This week saw the unveiling of the circuit layout for the DHL Berlin ePrix, taking place on May 23 2015. The 17 turn, 2.47km circuit will be built within the ‘Apron’ section of the Tempelhof Airport, located in the city-centre, and designed by Rodrigo Nunes. German driver Nick Heidfeld recently took to the circuit in a BMW i8 so we caught up with the Venturi racer to get his initial thoughts on what’s to come at his home event…
Watch an onboard lap of the Berlin circuit layout here…
“For starters fans should have good visibility of the circuit from pretty much most places. For me, it’s going to be very special racing in front of my home crowd and I’m really looking forward to it. It will be the first time racing on somewhere like this so should have its own special atmosphere.
“The main thing that strikes you is that it will be a very twisty and challenging circuit with 17 turns in under 2.5kms. It’s going to be difficult to find a good rhythm and a good line. Many corners are just followed by the next which also partly shows that overtaking will not be easy. On the other hand, with so many corners followed by each other it’s easier to mess up and make a small mistake and then maybe the driver behind can capitalise on this.
“The two longer straights too will be best for overtaking and using the FanBoost.
“Into Turn 1 is not going to be easy for overtaking, but Turn 3 might be better because whilst braking you will want to let the car go to the left before turning in but you may decide in Turn 2 that you just stick to the outside and try to out brake the other guy – so that could be interesting.
“Will also be interesting to see how the circuit is built up as normally on a street circuit there is no run-off so and no room for mistakes but in Berlin it could be more open allowing a little more margin for error.
“Overall, it’s going to be great to be in front of my home fans. When I spoke to friends recently they were all interested in coming to Berlin and I hope there will be a lot of other fans who will come and join us for the race.”