Turning Acceleration
Straight-Line Speed vs. Cornering Speed
A Formula 1 car can accelerate to 300 km/h (190 mph) very quickly; however, top speeds are not much higher than 330 km/h.
On low-downforce circuits, greater top speeds have been recorded: 325 km/h at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit (Canada), 335 km/h at Indianapolis (USA), and 360 km/h at Monza (Italy). At the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, Antonio Pizzonia of the BMW WilliamsF1 team recorded a top speed of 369.9 km/h.
Why Cornering Speed Takes Priority
Top speeds are sacrificed in favour of cornering speeds. An F1 car is designed principally for high-speed cornering, and its aerodynamic elements can produce as much as four times the car’s weight in downforce, at the expense of a high drag factor. At a speed of just 130 km/h, the downforce equals the weight of the car. As the car’s speed rises, downforce increases along with drag.
G-Forces in Corners
The turning force at low speeds (below approximately 70 to 100 km/h) comes primarily from the so-called mechanical grip created by the tires themselves and finely tuned suspension. At such low speeds, the car can turn at 2.0 g. At 210 km/h, the turning acceleration already reaches 3.0 g, as evidenced by the famous esses (turns 3 and 4) at the Suzuka circuit. Higher-speed corners such as Blanchimont (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps) and Copse (Silverstone Circuit) are taken at above 5.0 g, and 6.0 g has been recorded at Suzuka’s famous 130R corner. This contrasts with just 1 g for the Enzo Ferrari or McLaren F1, among the best road-going sports cars.
Extreme Cornering Speeds
These turning forces allow an F1 car to corner at extraordinary speeds, seemingly defying the laws of physics. As an example, the Blanchimont and Eau Rouge corners at Spa-Francorchamps are taken flat-out at above 300 km/h, whereas the race-specification GT cars in the ETCC can only manage 150-170 km/h. A more recent and perhaps even more extreme example is Turn 8 at the Istanbul Park circuit, a 190-degree relatively tight four-apex corner in which cars maintain speeds between 265 km/h and 285 km/h and experience between 4.5 g and 5.5 g for seven seconds – the longest sustained hard cornering in Formula 1, and indeed all of motorsport.
Check the Corners, Cornering, and Mosley equation articles for further detail.