25th March - A lap of Interlagos with Giancarlo.


With the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend fast approaching, Giancarlo Fisichella took time to describe his experience of a lap at the Interlagos circuit.

"Having passed the start/finish line I will reach around 310km/hr at the end of the pit straight before braking hard for the very difficult first corner which drops away and is taken in second gear at around 105/km/hr. A right-hand corner immediately follows this. I will shift up to third gear and take the corner at around 155 km/hr, having to use part throttle to balance the car.

"The long sweeping left-hand corner that leads on to the back straight is taken flat starting in third gear at around 200km/hr and exiting in fifth gear at over 250 km/hr. On the back straight I will achieve a similar speed to the pit straight and the actual point of maximum speed will depend on the wind but typically we will again reach 310km/hr before braking for turn four, which is taken in third gear at 135 km/hr. The left-hand corner immediately leads into a second part which is taken in fourth gear at around 240km/hr.

"A fifth gear straight, where I will reach 285 km/hr, leads into a complex of corners, the first part of which is taken in fourth gear at around 200km/hr. This long right hand corner requires a very fine balance of the throttle not to upset the car on the entry to turn seven which is a very slow tight right corner taken in first gear at just over 70km/hr.

"Turn eight is also slow taken in second gear at around 100km/hr and traction out of here is quite difficult. The following straight is quite short as I reach fourth gear and around 210km/hr before braking hard for the slowest corner on the track, turn nine. I take this in first gear at around 70km/hr. From here I accelerate through turn ten which is a long left-hand corner taken in fourth gear at around 205km/hr and again I have to feather the throttle to balance the car through this corner.

"I will approach the last corner in fifth gear at around 255 km/hr before entering one of the most critical corners on the circuit, turn 11, which is taken in second gear at around 110 km/hr. This is a very long corner, at around 650 metres long, with hard acceleration all the way through it. A good exit from this corner is extremely important to maintain or to obtain a high speed on the pit straight and again into the first corner which provides the best overtaking opportunity on the track."



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