Oliver Bearman spots 'oversight' in new Madrid F1 track layout

Oliver Bearman has spotted what he believes to be an "oversight" in the track design for the new Spanish Grand Prix venue in Madrid.

The Madring becomes the 79th circuit to host a world championship grand prix this weekend with the new 22-turn 3.3-mile layout around the IFEMA entertainment complex near to the Real Madrid training centre.

The semi-permanent street track is expected to be a major challenge, with Turn 12 in particular, La Monumental, a huge banked right-hander in the middle of the lap. 

Overtaking is expected to be a challenge, with the high number of 90-degree 'point and squirt' corners, especially in the second-half of the lap, with overtaking set to be difficult with so few opportunities. 

One such place is into Turn 5, at the end of the first SM-mode straight, but as Haas driver Bearman has pointed out, the braking zone into the left-right-left chicane that follows is curved - thus limiting chances for a move to be successfully made. 

"It seems to be a track where it's going to be a big challenge to overtake, and it is a shame in a way because I think the layout is okay," Bearman told media, including RacingNews365. 

"But there are some features of the circuit which naturally deter overtaking. One of them is the braking for Turn 5, which is curved, and that's the real overtaking opportunity, and that curved braking takes away any possibility of different lines and sending one up the inside. 

"So that's a shame and maybe a bit of an oversight, but it means that we're going to be fully focused on qualifying, and to do a good qualifying, of course, you need full confidence, and that starts from your first lap on Friday. 

"I think it's going to be one of those races where we're very much focused on qualifying, similar to Budapest, Monaco, or even Zandvoort.

"In the simulator, you don't drive around with the fear of hurting yourself or the car, so the goal of the sim is to try and hit every wall possible in a way, because like that you learn exactly where the limits are and you find them in the most efficient way possible, and by doing that, you don't do that on the real track. 

"It's definitely a tough track. But every street track I go to on the sim, it's pretty normal that you're bouncing off the walls quite a lot because that's the beauty of the simulator."