Germany: Takuma Sato's lap of Hockenheim

By BAR Honda
July 21 2005

Although nowhere near as long or as fast as it once was, the revised Hockenheim Grand Prix circuit still presents a challenging test for an F1 ace... as Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Takuma Sato explains.

"You approach the first corner, the Nordkurve, in sixth gear at 300 km/h and then drop down to fifth gear carrying speeds of around 215 km/h through the corner. Next is a short straight, where your speed increases to up to 300 km/h before you reach turn two the Jim Clark curve.

"This corner is a slow right-hander where you carry speeds of around 85 km/h at the apex. On exit the corner opens out a little bit and for the Ostkurve, where you shift into third gear and then go flat out down the back sweeper of a 'straight' to turn six, reaching speeds of over 320 km/h.

"You brake hard and shift down six gears at the end of the straight for the very tight, first gear Ayrton Senna hairpin which you negotiate at about 60 km/h. Good traction is important on exit as you head up to turn seven which you take flat out in sixth gear at 290 km/h. Reaching a speed of maybe 300 km/h, you brake quite hard for turn eight since it is a tight 90-degree left-hander which you take in second gear and at just over 90 km/h.

"Turn nine is a relatively gentle left-hander after which you build your speed up and move up into third gear, around 200 km/h before turn ten, which is almost flat at around 290 km/h. Next you head into the Agip right-hander that leads back into the stadium. You then approach turn thirteen, the Sachs Curve, in sixth gear at 265 km/h and then move down the gears for this long left-hander to about 100 km/h.

"After turn thirteen you go flat out through the Elf and Opel corners before dropping down to third gear for turn sixteen. The final corner is approached at 170 km/h and you need a good exit to set you up for the run onto the start/finish straight."