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Event Information:
The
European Grand Prix (sometimes
referred to as the Grand Prix of
Europe) is a Formula One event that
was reintroduced during the
mid-1980s and has been held
regularly since 1999. From 2008 it
will take place for at least another
7 years. In earlier years, the
European Grand Prix was not a race
in its own right but just a
honorific title; one of the national
Grands Prix was also designated as
the European Grand Prix. The first
race to be so named was the 1923
Italian Grand Prix, held at Monza
and won by Carlo Salamano in a Fiat
and the last one was the 1977
British Grand Prix. Since its
reintroduction, the European Grand
Prix is usually held in a country
that also holds a national Grand
Prix in that same year.
The
Valencia Street Circuit is a
semi-permanent street circuit in
Valencia, Spain which will host the
Formula One European Grand Prix for
seven years. The first race meeting
on the circuit was held over the
23/24 August 2008 weekend, with
Felipe Massa winning the main event,
the European Grand Prix, after
starting from pole position. The
circuit utilizes the roads skirting
around the city's harbour and
America's Cup port area including a
section over a 140-metre-long (460
ft) swing bridge, and also includes
some roads designed exclusively for
racing purposes by the German
architect Hermann Tilke who also
designed the infrastructural
buildings for the circuit. The
edition will be held on Sunday June
26th.
The
track is 5.419 kilometres (3.367 mi)
long and incorporates a total of 25
turns, 11 right-handers and 14
left-handers. It is estimated that
the track has a top speed of around
323 kilometres per hour (201 mph),
with a lap record of 1:37.587, held
by Sebastian Vettel, which he set
during the 2010 European Grand Prix.
Valencia is not as tight as Circuit
de Monaco but overtaking
opportunities are still relatively
few, due to the straights not being
straight and the dust off line. Nico
Hülkenberg noticed quite a bit of
space for a street circuit and some
corners have a lot of run-off area.
Robert Kubica suggested that good
traction and good braking stability
are crucial to win at this circuit
because there is a lot of long
straight lines ending with heavy
braking.
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