Bahrain track guide

So then: race four. Bahrain. A tough track, mainly for just how hot it gets. So much so that Fernando Alonso passed out after the 2009 race after suffering from dehydration. And it's not an easy circuit either.

It starts by gaining speed on the straight on the very long run down to Turn One before it is crucial to get the braking point perfect for Turn One. It is a right hand hairpin and it is critical to take the right amount of kerb otherwise you will lose vital lap time.  Then Turn Two, a flat out left hander, while Turn Three is a slight kink in a long straight up to Four. Super hard braking is required here for the right hander. In the last Bahrain Grand Prix, in 2010, there was a major change to the track design, however it doesn't appear this year as we revert to the original layout from pre-2010. Five, six and seven quickly follow as you try desperately to gain vital time through these fast and flowing corners. This is before Turn Eight, a straight which runs down to a hairpin corner, for which perfect braking and skilful use of the apexes is required. We then move onto a relatively short straight, before two consecutive and almost simultaneous left handers which leads onto one of the longest straights of the track. Taking the outside line as you break for eleven, there are now three flat out and circular corners, which means the next corner requires seriously hard braking after the speed built up in these three flat corners. So this tough right hander is followed by a long straight, before hard braking for a right hander, and a slight kink in the straight which counts as a corner somehow. Then it's onto the pit straight to finish the lap. The DRS Zone this weekend is on the pit straight, meaning that is certainly the best overtaking spot, perhaps the only one. Below is how to do it from Robert Kubica, taking pole in 2008.

ROBERT KUBICA - POLE POSITION 2008

The season starts in Sakhir, and keep with my blog for all the news and reaction from the fourth Grand Prix of the season.