Without knowing the track, the driver will come across challenges that he will constantly have to face throughout the year.
After three days of training on the traditional circuit in Barcelona, Spain, the F2 drivers and teams have left this week to the Middle East. Sahkir, in Bahrain, will host the final three days of preparation for the season of the renowned GP2 Series.
The only Brazilian driver confirmed in the category, Sérgio Sette Câmara (SANEPAV | BELL), from Belo Horizonte, will come across challenges that he will constantly have to face throughout the year.
F2’s weekend schedule of activities is greatly reduced for drivers and teams, and with this, several situations will be drilled by the MP Motorsport team in these three days in Bahrain.
During an official round of the Championship, drivers will only have 30 minutes of free practice to adapt and recognize the whole track before the qualifiers. Thus, the preparation period in the simulators becomes practically mandatory. Apart from this, the great degradation of Pirelli tyres makes the drivers’ job even more difficult.
“Here in Bahrain, we will have seven sets of tyres to test, five of the medium compound and two of the soft ones.” In Barcelona, in the first simulation race I did, I wore out the tyres before half of the expected laps were completed. This helped me understand the shape and time of tyre wear. Here I already know exactly how and where I can spare them, “explained the 18-year-old.
Despite never having trained on the track in Bahrain, Sette Câmara completed some simulator sessions on it and already managed to give his first impression. “In addition to the simulation drills I watched a few videos of races, I liked the track a lot, it has very tight curves and heavy braking points. I really like this type of tracks, on the other hand, there is the difficulty of some curves with blind spots where you can not see the apex. There is also the situation of a lot of sand outside the track and the kerbs, which are complicated to assimilate. I will do everything to learn as much as possible and with that, I will feel even more prepared for the beginning of the season, right here in Bahrain, two weeks from now, “he said.
This week’s training sessions will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and can be followed through the F2 Twitter account – @ FIA_F2
Photos: Sebastiaan Rozendaal – Quick Comunicação