in the weekend. They resurfaced the track quite late, which is May.”
“You then form a single line because all the rubber’s only in one place,” he said. “And if you stay away from that line, then there’s no grip.”
“Personally, I don’t think you can do that many lines,” Albon said. “The track’s quite narrow. Drivers aren’t as willing to stick it up to the top of the banking and take the risk of running a high line. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I don’t think I’m wrong.”
On the circuit’s banked Turn 12, La Monumental, a 550-metre banked corner. Albon said he had measured the camber himself. “I measured it on my phone. I got the measuring tool out,” he said. “It looks like there’s slightly more camber closer to the inside line than there is on top.”
“You’re going to go into that corner and then do a small throttle release. And you’re just going to slide up to the top of the track. But in doing so, you do a lot of extra metres than if you were to stay down.”
On track safety, Albon said: “I’m always a little bit surprised that these tracks are safe. I’ve looked at the barriers. The barriers look like they’re all in good places.”
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