Barcelona track talk with Robert Kubica

Barcelona is one of the best-known tracks for all the teams and drivers because of the testing miles we do there over the winter. The racing is never brilliant because it’s so hard to overtake, but it’s still a fun Grand Prix with a good atmosphere and enthusiastic Spanish fans.

The track layout is quite interesting with a few high-speed sections, as well as a very slow final sector. This means that you have to find a set-up compromise to cope with the range of corners. In the past, I preferred to go for a balance that suited the low-speed corners and I would live with the car in the high-speed sections. I always felt it was better to have low-speed traction and a stable car under braking, especially if the weather is hot and you have a lot of tyre degradation.

The start of the lap is really nice to drive in an F1 car. The first corner requires heavy braking and you build up speed quickly through the next sequence leading into turn three, which is a really challenging corner, especially with heavy fuel. You have to judge where the limit is and the line you take will depend on how your car is behaving. Some cars prefer to take a wide exit from turn two and a tight entrance to three, while others will do the opposite and sacrifice speed on the exit of two for a wide entry into three.

Turn nine is an exciting and unusual corner because it’s over a crest and you can’t see the exit. It’s one of those corners where you hope you don’t lose the car because if you do it’s going to be a big shunt. It’s usually taken in fifth gear, with just light braking, before you’re back on the power for the approach to turn 10.

Turn 10 is tricky and the cars usually struggle with braking stability because there are some small bumps in the braking zone. If you’re suffering with tyre wear it becomes even more difficult, especially getting good traction on the exit. Then you’re straight into turn 11, which last year wasn’t really a corner because you could really attack the low kerb and take it flat out. But this year, on heavy fuel loads, it should be more challenging.

The end of the lap is now very low-speed and not as challenging for the drivers as the old layout. The final chicane [turns 14 and 15] is particularly slow so it’s important to have good traction for a clean exit because it affects your speed into the last corner and onto the main straight.