2019 got off to a flyer in Barcelona
Usually I could rattle off this summary for a test in a couple of minutes and put my feet up for the rest of the day but I fear this won’t be the case this year. I suppose I’m grateful for that because I may be able to write this less formulaic. At least in recent years, I can’t remember a year that’s received so much hype for testing and it actually be backed up by an actual interesting test. Yes there’s a ‘rule change’ but the philosophy of the cars hasn’t been drastically altered yet in some ways it almost feels as big as the winter of 2014. I don’t know how it appears for you but testing is usually the time of year where most are like ‘huh it’s testing it doesn’t mean much’ and the sad people like me who don’t get out much follow it closely. It may just be my own little bubble I’ve formed but testing seems bigger this year. Maybe the televised nature of it doesn’t help either.
Pragmatically, we approached this test expecting Mercedes and Ferrari battling it out for the highly important winter testing trophy, Red Bull experiencing teething issues, and the midfield about as far away from the top as I am to Barcelona writing this now in my room in England. To be fair, we got the usual Ferrari in that respect, bulletproof reliability and fantastic pace – they didn’t even put the fastest compound but look like they could easily break the 1:17 barrier with the middle compound tyre which a lot of the field broke on the C4 and C5 tyres, including the Mercedes. We must bare in mind the usual testing mantra of the times do not matter. But you can definitely tell Ferrari won’t finish last in the constructors’. Of course you do have to look at the times because my post wouldn’t exactly be the most thrilling read, even if they are that normally. If I didn’t look at times my post would look like this:
Yeah some cars went round a track fast but not as fast as they will in a few months
Not exactly a page turner, or scroll-er as you could say in this generation. At least it would make a change from my ranty pieces, but I digress.
A usual good indicator for car performance is reliability and driveability. Does the car look planted? Can the driver push and it look easy? Does the car constantly stop out on track? Do bits fall off the car? You get the idea. Test 1 is usually notorious for cars dropping like flies, which is what made Mercedes cars and later Ferrari cars look so impressive in recent years. Obviously we factor in pace to that too, but a good rule of thumb is that if it’s reliable, the team are on track with their plans, or it allows for more data, allowing for better or more efficient R&D. You could throw McLaren from last year into that bracket, with the late move to Renault, although there was a more clear chassis design flaw on the world’s best chassis last year. It also goes a long way to showing why Williams not being able to run for essentially 2 and a half days is so concerning from not only a performance view but also from a team point of view. It’s almost like it got to February and someone was like “oh shoot we’ve got to build a car.” It stinks of something properly wrong at the team. Force India would at least turn up with an old car to learn the tyres so it’s not time wasted. I believe the same team, now Racing Point, are running a half 2018, half 2019 car before more parts come later on in the season. Don’t quote me on that though. Missing nearly a third of running, especially with two rookies in the car, for me doesn’t bode well. It could just be because the team is behind though, but the car does look the most unsettled out on track, hopefully this improves over the next week and a bit, for Williams’ sake.
Speaking of unsettled, Mercedes does look like it loves to lock its breaks, could just be coincidence and may be reading too much into it, but for Mercedes’ usual perfect tests and the fact that they didn’t really up the pace until the last day or so, suggests that the Merc may not be the clear run away favourite for this year.
Both Red Bull teams are making me eat my own words somewhat. The transition to Honda for the main team has been so smooth, and like last year Toro Rosso have enjoyed solid running. It’s a positive sign for sure, but we’ll have to see how the season pans out. Toro Rosso clocked up impressive testing miles, before having the most power unit penalties during the course of 2018. We’ll still have to wait for outright pace too. Hopefully, the rumblings of vibrations in the Honda causing it to damage itself, just like a few years ago can be easily fixed. This may be the reason for those uprights found on the Red Bull’s rear on day 4.
On the other end of the spectrum, Haas seem to have a bit of a shaky testing, probably having the most interrupted running of the teams who ran all 4 days. For sure they look to be solid midfield runners but whereabouts, I don’t think anyone knows for sure. They’ve put together one of the fastest laps of the test so far, but like Toro Rosso, I don’t believe anyone thinks they’ll be at the sharp end of the grid.
Racing Point also had low mileage, at least compared to the newfound average for 2019. Maybe it is just because they’re not quite the finished product for 2019, but we’ll see. I think we’ll have to see until the season’s end where development has taken off for arguably the first time in the team’s history. BAR did show in their first season you can’t just throw money at the sport and expect instant success. They did eventually have an incredible 2004 season, and considering Racing Point have a stronger base than BAR did we’ll have to wait a little less to get that kind of success. But considering the strength of the midfield, they should be able to keep up with development unlike previous years, and the Silverstone squad has always been able to pull off unlikely results, so I doubt 2019 will be different as they don’t look to have a dog of a car.
Renault and McLaren have had a kind of similar test where they seem to be better but not made the strides everyone expected. One or two bits flying of their cars, and pulling off laps to impress at the end of the day. Maybe the question marks surrounding them will be answered at the next test. I refer myself to the testing mantra, and feel I should just wait until Melbourne, but it’s just too damn hard do!
I’ll leave this kind of summary/wrap-up-/season preview pt. 1/load of nonsense with Alfa Romeo. Undoubtedly the season’s dark horse. Again, in my preview for their season, I never thought they’d show the pace they have shown so far. I hope it’s legitimate because the midfield battle has been raised up a level, and they may even displace Renault as best of the rest. Next to Ferrari, I’d say they’ve had the best winter so far. That’s not to say they’re second fastest, but I so hope there’s pace in the locker because this testing has shown that we’re in for a helluva season. If the front wing design from Ferrari and Alfa is something worth a few tenths, then they seem to be on to a winner. It would take a lot for the rest to catch up. I wait to see what Alfa do this season with cautious optimism and hope, just because of this test.
Under a month to go before the season kicks off, and it’s taking shape to be more than just exciting. It is only testing so we wait until Australia and what the racing is like, but I just hope Hype Energy’s twitter account isn’t the only entertainment we get this year…
George Talks 