It’s become a bit of a cliché to say that you can’t win a race at the first corner, but you can definitely lose it. Unless it’s a race which finishes after one corner, anyway.
There’s a whole lot of truth behind it though, as knowing exactly where to place the car at the start is a major skill of every racing driver – just look at how often someone like Fernando Alonso gets it right, for instance.
In this video a whole host of drivers talked about how they tackle the start of a race, with the likes of Antonio Felix da Costa, Alex Lynn, and Lando Norris (who’s listed as a Formula 3 champion, even though he isn’t quite yet!) all offering their thoughts. The whole thing is part of ‘Safe is Fast’, an initiative set up to help young drivers become a more complete package.
It’s an interesting watch, and shows there much more to the first corner of the race than a load of drivers just charging in and hoping for the best.
Daniil Kvyat could probably do with taking some of this advice on board…unless he likes being a torpedo, that is.
