McLaren – Russian Grand Prix Preview

McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

Here on The Formula 1 Girl we want to bring you all the latest news from the teams and in this post you can see what the McLaren team have to say ahead of the Russian Grand Prix this weekend.

The McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview with driver interviews, stats and information about the Sochi Autodrom.

Lowdown – McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

Race Title – Formula One VTB Russian Grand Prix

Circuit Name – Sochi Autodrom

First Race – 2014

Previous Winners 

2016 – Nico Rosberg

2015 – Lewis Hamilton

2014 – Lewis Hamilton

The inaugural Russian Grand Prix took place eight months after the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Sochi.

The 5.848km / 3.634 mile street track passes alongside the Olympic Village making it the third circuit on this year’s calendar to incorporate a former Olympic Venue.

The other circuits are – Villeneuve (Montreal 76) and Circuit de Catalunya (Barcelona 92).

Travel – McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

City – Sochi

Time Zone – BST +2

Population – 450,000

How Far? Sochi is 1940 miles from the McLaren Technology Centre.

Getting There – There are no direct flights from the UK to Sochi. The team’s pre set-up crew who need to be in situ 10 days before the race fly to the circuit view Moscow.

The rest of the team uses a direct F1 charter flight from London Luton to Sochi.

Surprising Fact – Sochi attracts four million tourists a year but only 3% are foreign! Many Muscovites head to Sochi which is known as the Russian Riviera in the summer.

Weather – Sochi has a similar latitude to Monaco and as a result gets more than 200 days of sunshine a year. The average daily temperate in April is 16.8 degrees.

Track – McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

Track Length – 5.848km / 3.634 miles making it the third longest track of the year.

2016 Pole Position – Nico Rosberg

2016 Fastest Lap – Nico Rosberg

Tyre Choice – Purple (Ultrasoft), Red (Supersoft), Yellow (Soft) this is the same combination that was used for the Australian Grand Prix.

Distance to Turn One – 450m/0.280 miles

Longest Straight – 650m/0.404 miles

Top Speed – 345km/214mph on the approach to Turn 2.

Full Throttle – 60%

Brakewear – Medium. There are only 2 significant braking events – one into Turn 2 and the other into Turn 13.

Fuel Consumption – 1.9kg per lap – high.

ERS Demand – Low

Gear Changes – 40 per lap / 2120 per race.

Race – McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

Laps – 53

Start Time – 15:00hrs local / 13:00 BST / 14:00 CET

Grid Advantage – Pole Position is located on the left side of the track, on the racing line. There is more grip available on this section of the track but the fast-starting car on the inside can used the flat-out right hander at Turn One to muscle out the driver before the braking point for Turn Two.

DRS – There are 2 DRS Zones, on the approaches to Turn 2 and 13. The activation point for the first DRS Zone is on the apex of Turn One. The second DRS Zone winds it’s way right-handed through Turn 11 and 12 – both zones offer good overtaking opportunities.

DON’T Put The Kettle On – In the middle of the race. This is when the cars are expected to make their one and only pitstop. If you can’t wait unit then – the start is usually quite lively. It’s a long run to the braking point of Turn 2 meaning there’s a lot of speed to scrub off when the cars are in close proximity.

PitLane Length / PitStops – 330m/0.205 miles. Estimated time loss for pitstop is 21s.

Safety Car Likelihood – 66% which is high. There have been Safety Car periods in 2 of the 3 Russian Grand Prix’s to date – mail caused by the lack of run-off around the lap. When there’s an accident, there’s usually a safety car while the debris gets cleared away.

Watch Out For – Turn 3. This 180-degress left-hander will be flat-out in Qualifying and the race this year! Expect to see cars running two-a-breast through here as drivers seek the inside line of Turn 4.

Driver Interviews – McLaren Russian Grand Prix Preview 

Fernando Alonso 

“I hope we can do our best…. I’m looking forward to seeing how the car feels around the circuit.”

“The Sochi Autodrom is an interesting Circuit – a mixture of challenges and ones that I think will be tackled quite different this year with the new regulations for 2017.”

“For example, Turn 3 last year used to be very tricky and you needed to be very precise – it’s a multi-apex, left-hander which means good car balance and control is very important to not get the car out of shape mid-corner.”

“This year though, it will more than likely be taken flat – so I’m looking forward to seeing how the car feels around the circuit.”

“There are two long and slightly curved straights along with high-speed corners which means that this circuit will be a challenging circuit for us and the package that we have but our car is very well-balanced so I hope that we can do our best and get the most out of the 90-degree corners that make this circuit so unique!”

“It’s technically a city circuit, it’s pretty fast overall and the track itself is wide so it usually provide close racing with good overtaking opportunities.”

“A positive result for us in Sochi will be to finish the race with both cars – first of all.”

“I followed the test in Bahrain and I’m pleased that we were able to secure a lot of valuable data from the car and the power unit – I know everyone at McLaren-Honda is working hard to put that into good use and as quickly as possible.”

“The season is long but there isn’t much time between races, hopefully thing will be better to us over the next few races.”

Stoffel Vandoorne

“I’ve raced in Sochi and had good results…. we will give it our best shot!”

“I’ve raced in Sochi before and had good results there – it’s where I clinched the GP2 Championship back in 2015 so that’s definitely a plus for me going into the weekend.”

“We’ve not been so lucky recently on my side, we’ve missed a lot of valuable mileage and I hope that we can improve the situation this weekend.”

“After a difficult couple of weeks, the last day of Bahrain testing was very encouraging, both for me and the whole of the team – it was a boost that we needed and it provided us with a lot of useful information.”

“As I’ve said before, tracks like this where straight-line speed is important – we know that we are already slightly on the back foot for the weekend.”

“Our focus should be on maximising our track time and working on reliability – if we can have a clean weekend from that point of view then we will have the best chance to perform for the race.”

“We will give it our best shot with the package that we have.”

More coming soon!

The Formula 1 Girl 🙂

xx