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Added on the 03/01/2024 05:28:54 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
It’s time for the Japanese Grand Prix, one of the most popular events on the calendar for enthusiasts and F1 folk alike. Suzuka first featured on the World Championship trail almost four decades ago and along with two races at Fuji in the mid-70s and again in 2007 and 2008 and with two Pacific Grands Prix in the Nineties, the Land of the Rising Sun has played an important part in the history of the sport. Suzuka is special, not just because of the beautiful figure-of-eight track, but also because of the electrifying atmosphere around the circuit, the grandstands packed with local fans, both young and old who love to dress up in race suits, often wearing the most bizarre home-made caps made to look like the race cars, as they wander around the track and even in the paddock.If the 18 corners that make up Suzuka circuit could talk, they would tell the tale of some of the most memorable moments in the history of the sport. So many world championships have been decided here, many of them in favour of Scuderia Ferrari. In 2000 came the “Red Dawn” as the tifosi called it, when Michael Schumacher won the race to clinch his first title in red, repeating the feat in Japan in 2003. There were also moments of disappointment for the Prancing Horse, in 1990 when Alain Prost was beaten to the crown by Ayrton Senna and in 1998, when Schumacher was bested by Mika Häkkinen.
Formula 1 arrives in Australia for what will be the first race this year to be held as usual on a Sunday, after the first two rounds of the season were run on Saturday in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Australians love their motorsport and Ferrari is particularly popular here, making for a very special atmosphere. The Albert Park circuit is spectacular and everything points to it being an interesting weekend. Carlos Sainz is expected to be back in the car, having had to miss Jeddah with appendicitis and he and team-mate Charles Leclerc will most likely be fighting at the front of the field, as they have done in the first two rounds.The circuit. The Albert Park track made its first appearance on the Formula 1 calendar in 1996. It features plenty of medium to high speed corners, with four DRS zones to provide plenty of excitement. Turn 1 is a quick chicane with walls on one side and a gravel run-off on the other, making it one of the trickiest sections, especially as it is followed by a long straight, before drivers brake heavily for turn 3, a favourite overtaking spot, as it comes at the end of a DRS zone, but mind out, here too there’s a gravel run-off area lying in wait. Turns 9 and 10 are definitely among the quickest corners on the track and overtaking is possible here, although drivers can also opt to stay in the slipstream and then give it their all to pass into turn 11, where overtaking carries a bit less risk.
As if opening a brand-new Ferrari showroom and previewing the Ferrari Roma Spider in the same evening wasn’t enough, the team at H.R. Owen invited Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz to cut the red ribbon.Drawing up to the red-carpeted entrance of the state-of-the-art facility in a stunning white Ferrari SF90 Stradale, the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 driver joined H.R. Owen CEO Ken Choo and more than 200 guests to celebrate the occasion at the invite-only evening event on the 5th of July.Outside, the two-storey showroom was floodlit in red, in honour of Ferrari’s signature Rosso Corsa colour. Inside, guests were entertained by a DJ set and live music – and by two driving simulators, so that they could race the Ferrari F1 car.Guests were treated to both Italian and Malaysian cuisine – a nod towards the heritage of the brand and the nationality of the founder of Berjaya Corporation Berhad – H.R. Owen’s parent company – Vincent Tan Chee Yioun. Mr. Tan’s vision has been instrumental in further expanding Ferrari’s representation in the UK, working in close partnership with Ferrari S.p.A. in Maranello. As well as the H.R. Owen Ferrari showroom in South Kensington, the Group also opened a Mayfair-based Ferrari showroom in 2019 before this launch of the Group’s third – and largest – showroom in Hatfield. At the end of 2022, H.R. Owen further bolstered its Ferrari customer experience with the acquisition of the former Joe Macari-operated Ferrari Service facility in South London, offering its clients more flexibility and convenience in the care of their Ferrari.The presentation of the new Roma Spider made the evening even more special. The latest addition to the Ferrari range, the Roma Spider matches a timelessly elegant design with a sophisticated fabric roof which, after folding away in just 13.5 seconds, allows you to revel in the exhilarating soundtrack from the twin-turbo V8 engine under the long, flowing bonnet.
The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit returns to the layout used up until 2006, doing away with the chicane in the third sector, as it hosts the seventh round of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix. It is Carlos Sainz’s home race, at which he finished fourth last year, his best ever home result in Spain.
F1 Ferrari Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Back on track
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