Let's talk about types of corners. This is going to be a series of lessons. This is part one: double rights and double lefts.

Understanding Corner Spacing and Optimization

Let's say we have a single corner here, then a straight, and then another corner here. Easy, right? To this corner, you exit. You can do whatever you want here, but make sure that you have the car in the right position and angle by the time you get here. So you start braking, turning in, and exiting. When you have enough time to do whatever you want, then you can readjust and always optimize the entry of the next corner.

When Corners Get Close Together

But imagine that this happens. Now the exit of this corner is very close to the entry of the next corner. You don't have a lot of time to move around. If you move a little bit here, then you don't have enough time to come back. So the exit of this corner is now entangled with the entry of the next one, which means pretty much where your car is positioned at the very exit of the first corner determines where your car is going to be positioned at the entry of the second corner.

That means if you make a mistake here, take an apex and don't use all the track and you get the car here, then you don't have enough time to optimize the entry of this one, the checkpoint. So you end up having to do a tighter circle on this one. And you guys should already know that this amount of track usage here, this difference is worth a lot of time. We might be talking about one, two, tenths of a second, that in a whole lap could mean more than a second per lap if you're doing this mistake again and again and again.

Planning Your Exit for the Next Entry

Your checkpoint of this entry has to be thought of by the time you get back on power here. So you're getting back on power and you're already expecting the car to go wide so that you find yourself in the perfect spot for the next corner. When the corners are close enough, we can pretty much already call them compound. This depends on what you do before. So you have to do kind of a reverse engineering, knowing where you want to be here and then exit, plan your exit to use all the track and stay here.

Double Corners and Their Importance

In these corners, I'm going to call these double corners. So it can be a double right or a double left. A mistake of not using this bit of the track is actually twice as bad in terms of lap time because:

• If you're not using the outer track on this one, you're already losing time because you probably wasted this amount of track here

• But then you lose time again on the next corner because you also missed the line on entry

So these corners are even more important and you have to identify them and make sure that you're nailing these exits and having the car as wide as possible. So you also find yourself on the perfect entry for the next corners.

Example: Interlagos Double Right

For our first example, we have Interlagos where we have this double apex to the right that leads right away into a very tight right-hander. So it's almost like a triple right, but I'm going to call it a double right because we have just one long double apex here. So I'm going to consider that as one corner and then right after that, we find ourselves at the line for the next corner. And if we don't exit this right, we won't have any time to adjust the entry line of the next corner.

Just so you know, this is actually not an off track. The off track here is when you have the center of the car to the left of this line. So as you can see, I'm pretty much on the limit. So that's actually legal. And then my exit here, by the time I hit this, that's already my braking point. I already started braking. So you can see how this, like being here depends on my throttle application right here.

Throttle Application Analysis

As you can see, actually, let me show you something. If you look at my throttle application here, I actually did a little mistake. So I got back on power tiny bit too early, tiny bit too early, and I ended up having to do a little correction as you can see on the throttle to make sure that my exit was well, that I was not getting an off track, but also that I was finding myself on the perfect braking zone for the next corner.

You have to exit this corner thinking about the entry of the next one, because this is a very low speed corner, which also leads to another one right after. So this is all connected here. And that's why it's so important that you do this corner and throttle here thinking about the exit. So you already connect the exit of the double apex to the entry of this corner, because the most common mistake here is to just not use this area and leave the car here on the inside.

The Cost of the Mistake

And then as soon as you do that, you already know what's going to happen, right? I mean, just compare the lines from the outside here, maximizing the radius compared to being right here. You're losing time twice, because you're losing time from the exit of the corner before, and you're losing a lot of time from this entry right here.

Remember, the solution is on the throttle application and planning your exit line from here, being on the limit and bringing the car to the perfect entry point of the next one. So think ahead.

Example: Suzuka Spoon (Double Left)

And here's the example that I like the most. Spoon at Suzuka is a very good example for double left, because a lot of people lose a lot of time by not bringing the car all the way to the limit. This line right here that I'm painting is the actual off track of this corner. So if the center line of the car crosses outside this, you get an off track. So that is your limit.

Understanding the Off Track Limits

So what I do is I keep the car inside that pretty much on the limit of the limit of the limit. The off track line cuts down here. So if you have the center line of the car right here, you also get an off track. So what I do instead is I come back and I'm crossing back right here. So I'm still outside the off track area. So if you can use this much, that is your checkpoint.

Critical Checkpoints

We have a very, very important checkpoint right here, which is having the car here and then having the car here coming back from the off track. You don't get an off track. And then make sure that you're carrying as much speed as possible from before you carry this apex and then wide a little bit of power in between. And then already starting to brake here to build the second line being as wide as possible to do a very late apex here and get back on power, carry as much speed as possible because there is a huge straight after that.

The Common Mistake

So the most common mistake here is to just not use all the track right here and then exit, stay here on this bit. So you're already losing time from the corner before, but you're also losing time because you're not as wide as possible for the next corner. You're here, you're losing time on entry and there's no way you're going to carry as much speed as people who are bringing the car all the way to the outside here and being totally on the limit. Gaining time on exits from the corner before and at the same time, gaining time on entry for the next corner. So double important checkpoint to have the car right here in between these two corners.

Throttle Timing Strategy

And the way to do that is to carry enough speed right here and get back on power to go wider. I actually got back on power a little bit too late because I was too fast here, but I knew that it was a compound corner. So I didn't lose too much time by continuing to brake after this first apex here. And then when I got back on power, I made sure that the timing of my throttle was good enough to throw the car to the very, very, very limit of the off track here. And then right after that, I'm already trail braking lightly to make the car point and point and point for this next corner here.

So depending on how much speed you carry here, you can get back on power earlier because the timing of the throttle here, if you get back on power here or here or here, will determine how wide you're going there. So:

• If you get back on power right here too early, you go wide

• If you get back on power in the second place, then you go a little bit closer

• If you get back on power too late, then you're going to not use all the track

So the timing of the throttle here eventually determines the position of the car right here, which is the checkpoint for the next corner.

Example: Red Bull Ring (Double Left to Double Right)

Red Bull Ring has another very good example because the last four corners are a double left that leads into a double right. So here we have the double left and then right after that, we have a right hander that leads already to the entry of another right hander. And there's a lot of people losing so much time in these sectors.

The Double Left Section

So basically, what you want to do is same thing. Get back on power here, thinking about where is the limit of this exit because it's already going to be the entry position of the next corner. Actually, on this one here, we even have a little bit more time to bring the car more to the right in case you don't use all the track. But I still see a lot of people just not using this and getting the car more or less here and then just going straight and not using all the track right here, which kills a lot of lap time.

So what I do instead, as you can see, I go all the way to the outside. The off track here is basically when the tires touch the dirt. So actually, I'm not even using all the track. I'm actually leaving a little bit more space there. That's a mistake by the way. And then as soon as I get here, I'm already on the best positioning possible for this next left-hander.

The Double Right Section

And then we go to the next corner. We have exactly the same thing. I use the track on entry. Then I get here and I get back on power super early expecting the car to go wide. And then I already find myself on the best positioning angle for the last corner. And there's a lot of people who just don't.

Understanding Track Limits at Red Bull Ring

Actually, this is kind of a secret because a lot of people don't really know that you can bring the car all the way. You can have the center line of the car on top of the edge of the green here. So this here is not an off track. It would be an off track only if this line crossed this line. So if we were more to the left and have the center line of the car on the red, that would be an off track for this corner.

So because we can use more, as you can see, I'm also leaving a little bit unnecessary space here. That was a bad lap because I left way too much space, lost time from the power here, and also lost time on the entry here. I could have been probably a tire width a little bit more to the left.

The next lesson we are going to talk about double apex corners. I'll see you there.