Aside from a one-off test at Mugello two years ago, there had been a blanket ban on full in-season running outside of grand prix weekends since the end of 2008. But in one of 2014’s less-publicised changes to the sport’s regulations, the rules have been relaxed for this season with four two-day sessions organised on the Tuesday and Wednesday after selected races in the season.
Tuesday saw the return of in-season testing into Formula One again at the first venue at Bahrain circuit in Sakhir. Many pundits and fans were wondering just what the first in-season test of 2014 would bring. Would it show that Mercedes would still show their astonishing pace that shows no signs of stopping? Would Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and Force India be able to gain any ground on the Mercedes team? And would Lotus and Caterham be finally able to gain some much needed running?
There have been unexpected issues, reasons for concern and signs of promise for everyone down the field this week during the test. Question is: which team came out on top of the Bahrain test?
Day 1
Rosberg topped the timesheets on Day 1 of the Bahrain in-season test
Day 1 saw that Mercedes once again building on their one-two race finish at the Grand Prix on Sunday and their driver Nico Rosberg set the pace and topped the timesheets.
Rosberg who was narrowly beaten to victory on Sunday after a titanic tussle with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, set the pace with a lap of 1:35.697. This lap time was 2.5 slower than Rosberg’s own pole time from last weekend. Rosberg managed to complete 121 laps which is the equivalent of two race distances.
After proving Mercedes’ closest but distant challengers in the grand prix, Force India took second place on the timesheet with Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (whose F14 T stopped on track in the morning), and McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen.
The test comes at a particularly useful time for Ferrari after Alonso and Raikkonen struggled to painful ninth and tenth place finishes in race conditions at Bahrain on Sunday. The Italian team ran with a number of sizeable aero-measuring devices on the troubled F14 T and spent their 69 laps working on electronic configuration tuning and set-up work. This allowed Alonso to complete a series of shorter runs in the afternoon which he clocked his best lap time of 1:36.626 to leapfrog Magnussen.
Although Williams completed only 28 laps with Valtteri Bottas, he took fifth ahead of Marussia’s Max Chilton and was left encouraged by the progress made with new parts trialled on the FW36. Bottas stated the following after the first day of in-season testing at Bahrain to the media:-
‘Overall it was a good day as we managed to complete the programme as planned. We then worked on set-up and we were quite experimental, so hopefully that will help in the next few races. Next it was time to test some new aero components with some positive results.’
This is extremely positive news for the Williams team who have admitted that they did not achieve what they wanted on Sunday at the race in Bahrain. But the most important thing for the Williams team is that not only did they get some points out the race on Sunday but they managed to complete the programme they needed to achieve on the first day of testing. And this data will no doubt as Bottas himself says will help the team further develop the car throughout the season ahead.
Daniel Ricciardo, who like Alonso is completing both days of the test in Bahrain this week, put 91 laps on the Red Bull RB10 in seventh place. Also 18-year-old Russian Sergey Sirotkin racked up an encouraging 76 laps on his full F1 debut with Sauber.
One requirement of the in-season tests is that each team have to give one of their 12 days of running during the year over to bespoke work for Pirell. This is to ensure that so that the Italian supplier can test their tyre developments as quickly as they possibly can.
Caterham were the first team to do so at Sakhir with test driver Robin Frijns behind the wheel of the CT05. But Frijns and the Caterham’s day was ended mid-way through the first session through after a hydraulic system leak that necessitated a lengthy rebuild of the car. After the first session, Frijns said the following to the media:-
‘When we finished the last run before lunch we found a hydraulic system leak that meant the guys had to take the floor and gearbox off and with the time it would have taken to rebuild the car we made the call to end the session early so we could prepare for day two.
‘There’s not much I can say about the tyres we were running today as they’re obviously development sets and because it was a Pirelli test today we weren’t aware of what compounds we were running.’
That is a real shame for Frijns on his debut with the Caterham team. But this for me highlights only further that Caterham have a lot of work in order to order not only fix the problems with the CT05 but also to try and extract performance from the car in order to race as competitively as possible.
Fellow Renault-powered runners Lotus ran into yet more problems as a power unit failure ended their day early. Pastor Maldonado had completed just 16 laps by that point when the failure happened.
Sunday’s race winner Hamilton returns to the W05 for Wednesday’s second and final day when Mercedes and Williams will carry out test work for Pirelli.
Day One Timesheet:
1. Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:35.697, 121 laps.
2. Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:36.064, 69 laps.
3. Alonso, Ferrari, 1:36.626, 69 laps.
4. Magnussen, McLaren, 1:36.634, 102 laps.
5. Bottas, Williams, 1:37.305, 28 laps.
6. Chilton, Marussia, 1:37.678, 60 laps.
7. Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:38.326, 91 laps.
8. Sirotkin, Sauber, 1:39.023, 76 laps.
9. Frijns, Caterham, 1:40.027, 63 laps.
10. Maldonado, Lotus, 1:40.183, 16 laps.
11. Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:40.452, 67 laps.
Day 2
Hamilton topped the timesheets at the final day of the in-season test at Bahrain
Day 2 of the test saw Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton running on a new range of development tyres fastest on the final day of the in-season test at Bahrain as Mercedes once again showed their pace and their record of being the quickest in every timed session at the circuit this week.
With Hamilton’s girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger in attendance and watching on from trackside, he wrapped up the test by ensuring that Mercedes headed the timesheet on both days of the event.
Hamilton’s best lap time of 1:34.136 (which was almost exactly 1second slower than the pole-securing lap registered by Hamilton’s team-mate Rosberg on Saturday), completed a remarkable seven days for the team after they also topped the charts in one-two formation in very session at last week’s Bahrain GP.
In total, Hamilton put down 120 laps in the W05 in the session and once again highlighting that Mercedes once again have the most consistent, reliable and competitive car of the field at the moment.
As part of the agreed format for the reintroduced in-season tests, both Mercedes and Williams devoted their running to testing new types of Pirelli tyres with the manufacturer reporting both teams tested ‘four new compounds and three new structures.’
When asked his thoughts about the final day of the in-season test at Bahrain, Hamilton stated the following to the media:-
‘It’s been a long day, running lap after lap to analyse the tyres but driving a Formula One car is never boring. Of course, the nature of a tyre test means we haven’t learnt anything in particular in terms of improving the car but it’s useful for Pirelli and therefore useful to us in the long term.
‘They just gave me different sets and I told them how each felt. The plan was just to get in as many laps as we could. The times mean nothing as everyone had their own programmes to run.’
As Hamilton states in his interview with the media, if doing evaluative tyre work for Pirelli is the objective he needs to achieve, then he will achieve it. The number of laps Hamilton completed during the session will help Pirelli as they develop the tyres throughout the season and also in the future.
Ferrari endured a day of frustration with damage to Alonso’s F14 T limiting their driver just 12 laps. In an interview with the media, the Ferrari team stated the following after the final day of in-season testing in Bahrain:-
‘On the job list for today was a series of set-up tests, carried out based on data from yesterday. Unfortunately, testing had to be called to a halt when the chassis was found to be damaged. After the necessary checks were made, the team decided to bring the test to a premature end as a precautionary measure.’
The damage to the chassis on Alonso’s car will not have been good news for him and also for the Ferrari team who will have wanted to achieve as much as they could possibly could throughout the in-season test. Once again, the problems that the Ferrari team have encountered during the test this week shows that they need to ensure that they work as hard as they possibly can to fix and iron out the issues they are currently suffering with at the moment.
Jean-Eric Vergne was second fastest for Toro Rosso and set his best lap set on the supersoft compound. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen set the third fastest time of the day in the MP4-29 despite a suspension failure pitching car and driver into the gravel trap just before lunch.
Giedo van der Garde who was appointed the Sauber team’s reserve driver in the wake of his ousting over the winter from Caterham managed to complete 77 laps for the team and took seventh in the timesheets. When asked his thoughts about his performance after the session, van der Garde stated the following to the media:-
‘I am satisfied with where we are right now. We found something interesting during the long runs in the end.’
We have not seen much in my opinion of the Sauber team at this early stage of the season so far. The Sauber team have not have a pleasant time since the start of pre-season testing and suffering with brake and chassis issues with the C33. But it is nice to hear from van der Garde that he is happy with the performance he managed to achieve and that they have data that will be beneficial as Sauber try to improve their car in the season ahead.
Once again, Lotus was early departees from the final day of in-season at Bahrain after the E22 driven by Romain Grosjean broke down with less than twenty laps on the board. With Marcus Ericsson behind the wheel, Caterham recorded 66 laps and lap time of 1:39.263 before their participation was also brought to a premature close due to an ERS electrical fault.
Day Two timesheet:
1. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:34.136, 120 laps.
2. Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:35.557, 64 laps.
3. Magnussen, McLaren, 1:36.203, 26 laps.
4. Perez, Force India, 1:36.586 63 laps.
5. Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:37.310, 68 laps.
6. Bianchi, Marussia, 1:37.316, 93 laps.
7. Van Der Garde, Sauber, 1:37.623, 77 laps.
8. Alonso, Ferrari, 1:37.912, 12 laps.
9. Ericsson, Caterham, 1:39.263, 66 laps.
10. Nasr, Williams, 1:39.879, 64 laps.
11. Grosjean, Lotus, 1:43.732, 17 laps.
12. Maldonado, Lotus, 1:55.613, 4 laps.
Conclusion
The first in-season test at Bahrain has produced some interesting results. Many Formula One fans were looking forward to seeing how the teams and the drivers would perform at the best so soon after a Grand Prix weekend. And in my view, it is a mixed bag overall.
Lotus has stated over the previous weeks that they have seen signs of progress in the direction they have taken with the E22 for this year. However, it would seem currently that once again missing the Jerez test in January may have put them at a slight disadvantage and they have ended with the least mileage of any other team.
To me, Lotus has an awful lot of work to do in order to get their season back on track. We have seen over the last two months that the team aim to be ready by the start of the Spanish Grand Prix. But I do feel that they will get there with a little more time, but their chance to fight for the championship is disappearing very quickly. But Lotus have managed despite this to gain critical track data and mileage that will no doubt be useful to them as they try and prepare for China as much as they possibly can.
Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso will once again use the mileage that they have gained from the test this week in order to improve their cars before start of the season. Force India especially have made the most improvement out of the three teams and by managing to top the timesheets on Day One and Two of the test in the top 4 and this will only show that they are taking the right steps to try and build up the podium result achieved in the race on Sunday.
All three teams have managed to secure some much needed data and track mileage that will push them on with developing their cars ready for the Chinese Grand Prix. And Caterham and Marussia (despite most of the problems coming from Caterham) have also gained some much needed data that will allow them to try and improve their cars.
McLaren, Williams, Red Bull and Ferrari all have been consistently topping the first five positions in the timesheets at some stage of the week. All of their performances have at least indicated that they are on the right track to improve and extract some more pace and performance from their cars. All of the teams will have gained some invaluable track time that will no doubt push all three teams to bring more upgrades to their cars and get back to competitive ways for the season ahead.
But this week once again, the spotlight is firmly on the Mercedes team. Many expected the Mercedes to make some improvements over the two days of in-season testing at Bahrain this week. We have seen Mercedes showing still that they are the team to beat in terms of mileage and reliability from the in-season test. And yes, it will bring them a crucial advantage in terms of how to improve the W05 even further before the Chinese Grand Prix in just under two weeks time.
There is no question about it, even though Rosberg and Hamilton have stated to the media that they are happy with the team’s performance at this early stage of the season, there is still work for them to do to keep the pressure on their rivals behind. But the signs are looking ever stronger for them. But this has been a successful test for the team who have produced one of the most consistent and packages so far and will be looking to improve their track performance as much as possible.
The questions on everyone’s lips going into the nextGrand Prix of the season in just under two weeks time, will Mercedes once again show the rest of the field even more pace with their W05 and carry on their remarkable early performance from this week in Bahrain? We will find out sooner rather than later.
Jones on F1 