Formula 1: European Grand Prix at Valencia Preview

After a brief trip across the Atlantic Ocean it's back to Formula 1's traditional heartland for the European Grand Prix* at the Valencia Street Circuit, Spain.

The 2012 season's thrilling start continued in Canada, with Lewis Hamilton becoming the seventh different winner from the first seven races.

The list of possible winners to continue the streak is becoming shorter, but it includes the likes of Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

All three have quick cars, so eight for eight remains a distinct—but admittedly unlikely—possibility.

* In the modern era, the name "European Grand Prix" is bestowed upon an event taking place in a European country which already has a self-titled race. Spain's self-titled race, the Spanish Grand Prix, was in May.

As It Stands

Lewis Hamilton's decision to go with a two-stop strategy in Canada saw him win the race and leap into the championship lead on 88 points. Fernando Alonso is just two points behind on 86, and Sebastian Vettel a further point back on 85.

This time last year, Vettel had 161 points, with Jenson Button second on 101. It's impossible to understate quite how different this season is to 2011.

Current top ten:

	Driver	Team	Points
01	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	88
02	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	86
03	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	85
04	Mark Webber	Red Bull	79
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	67
06	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	55
07	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	53
08	Jenson Button	McLaren	45
09	Sergio Perez	Sauber	37
10	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	29

Red Bull still lead the way in the constructors' championship, 31 ahead of McLaren in second place. Currently winless but generally consistent Lotus are third on 108.

Nine teams have scored at least one point:

Pos	Team	Points
01	Red Bull	164
02	McLaren	133
03	Lotus	108
04	Ferrari	97
05	Mercedes	69
06	Sauber	58
07	Williams	44
08	Force India	28
09	Toro Rosso	6

Caterham, Marussia and HRT remain pointless.

Valencia Street Circuit

The unimaginative name speaks volumes.

Designed in 2007 by Hermann Tilke and friends, the Valencia track is an odd hybrid of road course and street circuit.

It lacks the charm a street circuit is supposed to have, and it lacks the overtaking opportunities a road course is supposed to have.

Before the first race, a lot of fans (myself included) had concerns over the safety of the track. The combination of fast corners and walls looked dangerous and serious incidents seemed inevitable.

Now, the only fear fans have is that they'll have to endure another terrible race.

And the worry is well-founded. The European Grand Prix at Valencia has been a strong contender for worst race of the season every year since it was first held in 2008.

Part of the reason is that the enclosed nature of the track (i.e. the walls surrounding it) means turbulent air coming off a car does not clear away as quickly or completely as it does on an open circuit. This makes it a little bit more difficult to follow another car closely.

Add that to the layout, and it's a recipe for a procession.

But criticism aside, the Valencia Street Circuit is not unpopular with the drivers. A total of 25 corners and some fast sections means that at least the men at the wheel will be having fun this weekend.

A Lap of the Circuit

From the start-finish line it's a short run to Turn 1, a flat-out right-hander through which the drivers are still accelerating.

Next up is the complex of Turns 2 and 3, a tricky and very slow right followed immediately by a left on the exit. This section will probably see some action on the first lap as the field is bunched tightly together—but not much after that.

Turns 4 and 5 come up straight away, a reasonably slow left-right chicane before a flat-out section taking in Turns 6 and 7.

Heavy braking is required for Turn 8, which is a tight right-hander leading immediately into a flick to the left (Turn 9) and onto Valencia's unique feature—the swing bridge.

The bridge consists of two sections, joined in the middle. There's a slight bump in the track surface going onto the bridge, and the point at which the two halves meet is noticeable as well.

Turn 10 is probably the most interesting corner on the track. The braking zone is on the bridge, and the drivers start to turn in before they come off the bridge for the corner which comes immediately after the "lip" between bridge and track.

This photo illustrates it well.

It's also a very important corner, as it leads onto the longest full-throttle section of the circuit—starting with Turn 11, a long, flat-out left.

This particular piece of track is right out of the Tilke overtaking handbook. Slow corner leading onto a long straight (consider the "straight" as starting at the exit of Turn 10), ending with a tight corner.

So if we're going to see any overtaking this weekend, this is where it will happen.

Turn 12 is the tight corner at the end of the straight, and Turn 13 is the one-and-a-half apex left, opening on the exit, which immediately follows.

Next is a very short run down to Turn 14, a slow and nondescript right. This leads onto flat-out lefts for Turns 15 and 16, which themselves lead onto a short straight alongside a somewhat visually-unappealing industrial site.

Turn 17 is a right-hand hairpin. While a hairpin can usually expect a bit of overtaking, there isn't enough of a straight before this one for that to happen, so we shouldn't get our hopes up.

At this point we enter what is perhaps the best part of the circuit for the drivers, starting with a quick series of corners. Turns Turn 18 is a left, while 19 and 20 are very similar, fast right-handers.

Turn 21 is a barely-there right, and Turns 22 and 23 appear to have been labeled to increase the corner count—they look more like a single, long and almost undetectable left.

Turn 24 is a flick to the right at the exit of 23, and the drivers brake almost straight away for the final corner, Turn 25. This is a slow, tight left. From here, it's a short run to the start/finish line.

The pit-lane entry is on the outside of Turn 25, and the exit comes out between Turns 1 and 2.

Tyres and DRS

The Valencia circuit is made up (mostly) of public roads, and a year of use by commercial traffic takes its toll on the surface.

The track will start off very dirty, and though grip will improve as more rubber is laid down, it will never reach the levels of a permanent facility. That makes a softer tyre choice desirable.

However, the circuit's 25 corners, slippery surface and numerous heavy braking and acceleration zones put a lot of energy through the tyres—so a compromise between grip and durability is needed.

Therefore, Pirelli will bring the yellow-marked soft and white-marked medium tyre compounds to Valencia.

This combination was also used in Australia, China and Bahrain, making it the most common selection of the season so far.

Pirelli say they expect two or three stops, but with overtaking at a premium around the Spanish port, three looks a little bit risky unless everyone does the same. 

DRS

Last year there were two DRS zones—one along the back straight coming out of Turn 10 down to Turn 12, and another between Turns 14 and 17.

The latter has been dropped for this year, despite the great difficulties in overtaking at the track. It's unlikely to make much difference though, as the second zone was somewhat useless.

The single DRS zone will be between Turns 11 and 12.

Weather Forecast

The Valencia Street Circuit is located in a region with a sub-tropical climate—it has very warm summers, with very little rain.

This weekend is expected to be dry and bright, with some of the highest temperatures of the year.

Three good weather sources—BBC Weather, Accuweather.com and Eltiempo.es agree on their forecasts.

Session Times

The European Grand Prix weekend consists of three practice sessions, qualifying and the race.

Practice One	Friday	10:00-11:30
Practice Two	Friday	14:00-15:30
Practice Three	Saturday	11:00-12:00
Qualifying	Saturday	14:00
Race	Sunday	14:00

All are given in local time. Formula1.com will translate them into your own timezone.

Enjoy the weekend!