And then on the final day, in a qualifying simulation, Nico Rosberg in his
Mercedes got within a second of his pole time from last year’s race. Given
that the teams are expected to develop these new cars massively throughout
the year – by as much as three seconds, according to some – Formula One
should be quick enough.
What have Red Bull got in their locker?
There is no doubt the pressure is on Red Bull. In Jerez they managed just 21
laps, and in the first Bahrain test they added 126 more. That’s still a long
way behind their rivals, and the fact the longest stint they managed was 12
laps is hugely telling.
Clearly, there are issues with the Renault engine, and how it is cooled, and
other mechanical problems. This test should give us an indication as to how
close they are to solving these problems. The interesting thing about Red
Bull is it would not be surprising if they suddenly managed to do 100 laps a
day, given their huge resource, both financially and in terms of personnel.
But equally, given their current form, we should not expect a huge number of
laps or a blistering time.
If they aren’t panicking now, then if after another four days in which they
struggle to keep the car running, then they will be.
Mercedes and Mercedes power walking away with it
Jenson Button gave a telling indication as to the pecking order in Bahrain.
After saying he did not think McLaren were the fastest, he said he thought
he knew who would be on pole in Melbourne, before looking over at the
Mercedes garage.
There’s no denying the Mercedes works teams, and Mercedes power generally has
had the best of pre-season. In pure mileage they are well ahead. Nico
Rosberg did the most number of laps by any driver in Bahrain (174), while
Valtteri Bottas, in his Mercedes-powered Williams, was second with 171.
Mercedes, as an engine manufacturer, have 2,002 laps in pre-season so far,
compared to 1,000 for Ferrari, and just 770 for the four Renault teams. In
approximate mileage, Mercedes have done 2935km, McLaren (again Mercedes
powered) 2564km, Ferrari 2554km, and Williams 2403km.
Clearly the engineers at Brixworth have built a reliable engine, and in the
early part of the season when finishing may well be enough for good points,
that’s a blessing for all the Mercedes teams.
Is the prancing horse this year’s dark horse?
The biggest mystery of testing so far this year has to be Ferrari. No-one
truly seems to know where they are. If Mercedes are thought to be the
frontrunners, then in terms of mileage Ferrari are next behind, following up
smooth progress in southern Spain with another 286 laps in Bahrain.
However, the indications are that the F14 T (named by Ferrari’s fans), is a
bit of a monster to drive at the moment. The returning Kimi Raikkonen
crashed in the final minutes of day four in Bahrain, and simply said:
“There’s a lot of torque in the car”. People trackside also noted that
compared to the Mercedes and the McLaren at least, it is not an easy beast
to tame.
The Maranello team are notoriously guarded, so it will be intriguing to see
what hand they play in the final four days in the deserts.
Tusks and trojans
Let’s start with the obvious: Lotus’s ‘twin tusk’ front nose looks utterly
ridiculous. But it is also mightily clever. By having one tusk ever so
slightly longer than the other, that counts as the front nose for crash
structure purposes, while the other simply aids aerodynamic performance. And
while it looks bizarre, according to the team’s technical boss Nick Chester,
it’s performing rather nicely.
Even after missing the first test, the Lotus team have been bragging that
maybe they could be the lead Renault team this year, as Red Bull struggle.
If they can get on top of the Renault engine, and be one of the only teams
using that power unit to be reliable, they may be one to watch out for.
One team who sadly, you do not need to be watching out for at this stage, is
Marussia, who faced their very own trojan computer virus troubles in
Bahrain. Their arrival in Jerez was warmly welcomed in the paddock, as a
sign of how a small team had managed to conquer some of the most vast
changes to the sport’s regulations for years, and at least turn up. However,
at the second test in Bahrain, things turned somewhat sour.
The aforementioned computer virus issue on the first day set them back, and
then in the following days very little real progress was made. They had the
worst of it in the desert, completing just 25 laps and suffering an engine
blow-out as well. By Saturday they effectively returned to the start, with
Jules Bianchi running a basic shakedown of just four laps in the final day.
They have a mountain to climb to be ready for Australia.