Sutil: Valencia “Not that challenging”

Adrian Sutil

Adrian Sutil admits the Valencia street circuit doesn't rate very highly on his list of favorite tracks as there are no challenging corners.

The Spanish port city will host its third European Grand Prix this weekend and the two previous editions have drawn plenty of criticism for not being conducive to exciting races.

Force India's Sutil says you "don't get the thrill" you have on other street circuits.

"Valencia is not my favorite circuit as there's not so much of a challenge for the driver," the German said.

Even though it's classed as a street circuit, it doesn't really feel like it as there's no challenging corners: it's just braking into hairpins, then flat out. You just don't get the thrill you have on a standard street circuit like Monaco or Singapore. The last complex is a little bit more challenging as there's a left-right chicane taken at high speed followed by another right hander. Then it's just flat out with a few corners into the last turn, which is actually one of the trickiest as we're braking while turning in so it's easy to overshoot the corner and lose it in the exit.

"Grip levels can be quite low, particularly off line, so you have to judge any overtaking maneuver pretty carefully. That said, the track is also very wide with a lot of run off areas so you're not worried about touching a barrier. Over one lap it's not a classic but the racing there can be quite tight and with the cars being so close this year it could produce a good race."

Despite all that, Sutil is confident Force India are in good shape to finish in the top 10 after both drivers scored points in Montreal a fortnight ago.

"We were strong in Canada and I believe we can be quite good in Valencia as well," he said. "We've also got some new parts coming for this race that should further improve our performance, including a new front wing and some smaller bodywork changes, plus a few minor suspension component developments.

"I think it looks promising. We've not had the best luck in Valencia in the past but I hope that the good basic foundations of the car, plus the solid developments we've had over the past races and leading into this one will put us in good shape to get some more points on the board and close the gap to Renault." PlanetF1