Max Verstappen hasn’t held back on his views of Bahrain’s Outer Circuit which will be used for the Sakhir Grand Prix.
After Formula 1 used the conventional layout last weekend, this weekend the drivers will race on the 3.5km loop which sees the three long straights connected by part of the Endurance track which was used back in 2010.
Lap times are expected to be around 55 seconds, at a conservative estimate, while the circuit consists of just six corners that are anything other than flat out.
That has led some to dub the track the Bahrain ‘Oval’, but Verstappen isn’t impressed.
“It’s not a track,” he declared on Thursday. “Just make it an oval. If you want to achieve something like that, just make it a proper oval.
“The track has very rough tarmac so very low grip, and that track gives us a lot of straights so we have to run with very low downforce.
“I mean it’s not going to be enjoyable, it will just be a drift-fest. I might just get some points for drifting.”
Also Read:
- ‘Wacky’, ‘spectacular’, ‘a mini Indy 500’ – Drivers predict F1 on Sakhir’s ‘Outer Circuit’
- F1 race on Bahrain ‘Oval’ only expected to be a one-off
It is expected the racing will mimick that seen at Monza, where overtaking is possible on each straight, but teammate Alex Albon fears with so many cars likely to run close together, there could be no action at all.
“People forget about DRS trains as well, when a DRS train starts that’s it,” said the Thai driver.
“The overtaking sucks. It’s not fun if you’re defending every lap from the car behind but I don’t think it will be, I think it’s just different but I don’t care for it.”
Verstappen then went a step further adding: “It is a fake show. It has some silly corners, it would be better to go to a go-karting track instead.”
Perhaps victory on Sunday might just change his mind.