It’s fair to say that the Sochi Autodrom on the coast of the Black Sea in Russia is not a fan favourite circuit. The track has been a part of the calendar since 2014, and the races there haven’t tended to be thrilling.
Nevertheless, it remains a part of the Formula 1 season, and as such many players on F1 2020 will have the dubious pleasure of circulating around Sochi for a race distance.
In order to do so painlessly and effectively, you’ll want a good setup. Thankfully, that’s exactly what this is.
Aerodynamics
Sochi is a fairly low downforce circuit, mainly due to the two long straights as well as the flat-out turn three.
In order to fly along these high-speed sections without falling off the road in the corners,run 2-7 wings. This will give you plenty of rear end stability in the traction zones to boot.
Transmission
Speaking of stability in the traction zones, an on-throttle differential setting of 50% will give you just that.
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For the off-throttle, I’ve found that 70% gives decent speed through the corners without making me feel as though the car is trying to throw itself off the road.
Suspension Geometry
The corners at Sochi tend to be fairly slow 90-degree affairs, and as such you won’t need to go too hard on your camber settings.
I recommend -2.70 and -1.20 for your front and rear camber respectively. This will keep the car stable through the turns.
For your toe, 0.05 and 0.20 seem to make for the most stable car. If you feel that you’re lacking front-end responsiveness, try raising the front toe setting somewhat.
Suspension
As with most tracks, a fairly soft suspension is the way forward. This is in no small part due to the kerbs around this track which can be absolutely vicious if you don’t take them into account.
To do so, run 3-4 for your suspension settings. This will help to prevent the car from spearing to the inside of the track if you put your rear wheel on the exit kerbs.
For the anti-roll bars, a fairly standard setup of 3-9 will do the trick. This combination of a soft front roll bar and a stiffer rear bar tends to lead to a very nicely balanced car.
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Your ride height, like your suspension, must take Sochi’s kerbs into account. Anything lower than 3-5 will have you struggling to keep the car on track. If you feel that you’re lacking stability, raising these even more is the best option.
Brakes
As ever, I would suggest running 100% brake pressure and 50% brake bias. That being said, brakes are a matter of personal preference. If you aren’t comfortable with running such a high brake pressure, turn it down a little.
Tyres
It’s important to keep your tyre temperatures under control here, particularly at the rear of the car.
While tyre wear is not a major factor at all, you’ll find that overheated tyres will lose you significant amounts of grip if you aren’t careful. The best way to combat this potential issue is to run slightly lowered tyre pressures.
For me, 22.6psi on the fronts and 20.7psi for the rears is the best way to go.
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While Sochi probably isn’t your favourite track, you can at least rest assured that by using this setup you’ll have about as easy a time around the circuit as its possible to have.