Daniel Ricciardo put a brave face on the situation, but even he admitted it’s
“back to the drawing board”, literally not figuratively it must be said.
You obviously become eight-time world champions for a reason, and they have
immense resources and brainpower to solve their problems, but they will now
be flat out to get things fixed for Australia. And even with that said, with
the new engine regulations they are so reliant on Renault’s performance this
season, so in some senses it is not totally in their control.
2) Mercedes is the engine you want (and probably not Renault)
Regardless of how they sound, Mercedes seem to be in pole position out of the
engine manufacturers, with Ferrari close behind.
The sheer mileage of the Mercedes cars compared particularly with their
Renault rivals, tells the story.
On Tuesday, Mercedes-powered cars did 36 laps, Ferrari 38, and Renault 19. The
differences widened on Wednesday, as Mercedes power completed 212 laps,
Ferrari 100, and Renault just 19, with only eight for Red Bull. Thursday:
Mercedes 217, Ferrari 97, and Renault 43, and a similar pattern again on
Friday.
Remy Taffin, Renault’s engine chief, said the company is working flat out to
resolve their problems, but in pure mileage terms it’s clear they are some
way behind Mercedes and Ferrari.
3) Gentleman’s appendages are everywhere, but the variety is refreshing
Before Formula One came to Jerez, we had a pretty good idea of some of the
some “anteater” front noses we would be seeing. But that was nothing
compared to what was unveiled in southern Spain.
First there was the Toro Rosso.
Then the Force India (their gentleman’s appendage was even painted black,
making it stand out even more).
And then finally we had the Caterham. Frankly, it looks a bit like a shovel,
but if it’s quick, neither the team nor the public will care.
Some fans have expressed their dismay on Twitter at how F1 could get it so
wrong with regards to aesthetics. But for me, the variety of designs – from
the sloping nose of the Ferrari, to the keel of the Red Bull, through to the
anteater of the Williams – is hugely refreshing. For now at least, gone are
the days of all the cars being distinguishable only by their paint job. Long
may it continue.
4) McLaren are heading in the right direction
By all accounts, McLaren had a solid week in Jerez, on and off the track.
On the track, after failing to get out on the first day due to a setup
problem, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen put some good mileage on the car,
and they appear to come up with the one ‘X Factor’ innovation which has
caught the eye of technical minds up and down the paddock.
The suspension “blockers” on the MP4-29 which, in a double win if it works,
are thought to give more downforce at low speed and less drag at high speed.
Other teams are already considering trying to copy the innovation, with
Williams admitting they will try it out in their wind tunnel before
Australia in March.
Back at base the team also confirmed the anticipated arrival of Eric Boullier,
the highly-regarded former team principal of Lotus, as racing director.
Although it’s not a straightforward swap for Martin Whitmarsh, with the
appointment of a CEO McLaren Racing yet to come (rumoured to be Ross Brawn),
the 40-year-old Frenchman is a safe pair of hands to run the team at race
weekends, enjoying considerable success on a relatively small budget at
Lotus.
Eric Boullier, 40, has joined McLaren as racing director
And despite a crash just 15 minutes from the end on the final day, it was an
impressive debut for 21-year-old Kevin Magnussen.
All this at Woking and in Jerez means Ron Dennis, on his return to Formula
One, should be pleased with how 2014 is shaping up.
5) The jury’s out on F1’s new soundtrack
I’m probably not the best person to compare F1’s new 1.6-litre V6 turbos with
the old V8s, as this is my first year covering the sport, but the jury in
Jerez is still out on the sport’s new soundtrack.
There is no denying they are quieter; much, much quieter. While some of my
colleagues remarked how brilliant this is (we can work in the press room by
the pit straight in relative peace), one the attractions of F1 is the noise,
and the sound. Unsurprisingly, F1’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone popped up to
lambast the new engines as “totally absurd”, and one team principal told me
they sound like “a bag of spanners”.
But, in the new engine’s defence, it represents the very latest technology,
and has dragged Formula One away from being purely about aerodynamic
performance. Clearly for Red Bull right now, being an engine formula isn’t
such a good thing, but it should spice things up for the sport as a whole.
On the sound itself, Jenson Button has admitted it’s “less exciting”, but
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, among others, said it reminded them of the
1980s; the last time F1 had turbo engines. For me, it has a nice growl at a
slow speed, but can sound worryingly dull at high speed (in the engines’
defence, none of the teams will have turned them up to full power this
week).
Either way, my ear plugs won’t be leaving their box much this season
5.1) And finally… someone needs to get a handle on Lotus’s Twitter feed
Every Formula One team is on Twitter, but over the past year Lotus have
excelled themselves at using this medium to gain both publicity and
sympathy.
First, there was the infamous “rabbit” tweet after Kimi Raikkonen announced he
was returning to Ferrari.
Then, only last week, they tweeted a picture of “Fifty Shades of Grey” after
Eric Boullier, McLaren-bound, left the team.
But this week, particularly considering they have not even made it Jerez (if
it wasn’t obvious before, it has become abundantly apparent this week how
big a blow that is), things got out of hand.
After Red Bull were struggling on Wednesday, in reply to a tweet from former
driver Taki Inoue, they wrote: “Aww, we miss you like Red Bull misses their
mileage today…”
Gripe number one is they didn’t even make it too Jerez. But gripe number two,
and a bigger one, is clearly Red Bull’s troubles have something to do with
problems with the Renault engine, and Lotus are also supplied by, you
guessed, Renault. It seems bordering on bonkers to effectively criticise
your own engine supplier on Twitter, if you ask me.