The Circuit de Catalunya, a track described by a lot of people as the most boring race on the Formula 1 calendar, is getting a very important change. Turn 10(La Caixa) is going to run on a different layout. This change is not only meant to open up more overtaking opportunities, it should also open up the turn 11 and 12 complex which means it will be a lot faster.
Written By Jonathon Harris, Edited By Issa Chaker
The FIA(Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) changed this corner earlier in 2004 for safety reasons in an attempt to reduce the speed of the track. The last 2 corners also changed where a chicane was added but this change was disliked by both drivers and fans alike. MotoGP continued to use the old layout until the 2016 Catalan Grand Prix when Moto2 driver Louis Salom tragically died after crashing into the penultimate corner, since then the Motorcycle racing series also changed to F1’s turn 10 layouts because of the proximity to the barrier but reverted back to the old layout for the last 2 corners after the runoff area got resurfaced in 2018.
F1 will be reshaping the track to a slightly tighter version of the original turn 10. This should help to overtake into turn 10 and even possibly turn 11 which will hopefully make racing a lot better for 2021 and even better in 2022 with the new regulations. The FIA and FIM(Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) analyzed the races from previous seasons and think that the new corner will make racing a lot safer especially in MotoGP where riders tend to fall off quite often at that corner. They have also taken another step towards safety by including warning LED light panels to indicate the current state of that sector and of the track.
These changes are a combined effort by both the FIA and FIM to improve track safety and hopefully they’ll make racing at the Circuit de Catalunya more entertaining