TBK-Light.com

The Barcelona circuit will have a new chicane when Formula One cars begin testing at the Spanish circuit today after the revamp works were completed this week.

The new chicane, built between the Europcar and New Holland corners, has being installed to improve safety at the circuit, with speeds now reduced ahead of the final corner that leads into the main straight.

The revised layout begins at the Europcar corner, where the braking point has been moved forward thanks to a tighter corner.

That is followed by a short straight and two more corners linked to the previous layout.

Run-off areas at the new chicane are asphalted and incorporate a new safety barriers system which can absorb impacts of up to 200km/h.

Also, safety revisions at the Wurth corner have been completed, with the run-off area now increased by six meters.

David Coulthard believes Circuit de Catalunya officials have wasted the opportunity they had to revise the final sequence of corners at the track with their construction of the new chicane.

The Barcelona circuit now features a left-right flick ahead of the final corner after moves were made to improve safety at the final two high-speed corners.

But despite the changes being made to minimise the chances of an impact with the barriers, Coulthard has said he is 'disappointed' with the manner of the improvements - especially because drivers were not consulted on the changes beforehand.

"The changes may improve overtaking into Turn One, but they are disappointing," he said.

"There were two great corners where understandably the speed had to be reduced because of FIA requirements for run-offs. But I don't know any driver who knew about the changes, and I don't know anyone who looks at this and thinks: 'wow, what a really nice solution."

Coulthard's teammate Mark Webber, who ran at the track on Friday during the first test for the new RB3 chassis, was equally unimpressed – despite the safety motivation.

"The drivers didn't see anything of it until basically the trucks were turning up at the track," he said. "And the design was done.

"It is always a balance though. The last few corners were very quick, brilliant if everything was staying on the car, but if you have a failure then you are going in hard. It is a big shunt.

"I thought it was also done a bit for the motorbikes, but from what I have been told they are going to use the old track. The first (revised) corner is not bad, but the chicane is a deliberate speed smasher."

When asked whether he believed it would help overtaking, Webber said: "No. Turn One is not that wide anyway. I don't think it will help overtaking. It is not like a hairpin off the last corner, we are still in fifth through the last corner."

This is the official diagram showing the changes made to the Barcelona circuit, home of the Spanish Grand Prix, for the 2007 race.

The penultimate bend, Europcar, has been tightened to allow for the insertion of a chicane on the approach to New Holland.

As mentioned earlier on F1Fanatic the changes have been made to improve safety and effectively neuter two of the fastest corners on the Circuit de Catalunya.

But they also improve the likelihood that aerodynamically-sensitive F1 car will be able to follow each other more closely onto the long straight and potentially make overtaking easier.

Are the potential gains in safety and overtaking worth compromising two fast corners? It will be interesting to see if this year’s race is better than most of the processions we’ve gotten used to seeing in Spain.

Honda and Red Bull weren't the only ones unveiling new creations at the Circuit de Catalunya this week, as their host also took the wraps off something for 2007.

Barcelona's new chicane, located between the Europcar and New Holland corners at the end of the lap, has been completed in time for the next round of winter testing, and will be graced by Formula One when it officially opens for action on Wednesday. The new section has been created to reduce speeds through the final corner and onto the main straight, but affects the Europcar corner, where the braking point has been brought forward for what is now a tighter turn, before a short straight and left-right combination returns the cars to the original layout.

In addition to changes to the track, run-off areas at the circuit have been paved and, in the case of the Wurth corner, enlarged, while the circuit will feature the latest in safety barriers - the F1 TecPro system developed by the FIA Institute and DEKRA - when the layout is pressed into action. The system is capable of absorbing the energy of a 200kph impact whilst keeping the g-forces to tolerable levels.

Why are we focusing on the last 3 corners?

The whole track sucks.

It's a track that honestly, would be 100% improved if it was Tilke-fied