THE ATMOSPHERE is electric as Formula One descends on a brand new venue, a street circuit based around the America’s Cup harbour area in Valencia. Called the European Grand Prix to distinguish it from Barcelona’s Spanish Grand Prix, it is a tribute to the F1 fever that Fernando Alonso’s successes have generated over the past few years in his home country.

Compared with what we are used to with recent new F1 tracks it is rather an anomaly.

The latest creations have been a progression of evermore dramatic and lavish venues, built from scratch on brownfield sites. I suspect the track in Abu Dhabi next year will trump them all. Valencia, constrained by its waterfront location, is a working port with less than glamourous surroundings but an undeniable character.

This reasonably long circuit, at 3.38 miles, feels even longer when driving between the walls and debris fencing.

Officially there are 25 corners, presumably including tax because I can only count a still impressive 23 at most, which are linked by very long straights and a few sweeping kinks. The lengths of those straights ensure it’s actually very fast for a street circuit, expected to be inside the top 10 fastest on the 18-race calendar.

Despite that, none of the “real” corners are taken in anything higher than third gear. So it is very much a point-and-squirt circuit, similar to Montreal. Such tracks tend to produce very good racing and there are at least three potentially strong overtaking points. It reminds me of a modern version of the American street tracks we visited in the 80s and 90s, which is a good thing.

It will demand a car with stable braking, positive turn-in and good traction through the exits. It will be hard on the brakes as the cars are reaching more than 190mph at five points throughout the lap, followed by very hard braking.

F1 has been on a summer break, in theory to allow the team personnel to see if their families still recognise them and also to allow the calendar to breathe around the Olympics. In reality, many personnel will have spent the time calculating the optimum aero and mechanical balances, ride height ranges, and gear and steering rack ratios for this track, and they will know within a few tenths of a second what the lap times will be.

Many of the drivers have been on sophisticated track simulators in preparation, and if it takes more than 10 laps to dial in on the real thing then the driver is in the wrong business.

The main technical challenge will be keeping adequate cooling to the very heavily used brakes, at the same time as reducing drag for maximum speed down the long straights. These requirements clash and, crucially, Ferrari aero efficiency has dominated the speed traps in practice.

The walls are very close to the track in several places and it seems probable that there will be safety car periods, adding drama and luck to strategies.

However, by the end of qualifying not one F1 car had made it to the wall. Yet it is clear in some corners an error on worn tyres will mean meeting wall, and the tight turns two and three on the crowded first lap are going to be very interesting.

It leaves room for a random result and there are signs from Lewis Hamilton and others that they are very aware of the potential downside for the championship battle. Felipe Massa summed it up when he said: “It's all about not losing points now.” But his commitment to beat Hamilton to pole position left no doubt or margin.

In terms of that title fight, it has narrowed to a three-way struggle between McLaren’s Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers, Raikkonen and Massa. The latter must beat Raikkonen this weekend because Ferrari have to decide which one to support for the title race, with just six races remaining by tonight. Given their rollercoaster performances so far this term that is a tough call.

Ferrari had their surprising engine failure in Hungary but have arrived here with a revised car, and Bridgestone have brought their softest compound tyres, which might be expected to favour the Italian cars given they tend to be kinder to the rubber compound over a race.

Yet the succession of acceleration zones should suit the superb grunt of McLaren’s Mercedes engines and the car’s improved traction.

At the first corner of the last race in Hungary, Hamilton drove with the championship in mind rather than the race win - and that’s the first time I’ve seen him do that. The championship pressure is ramping up and the challenges of a new venue have only amplified that.