At 10-metres high, 550-metres long, and pitched at the maximum 24% angle that the FIA will allow for a Formula 1 circuit, Madrid's La Monumental banked turn already has plenty going for it.
But beyond a potential 300km/h corner entry speed, and a predicted sustained 4G compression for two seconds at around 250km/h in the middle of it, the turn has something else that is unique.
There is a blind exit.
As drivers thread their way through it - and there is talk of it being a place where multiple lines can be in play for the six seconds it is expected to take them - the elevation compresses and a dip leaves driving facing a wall of asphalt that they will rise over before the dash down to Turn 13 - a sharp, 90-degree left-hander.
The duration and rollercoaster feel that drivers will experience here is going to be like nothing else on the F1 calendar, and will make La Monumental a completely different experience to Zandvoort.
As Carlos Jimenez, the Madring circuit's chief operations officer, told The Race: "The exit of the turn to reach the next one has blind spots. It's going to challenge a lot the drivers."
This element was something that Williams driver Carlos Sainz said stood out for him when he got to do his first laps of the track recently.
"They've designed probably one of the most unique corners I've ever seen in my life," he said.
"There is this almost 180-degree banked corner that ends up in a change of compression where you don't see anything, then you go down while at the same time you're banking. They've been pretty bold with the design."
For the Spanish Grand Prix's director general Luis Garcia Abad, the Madring cannot be classified as a typical street circuit.
"It is not a circuit like Singapore or Vegas, it's a different one," he told The Race.
"It's a circuit in the city, it is not a city circuit. There are high-speed corners, high [elevation] corners, we have a nice catalogue, a couple of tunnels, and for sure Monumental is the last thing that we need. We wanted to have something iconic."
Safety change brings overtaking benefit
The Madring organiser had been clear about wanting to deliver a statement corner with La Monumental, which has been built up on top of excavated earth taken out from other areas of track construction.
The 24% angle of the banking - which is roughly 13.5-degrees - was as steep as Madring was allowed to go.
Jimenez added: "It was one of our challenges, to receive approval from the FIA and FOM [Formula One Management] for this maximum inclination that we managed to agree on. It's similar to Zandvoort, but longer."
It has emerged that an original design idea, of the drivers plunging down the hill from the Turn 8/9 complex and straight into the banked corner, prompted some concerns about safety.
The entry speeds would have been too high - for both the cars and tyres running flat-out through there, but also the drivers and the risks of exposure to sustained G-forces.
So it was agreed that an extra sequence would be put in before La Monumental to slow things down a little bit.
And that is a decision that could actually have some positive consequences with the current generation of turbo hybrid cars.
The sequencing of corners in F1 has a huge impact on how the current cars perform, and a run of consecutive high-speed turns is no longer a good thing because batteries are emptied and we get the dreaded super clipping.
A quick glance at the Madring layout highlights some good news that should make La Monumental as spectacular as its original track designers hoped, in that preceding it there is a run of the slow- and medium-speed turns that are super easy for boosting batteries.
And that extra chicane - an open Turn 10/11 right-left - before the corner that was made for safety grounds will now give the cars a chance to boost batteries for maximum deployment on the banking.
Jimenez said: "The interesting point is also that they will recover part of the energy in the batteries in the downhill section between Turns 9 and 11. So it could become an overtaking point."
While La Monumental is Madring's most iconic corner, as Edd Straw outlines below, there are plenty of other areas where elevation changes and corner sequences should throw up plenty of action.
Jimenez was confident that the layout is one that will delight both fans and drivers.
"I think it is going to be very fun for the drivers," he said. "It's not a boring street circuit, it's a hybrid circuit with a not-so-boring street section and a completely new traditional [element] with very interesting and even iconic places and sections, like La Monumental.
"I think it's a circuit that cannot compare with anything else, at least anything else that I have seen, and I think it's going to be interesting and fun for the drivers and for the fans."
Edd Straw's verdict
Every track needs its trademark corner, which is what La Monumental will be. Even without what will be packed grandstands lining it come September's race, that's clear from a visit to the track.
It's what every track needs. An urban circuit like the Madring may have a unique setting but it's corners like this that leap to mind for the vast majority of fans.
Remember Valencia, which hosted the European Grand Prix from 2008-12? Probably not, because while there were distinctive elements with the harbourside paddock and the appeal of it being in a wonderful city, the track itself was unmemorable.
There will be plenty of talk about La Monumental come the grand prix weekend, with questions about lines, the long loads on car and driver and the possibility of differing lines for overtaking and trying to minimise the dirty air.
You can already imagine the aerial shots of a pack of cars charging through here with the packed grandstands watching on.
However, while this will become the signature corner, there's far more to this track.
That's what's so clear from a visit to the track even in its unfinished form.
There's a sweeping section from Turn 13 that follows La Monumental, a couple of fast chicanes on the approach - including The Bunker, which has a blind approach - and several slower but technical corners that will offer plenty of opportunity to gain and lose time.
So when the cars roll out for FP1 on the second weekend in September and the track really starts to come to life, look to La Monumental as it will be the totemic corner, but don't overlook the rest of the track.
from The Race https://ift.tt/G3IsAij
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