06/03/2013
FEATURE BY MATT SOMERFIELD
The winter period when F1 is on a race sabbatical is a frustrating time for most fans, however with car launches and pre-season testing etched into February on their calendars they know the season isn't far around the corner. But what can we all expect to see in Melbourne now the cars have been unveiled at their respective launches and stomped around Jerez and Barcelona collecting data for their designers and engineers?
Well as any self respecting journalist will tell you the teams hide their true performance until they reach Melbourne, with many of the top teams only revealing their true aerodynamic configurations on the last couple of days of testing, if at all before the first race.
So what can we learn from the outside looking in? Well we can look at the long and short run data and extrapolate to a certain degree the pecking order. We can also look at the aerodynamic packages on the cars and surmise the type of performance advantage that may be being gleaned from the different setups. But essentially the litmus test is when qualifying begins in Melbourne and the teams show their true hand, throughout the rest of the article I'll look at some of the interesting elements used up and down the grid and hopefully go some way to establishing a pecking order for the first few races.
Before we look at what the teams have to offer in more detail I'd just like to mention one of the control factors in F1 the Pirelli tyres:
Pirelli's offering this season has seen the construction of the tyre altered to alleviate the shoulder wearing issues the teams faced in 2012. Furthermore, to increase the strategy window Pirelli have also raised the degradation levels by adjusting the compounds. Each tyre moves down a level with an all new Super-Soft compound fulfilling the quota at the fast end of the scale. (i.e. This year's Hard compound is equivalent to last year's Medium) This should result in more pit stops as the drivers struggle for grip later into their stint. Furthermore Pirelli has adjusted the rear tyres on its Intermediate and Full Wet offerings meaning there is a larger delta for the tyres to operate within. The teams were afforded some time to test these tyres out at the last test in Barcelona, undoubtedly gleaning some important information for any wet and partially wet races that may occur throughout the year.
The working temperature ranges of the slicks tyres are as follows: Super Soft (85°-110°), Soft (105°-125°), Medium (90°-115°), Hard (110°-135°C) but due to the low temperatures seen at Barcelona the tyres were falling short of their operating window with the tyres only getting to around 75% of their correct operating temperature. With the tyres not operating in the correct heat range the chemical reaction that takes place when the tyres are in use doesn't happen correctly and forces the driver and team to make changes in setup to try and compensate. Due to the low track temperature in Barcelona we saw that the tyres were tending to shred, this is caused when the core of the tyre doesn't react in the same way as the tyre's surface and is something we are unlikely to see at races during the season. Degradation was obviously a concern for a lot of the drivers but this will be rectified come Free Practice in Melbourne when I'm sure the teams will be anxious to get out on track to assess the true representation of Pirelli's 2013 Tyre range having concluded they're still a little in the dark after the conclusion of testing.
Note: All pictures can be found in higher resolution here.
Red Bull
The RB9 continues to be an evolution of the original 2009 RB5 concept and uses the foundations laid down by the championship winning RB8. From the outset the '9' appears to have had little more than a lick of paint and a dash of additional Infiniti logo's placed on the car but although it shares the same DNA the team have once again pushed the car's development forward.
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Above: Red Bull's old nose (left) is overlayed with their new one (right) showing the differences in chamfered and none chamfered edges of their Step Nose. You'll also notice on the new nose the shoulder of the bulkhead has been laid bare.
The FIA's offer of the use of a 'Vanity Panel' to hide the ungainly noses people detested in 2012 was taken up by the team and on penultimate day of testing with Mark Webber at the helm the team offered up a new design losing the chamfered edge of the nose's step. Whilst testing the new nose it also became apparent the team had re-designed the Front Wing's Endplate adding additional holes in the forward section of the element.
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Above: (Top) is the older Endplate whilst the bottom of the 2 images show the additional holes placed at the front of the Endplate.
These holes allow airflow to move from the outer edge of the wing inside making the section more efficient. This is essential as the teams strive to create more elements at the outer edge of the wing. This also falls in line with the teams looking to overcome the challenge faced by the increased load tests prescribed by the FIA who are trying to defeat the teams' attempts at flexing the Front Wing.
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At the rear of the car the team has adapted its Cross-Under Tunnel by adjusting the two channels at the inlet. Whilst many of the other teams have caught onto the concept of shrouding the halfshafts only Ferrari has followed Red Bull's lead in terms of using Vertical Floor Strakes to guide the air beneath the wishbone the halfshaft is housed within. Whilst Ferrari have used the example set by Red Bull adding 3 Strakes the Red Bull team themselves have returned to 2 Strakes as they used earlier in the season.
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Red Bull also took the opportunity to further test their version of DRD (Drag Reduction Device) on the penultimate day of testing having previously given it a run out at the Abu Dhabi young drivers test with Antonio Felix Da Costa at the wheel on that occasion.
On the last day of pre-season testing the car was once again placed in the hands of Sebastian Vettel who continued to assess the older specification parts rather than using the elements mentioned above.
Red Bull has never been a team willing to show its full hand in pre-season testing but it is clear from its times that the team is once again consistent and arguably the team to beat.
Lotus
The E20 from last year although not blisteringly quick over one lap was consistent when running at race pace and from the outset it appears the E21 has this in it's genes also. The team was late to the 'Coanda' exhaust party in 2012 having favoured the development of its DRD (Drag Reduction Device) in order to boost its one lap performance deficit. When DRD became difficult to master the team switched focus on increasing performance via a Semi-Coanda layout, when the car was launched it seemed the team had conceded that Red Bull had the better approach and has since switched to a Cross-Under Tunnel configuration that sees the exhaust plume aimed at the gap between the rear wheel and floor's edge.
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Unlike Red Bull the E21's ramp ends abruptly curving into the coke bottle region drawing the airflow from the Sidepod into the region above the diffuser. Unlike the Red Bull design that has been copied by many teams up and down the grid this season Lotus has left its halfshaft exposed. Red Bull struggled with its first attempts at this style of Exhaust/Sidepod configuration taking many iterations before the team could consider it successful and so I expected that Lotus may too suffer the same fate but it would seem that they are fairly happy with it out of the box and have really only made changes to the exhaust channel itself throughout this testing phase.
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Lotus, like all the teams, experimented with various aero configurations during the pre-season tests with the team also re-visiting the assessment of DRD. Its implementation of DRD has been altered from its previous guise with the Periscope stopping short under the mainplane allowing the team to manage the stall more effectively.
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Above: The E21 had a new set of Rear Wing Endplates and Monkey Seat installed during the penultimate day.
Continuing at the rear of the car the team tried out new Rear Wing Endplates on the penultimate day of testing which featured Strakes that effect the airflow at the lower end of the Endplate further enhancing the effects seen upstream with their exhaust configuration. Furthermore the team utilized a more conventional styled Monkey Seat having previously been using their Monkey Seat designed with DRD in mind to add balance whilst testing.
During testing the team ran a few race simulations that in my opinion sees them vying with Ferrari as the team closest in race performance to Red Bull for 2013 but the jury is still out on its qualifying pace.
Ferrari
I'd imagine there are some relieved Ferrari staff back at Maranello and Cologne with the team completing what appeared to be a successful test for the Scuderia. For 2012 Ferrari had promised a radical car but when the F2012 hit the track it was obvious to see the team was some way off its predicted marks. Throughout 2012 we heard of Ferrari's Wind Tunnel woes back in Maranello and its struggle to correlate the information seen there with CFD, its work in Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne and its on track antics. Their fans saw a potential championship for Fernando Alonso slip away as the Red Bull team simply out-developed them in the latter stages of the season and so Ferrari has taken the necessary steps to remedy the situation for this season. Having established the correlation issues were largely to do with its own wind tunnel the team has shut down that operation and switched its full attention to the facilities in Cologne whilst refurbishments take place. The Cologne Wind Tunnel is state-of-the-art and features PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) allowing the team an even more successful way in which to validate its results. The F138 carries a large degree of its predecessors DNA but the team has worked hard on providing some important and interesting additions to this year's challenger.
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The team opted for a full on vanity panel which allowed it to raise the nose of the car even higher than the F2012 (which was already pretty aggressive) this means that the air rushing under the nose has a little more work to do resulting in a slow down of the airflow as it reaches the bulkhead section (Boundary Layer) to aid in reducing this, with a trade off of also cooling the driver, the team enlarged the cooling duct under the nose.
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Above: Ferrari's New Front Wing features 7 Tiers (The first team to do so) the extra tier is made up by the separation of the 5th flap as can be seen by the black outer section.
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Above: on the left-hand side we can see Ferrari's new endplate that looks to inject more airflow under the wing from the outside edge than their old Endplate (right) looked to do.
Ferrari was fairly prolific in its Front Wing designs last season (mainly to do with their CFD/Wind Tunnel/Track correlation issues) and in the last test at Barcelona the team didn't buck this trend when it furnished its drivers with a new 7 Tier Front Wing looking just like the other teams will be to circumnavigate the FIA's flex tests whilst increasing the Wing's efficiency.
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Further down the car the team installed a new rear section to its Sidepod in the latter days of the last test in order to further extract performance from the Semi-Coanda Exhaust, the new layout featured a couple of bulges on the top surface of the Sidepod aimed at redirecting the downwash travelling over the Sidepod toward the exhaust channel. Meanwhile, the drooped or overhanging section of bodywork that the channel sits within has also been re-orientated bringing the bottom section of the bodywork closer to the car's floor in order to further segregate the airflow coming around the Sidepod from impinging on the exhaust plumes direction. The team had worked hard throughout the winter to clean up the coke bottle region of the car allowing much more clean space for the airflow to filter above the Diffuser and like Red Bull now features a lower wishbone that shrouds their halfshafts. The team, like Red Bull, has also added some Vertical Floor Strakes underneath the Wishbone in order to help guide the air into the appropriate places.
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Gary Anderson of the BBC talked at length last season about the re-attachment issues Ferrari faced when using DRS, this trait appeared worse during qualifying due to the need to utilise DRS as much as possible. The problem is one of balance for the drivers if the airflow doesn't re-attach as they enter the braking phase as the car is unstable momentarily as the driver brakes to enter the corner. Ferrari tried to counter this last season by using a foot operated DRS system so as to recover some of the re-attachment time as the driver moved from the foot operated DRS button to the brake pedal. However this still appeared to be insufficient. Luckily for Ferrari the FIA decided that the practice of having unlimited DRS usage in Practice & Qualifying was becoming dangerous and so this season the team won't suffer quite as much. Teams will revert to a smaller DRS delta as they can only use it in the specified zones. Ferrari however seem intent on retaining an edge in terms of straight line speed and so have thought a little further out the box installing Trailing Edge Slats on the Rear Wing Endplates. These slats not only enhance the Rear Wing's aspect ratio but due to the angle of the Slats means the Vortex usually shed at the Wing's tips (Which increases drag) is shed further outbound reducing drag.
Just as we found in 2012, I believe Ferrari is very much in contention for the 2013 Championship with the team having a car that should be able to challenge for victories straight out of the gate. The only issue I have foreseen during testing is a higher tyre degradation, but as I mentioned in the Pirelli section this may be relieved when the car hits Melbourne.
McLaren
McLaren is a team I feel has very much flattered to deceive throughout testing having posted some fairly respectable times throughout the test. The drivers however have been vocal about their discontent with the MP4-28 and the way in which the team understand its behaviour. It reminds me of the issues faced by Ferrari early on in 2012 and moreover Felipe Massa's side of the garage as the team struggle to understand the setup of their new pull rod front suspension. I seem to recall Felipe state that the team had gone down the wrong route in terms of setup on several occasions and it leaves me wondering if McLaren are heading down the same counter-intuitive path. The problem is compounded by the fact that making setup changes on the MP4-28 has been highlighted as a slow process by the team and is another area that Ferrari has altered this season having already had a year's experience operating it.
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Above: Jenson Button behind the wheel of the MP4-28 using the more basic Turning Vanes.
The '28' is probably one of the most significantly altered cars from it's predecessor on the 2013 grid with the team feeling it exploited the maximum potential from the previous chassis. The '28' marks a U-Turn in McLaren philosophy with the tub now being closer if not at the maximum 625mm permissible height. The MP4-27 had been designed initially with a very low nose (much like we will see in 2014) with the team switching ethos mid-way through the season when it changed the nose at the mid-season test in Mugello. Having the tub at the higher height allows the team more scope to adjust the attitude which at present is set at getting the maximum amount of air flowing underneath the nose toward the floor of the car. The team is now using a Front Wing design very similar to the one that finished its 2012 campaign with guide vanes replacing the double R cascade toward the inner section of the wing. The team started its test run with an updated set of 3 tier Turning Vanes hanging from the underside of the nose but in the last test reverted to a very basic set like its 2012 challenger featured.
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The Woking outfit has also changed its ethos in terms of Sidepod design with the frontal area now being very much a two-stage design with the most forward section taking care of the Side Impact Protection and the outer parts sweeping away allowing for a deeper undercut for air to flow around the car. The team introduced Sidepod Slats/Wings above the Sidepods Inlet during the first test at Barcelona but removed them as they continued testing, however these have been a constant fixture on the car during the last test. Used by not only McLaren, these horizontal slats aid in directing the downwash toward the rear of the car.
All bar a few minor amendments to the Front Wing and Turning Vanes on the MP4-28 the team has simply concentrated on setup work for their base package. It remains to be seen if the team has real performance up its sleeve but rest assured I'm expecting further revisions from the team in Melbourne.
Mercedes
Mercedes is a team with serious ambition backed by a huge team of technical staff, the results of the 2012 campaign can largely be thrown out of the window with the team not only being compromised by changes to its Wind Tunnel facilities but compromising its design with DDRS (Double DRS). DDRS was a coup for the team initially but as the other teams found advantages by circumnavigating the Front Wing load tests Mercedes was left unable to replicate it without dropping DDRS. The team has been running its Wind Tunnel facilities in Brackley at a 50% model since the FIA introduced the tunnel testing restrictions back when the team was Honda (the tunnel is capable of 100%). The change from 50 to 60% testing is quite a large operation and would have likely resulted in the team having significant downtime, moreover the investment is also large with everything associated to the Wing Tunnel modelling requiring alteration. It was however a necessary evil as the gains from the 10% increase in model size are significant in terms of validation especially with focus needing to be directed at not only a successful 2013 but moving forward with the challenging 2014 regulations. The W04 therefore is not a large leap but as the team now has better validation tools in place it will be much more successful in its application of upgrades placed on the car.
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As previously mentioned Mercedes Front Wing was an area of the car that stalled in terms of development during 2012 with the only real alterations coming when the team either ran or didn't run Cascades. For 2013 the team has introduced a new Front Wing aimed at increasing the efficiency of the area opting for a 5 Tier wing as opposed to the 3 Tier of last year, furthermore the bottom and top flaps have been split much further inbound too.
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Mercedes looked to introduce the Semi-Coanda style exhaust throughout the latter part of 2012 but suffered with excessive overheating of the rear tyres when the exhaust plume didn't align with the predicted path it should have. Rather than waste further time perfecting it the team opted to revert back to the downwash exhaust it started the season with but showed its intent for this campaign. True to its intent the team launched the car with a Semi-Coanda exhaust which it has worked on throughout the test re-orientating the bodywork to get the desired effect.
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The team also tested its variant of DRD throughout the testing period but, in a polar opposite to Lotus, changed the design of the Periscope to meet with the underside of the Mainplane.
I think Mercedes has made a step forward from its 2012 challenger (W03) but is it enough to mount a title challenge? I will look at the case for this in my summary.
Williams
Williams rocked up to the first pre-season test in Jerez with its 2012 challenger the FW34. The team had planned to do this from the get go and wasn't late into its development curve as such but preferred the option of using a familiar car/setup whilst testing the 2013 Pirelli tyres. The FW35 was unveiled at the first test in Barcelona and it was immediately obvious that the team was going to be willing to push the boundaries this season. Two main areas of interest struck a chord with me immediately: The Blown Front Axle and the blade placed within the exhaust channel. Both of these are a clear sign of Williams' intentions to be innovative this season whilst running close to the edge of legality.
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Above: If you look in the central section of the hollow axle you can see that the team place interchangeable ducts here so they can manage the airflow differently as it exits the axle.
Red Bull ran a blown wheel nut arrangement early on in the 2012 season but was told to remove it during the Montreal weekend as the team was outside of the regulations. The Williams interpretation however isn't constricted by the wheel nut with the team simply leaving the axle face open. Williams has tried a few different size apertures along with different orientations inside the axle in order to alter the onward flow the blowing manipulates. The use of this blown axle has resulted in Williams moving away from the use of scoopless front brake ducts as they require additional airflow for both brake cooling and the requirements of the blown axle. The net effect of this blown axle is the movement of air behind the front wheel and along the floor's edge and so could be something other teams look to copy throughout the season if Williams seem to be gleaning an advantage from it.
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Williams launch car also featured a Semi-Coanda exhaust in keeping with the design the team trialled on many occasions throughout 2012 but didn't race. Its launch exhaust however featured a contentious piece of bodywork bridging the top of the exhaust channel much the same as Caterham had tried during the Jerez test. It's hard to argue with the legality of this blade as the technical regulations are written with the blade seemingly not intersecting the truncated cone of the exhausts upward sweep. However the FIA was quick to step in and remind the teams that re-ingestion of exhaust gases was covered in a technical directive during 2012 (Not available for public consumption) and these blades would be seen as illegal in its eyes come Melbourne. Williams seemed relatively un-perturbed by this and for good reason as it would change to the Red Bull style Cross-Under Tunnel with exhaust ramp in the second test. Like Lotus, Williams hasn't jumped on the shrouded halfshaft bandwagon but it now becomes clear that the Renault engine is more suited to the layout shared by the three cars as although copying the original idea is a flattering idea, the numbers in CFD and the Wind Tunnel obviously made sense to all the teams enjoying the same engine partnership.
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I foresee good things for Williams in 2013 as its seems to have a strong package whilst also the ability to look after its tyres. I think, like many of the midfield teams this season, we could see them making plenty of visits to the podium maybe even securing the odd win.
The Sauber C32 was launched at the team's base in Hinwil an impressive facility that draws on the investment BMW made whilst owning the team several years back. For 2013 Sauber features an all new line-up in the form of Nico Hulkenburg and Esteban Gutierrez. It could be argued Sauber did a good job in luring Nico over as a replacement to the outgoing Sergio Perez but undoubtedly the team needed to look after both its race and commercial interests. Meanwhile Esteban makes the step up to a full race seat having been Sauber's third/reserve driver during 2012. Stepping into Esteban's reserve role is Robert Frijns a young Dutch driver who tested for both Sauber and Red Bull at the last Young Drivers test in Abu Dhabi. Why do I mention drivers, I hear you saying. Well it's a topic in regard to infrastructure that baffles me for Sauber. The team for all intense and purposes has a winning formula when it comes to car design (own on-site state of the art Wind Tunnel) but lack one critical element in a modern Formula One: a Simulator. This is not only a great tool for the drivers themselves but can help the teams not only during the preparation for the race weekend in terms of setup and strategy but also through the use of the simulator whilst the cars are running at an event. Furthermore drivers can establish a tangible difference with upgrades before they've been placed on the real machine. If F1 is a development race then the simulator is a key element in the armoury of a team and something that Sauber will need to invest in for the future.
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The Sauber C32 is a strong baseline car taking cues from its predecessor which as we all know was particularly good at retaining the services of the Pirelli tyres it was shod with in comparison to some of its competitors. Sauber has used a vanity panel on the C32 in order to create shoulders in the step nose region but not gone as far as eradicating the step entirely This is largely to do with the team retaining the 'S' Duct which moves air from the underside of the nose just aft of the step in order to cancel out many of the step's negatives whilst giving an incremental gain under the nose. Whilst on the subject of the nose, Sauber has also lowered the tip of the C32 when compared with the C31.
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The striking feature of the C32 at the launch was just how narrow the Sidepods of the car which Matt Morris described as a decision based on the shunt Sergio ha at Monaco in 2011 getting the team to thinking how things could be repackaged. It also begs the question how far we may see designs change in 2014 with the new engines being more thermal efficient. The only downside to the narrow Sidepods is that the internals are orientated more longitudinally which has had a small effect on the width of the Coke Bottle region at the rear of the car. A less svelte rear end aside you can't fail to be impressed by what Sauber has done in terms of packaging.
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A key signal from the launch that the team would assess DRD's potential in 2013 was the engine cover's outlet which featured a small raised section at the top edge. Used in order to house the Periscope section my instincts became realised when the team not only installed a new version of its own DRD but also tested with a new Rear Wing.
The Rear Wing seen on the C32 throughout the Barcelona test undoubtedly brings gains on it's own with its Spoon designed mainplane used to generate more downforce, but it's design lends itself to the usage of DRD in my opinion. By raising the delta of the rear wing it allows for a much shallower stall using DRD, a problem the teams trying to implement DRD appear to have suffered with.
I have mixed feelings over Sauber's chances this season as technically it has taken chances in the detailing of the car which could haul it up the grid. But with two new drivers and, as previously mentioned, the lack of simulation work, strategy and pre-planning will always be the Swiss team's Achilles heel.
Force India
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Force India has become known as a solid midfield team over the last few years but I can't help thinking that the VJM06 will represent a slide in the team's fortunes. The car is a solid design but it lacks any out and out adventure like we have seen from the likes of Williams and Sauber. The team, like McLaren, has now edged the tub up to the maximium 625mm height and taken advantage of the Vanity panel to raise the height of the nose in order to drive air under the nose on towards the floor. The team has continued to integrate the Semi-Coanda exhaust it converged on much like the rest of the field throughout 2012, ironing out some of the design kinks that would have emerged from having to change paths in 2012. The car is a clear evolution of the VJM05 with refinements being made in almost every department but it just lacks that killer blow that will see the team catapulted up the order. The team will undoubtedly score a decent points haul in 2013 with it being able to manage its tyres more effectively than those around them, and with the di Resta and Sutil partnership renewed it will be interesting to see who wins that particular inter-team battle.
Toro Rosso
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The STR8 departs from some of the design cues of its predecessors, like the double floor concept we saw the team run last year, but like many of the midfield to lower tier teams the Faenza outfit faces a dilemma when devoting too many resources at creating a revolutionary design. A Vanity Panelled nose sees the team utilising a high nose concept, and whilst the team won't use the double floor concept as mentioned above it does retain an extremely sculpted Sidepod region. Like Force India I see the team able to capitalize on some lower end points hauls but I cannot see it challenging the established front runners. It will be interesting to see how the inter-team driver battle pans out after a second year whilst the drivers will be looking over their shoulders if they're not performing well as a team with Antonio Felix Da Costa waiting in the wings for his chance at the big time. I'm also keen to see how James Key's transition from Sauber pans out in terms of this season's development and the design of the 2014 challenger.
Marussia
Marussia finished the 2012 season almost surpassing its closest rival Caterham having persisted with the MR-01's performance even though it didn't have the KERS capability of its rival. This changes in 2013 with the team taking supply of KERS from Williams meaning it will be on a level playing field for 2013. The technical partnership with McLaren has bolstered the team's ambitions with access to the Simulator and Wind Tunnel facilities at Woking. Meanwhile. Pat Symonds returns to a more hands on approach with his ban being lifted following the infamous Crashgate incident. Symonds was pivotal in the turn around last season whilst acting an advisor but will now have a larger role to play within the team as their Technical Director.
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Of course, the MR-02 has lots of carry over from the MR-01 but the team has continued to push development of the car during testing with the team assessing a new Engine Cover which features a Shark Fin and in the last few days a new Front Wing which features a split top flap and redesigned Endplates which is still a fairly rudimentary design but an improvement nonetheless.
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I firmly believe that Marussia has what it takes this season to overturn its closest rivals in terms of technical nous, its only stumbling block could be taking on two rookies.
Caterham
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Caterham is a team that has made numerous promises over the preceding seasons about breaking into the mid-field pack, a statement that new Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul has been quick to allay. Caterham starts 2013 with pretty much the same car that finished 2012 however the team has two new drivers at the wheel of the CT-03. Charles Pic finds himself at the helm of a Renault powered car mainly due, I'd imagine, to him being part of the Renault young drivers program, whilst the other seat goes to Giedo Van Der Garde. Pic has a year's F1 experience under his belt from his time with Marussia but he will still need to work hard to understand the CT-03 as he didn't have KERS at his disposal last season.
The team continues its use of the Semi-Coanda exhaust system that it ran in the latter half of 2012, which leaves Caterham as the only Renault powered team not running the Cross-Under Tunnel style Sidepod/Exhaust. However if we cast our minds back to Mugello last season the team has at least tested the solution even if it abandoned it rather quickly.
The team never really seemed to understand the CT-01 and this is when it had two seasoned drivers onboard in the form of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov. With it now placing almost the same car in the hands of its new line-up I'm not sure the team will repeat the success of beating its closest rival Marussia this season.
In Summary
It's very easy to be drawn into a 'Who's got the quickest car?' battle but testing isn't really about this unless you're showboating either for morale or in order to entice sponsorship. Testing is about ironing out the kinks and gremlins before they come to bite when it's important… in the season. It's not only about understanding the car and the way it drives but essential preparation time for the engineers and mechanics that have to work on the car at the races around the globe. Time spent understanding Pirelli's offering this year is essential especially with the Italian brand supplying tyres with new construction and compounds and, as we've already discussed, the low temperatures did little to assist in the quest to understand them before Melbourne. As mentioned throughout my look at the teams it will be interesting to see who blinks first and races DRD. I'd speculate that Sauber is best placed at present having catered for it within its design from the outset. As I've said before it won't be the silver bullet that wins a team race after race but it could be the difference between a high and low points score.
You can guess from the running order of the teams above how I see the pecking order, it's based on the packages I've seen and from looking over the timesheets from all three tests. However, it's not as cut and dry as making a list of the quickest cars. Each car has its own merits whether it's the ability to run longer on a set of tyres or extract one-lap qualifying performance. The key is a balance that lies somewhere between the two. We, of course, have to also realise that cars can have their performance dictated to them by the circuit and climate they're visiting too.
I firmly believe that Red Bull still has the package to beat but is closely followed by Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes with both Williams and Sauber snapping at its heels too. The biggest factor that Red Bull, Lotus and Ferrari carry over the others though is continuity, having continued with their 2012 driver line-ups. Fresh blood is not a bad thing however and most certainly not in the case of Mercedes which finds itself rejuvenated with the arrival of Lewis Hamilton. I think we will see an eclectic mix of top ten finishes over the first few races as the teams battle to come to terms with the degradation levels of the Pirelli tyres and their 2013 machines. Many have touted Mercedes to be front runners in Melbourne based on their Soft tyre runs at Barcelona and although I believe they have made a massive step in the right direction compared to previous seasons I can't help but look at several things that make me doubt its pace in relationship to everyone else. The runs that featured the quickest times were extremely short stints with massive time drop offs after the quick laps, suggesting that they had destroyed the tyres in doing the runs which were also done on Soft tyres (equivalent to last years Super Softs) which by Pirelli's reckoning should be good for a gain of 0.5-0.8 second gain per lap. Furthermore I'd expect all of the teams to be able to lap in the region of 2 seconds quicker than their respective 2012 runs as that's the sort of time the teams will be looking to gain over a season. We, of course, have to factor in the loss of unlimited DRS usage when compared to the 2012 times but whilst Mercedes used DRS during these runs in the designated zones it appears some of the other teams weren't (as they weren't doing qualifying simulations). This is why it is a thankless task to extrapolate performance differentiators during testing as the variables all start to stack up. I leave you with a parting comment someone I know used to say to his opposition when they talked the talk before a season started. 'When the flag drops, the BS stops' and on that note lets see where the teams are come qualifying in Melbourne.