Formula 1 Insight

Honda and Toro Rosso at the Test in Barcelona
09/03/2009

The test at the Circuit de Catalunya has begun and the big news is that Button's Honda GBP 001 heads the time sheets. As several commentators have pointed out, this may have more to do with light fuel runs designed to impress potential sponsors but it does at least mean that the car runs, is reasonably competitive and should not be entirely embarrassing in Melbourne.

Toro Rosso STR4
Sebastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso STR4

With Ross Brawn in charge, this may have been predictable but a winter of uncertainty such as the team has just experienced, plus the rumored discontent within the ranks, could easily have resulted in a lack of readiness for the coming season. I take it as a good omem, therefore, and look forward to the team doing rather better than they did last year.

The Toro Rosso STR4 has also made its debut and, in the hands of Sebastien Bourdais, it has been on a par with Webber's Red Bull RB5 so far. That, again, is not bad for a first outing, even if the two cars share a chassis design. As STR are at pains to point out, the different engine and KERS systems they use have meant considerable adjustment and re-design within the body so that the STR4 is not a clone of the Red Bull car by any means. It just looks the same - apart from a less cluttered paint job than its sister car...

The test is continuing as I write and I see Raikkonen has now beaten Button's time. It seems Ferrari will be as competitive as ever this year but doubts are growing regarding McLaren. We can mutter about sandbagging but to be so consistently slow in the off season tests is not a good sign. At some stage any team has to show its hand if it is to have a decent idea of the real speed of the car and it is getting very late - less than three weeks to go before the Australian GP.

It is all relative, of course, and the over-riding impression of the tests to date has been that the cars are very evenly matched. All the cars are looking good and there could be some upsets to the established pecking order when they get to the actual races. I am convinced enough about McLaren's problems to believe that they will struggle to begin with; Ferrari should be at the front but I expect BMW to be there too (it is normal for them to sandbag). After that, I really have no idea - the midfield could be packed to the extent of there being no one to bring up the rear!

Testing continues but it is getting late and I should post. I will add the times for today once the session is over.

Update - Test times at the end of the day:

Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber 00:01'20.338
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 00:01'20.908
Jarno Trulli, Toyota 00:01'20.937
Jenson Button, Brawn GP 00:01'21.140
Nelson Piquet Jr, Renault 00:01'21.665
Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso 00:01'22.158
Adrian Sutil, Force India 00:01'22.452
Mark Webber, Red Bull 00:01'22.679
Kazuki Nakajima, Williams 00:01'22.813
Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren 00:01'23.600

It seems BMW have grown tired of sandbagging!

Clive

Steven Roy
I read something earlier written by someone who was watching todays test at the track and he said Kovalainen was consistently lifting off on the straight. Not the most subtle wa of sandbagging. Whether he was setting he fastest times when doing this or testing some particular aspect of the car I don't know.
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Keith Collantine
Now we've got Autosport telling us McLaren have got a trick floor. If we get to Melbourne and they're not ridiculously quick or comically bad it'll be a disappointment!
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Clive
Steven: Who knows? I would have thought that it was living dangerously to sandbag throughout the off season - it runs the risk of discovering that there's not much there when you finally turn the wick up!
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Clive
Keith: Could a notch cut out of the floor really make that much difference? Looks a little like desperation to me... ;)
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Timbo
I read on James Allen's (rather good) blog, that McLaren have been having trouble with the rear wing stalling, hence the use of the '08 spec rear wing while they get the problem sorted. Might also explain their use of the flow-vis as they try and nail down where the problem lies.
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Timbo
I read on James Allen's (rather good) blog, that McLaren have been having trouble with the rear wing stalling, hence the use of the '08 spec rear wing while they get the problem sorted. Might also explain their use of the flow-vis as they try and nail down where the problem lies.
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Timbo
Apologies for the double post! Damn intertube gremlins!
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Clive
No problem, Timbo - happens to all of us!

The use of the old wing says to me that McLaren are not happy with something about the new one. They may get the car right before Melbourne but right now I think it's being awkward.

Agreed about James Allen's blog, by the way.
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Toby
"...the big news is that Button's Honda GBP 001..."
Could it be that this is how much Brawn paid for the team?

If anyone was going to play tricks in pre-season testing, this should be the bumper year!

I wouldn't write McLaren off at all, even though I'd love to. Is it possible that McLaren are in a way copying the Williams and Toyota diffuser theory in a different way, by changing the way the floor interacts with the diffuser (and rear wing), rather than the diffuser itself? Seems like it's a development attempt, rather than a pre-planned design.

BMW seem to be doing all the right things, in line with their usual methodical approach. The difference is, this year they're faster! Quiet confidence is definitely a stance you should adopt in my opinion, Clive.
Date Added: 09/03/2009

sean
guess the only way well no what they are up to is after quali 1 in melbourne.Cant think of any team sandbagging in recent years.The biggest problem is if they have got a tractor they cant improve being that there is no testing now,so for most of the teams and fans this could be a very long season
Date Added: 09/03/2009

Pink Peril
McLaren are about 'due' for a bad year though - if past performance is anything to go by.

I hope that this isn't one of their off years as it's shaping up to be a season to remember otherwise.

Date Added: 09/03/2009

Clive
Toby: Oh, I would never write off McLaren. Even in years when they get the design wrong, they recover quickly enough to be a factor in the championships. It seems reasonable that the cut-out in the floor is a planned development - it just doesn't make sense that they should introduce it while still using the 08 rear wing. They need to know how it makes the 09 wing function, not the 08.

I agree about the Beemer - it's looking good.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

Clive
Sean: Good point - any design fault is going to be much harder to find and fix without testing. I think McLaren should have enough data by now to know what is wrong, however. As you say, we'll see in Melbourne.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

Clive
Peril: They're overdue, according to some people - so, if these things go in cycles, we should not be surprised if McLaren have produced a dog this time. But I still think they'll be influential in the championship and we'll have a very competitive season.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

Lee
Maclarens new floor appears to be an attempt to increase the downforce with the least drag possible, They can then run the rear wing with reduced downforce (and much reduced drag). If it works then they could have quite a large advantage on the straights. I think it is also worth noting that Maclaren have a very complex simulator wich they test all known variables. Maybe they are using the testing to turn more of the unknowns into knowns and therfore make their simulator even more useful (especially considering the reduced testing available. I have a feeling that they will be lightening quick come race day, but I could also be very wrong.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

Clive
Lee: Actually, it is my point that McLaren have advanced simulation facilities. These, plus CFD computers and wind tunnels are very useful, almost a necessity today, but they can still produce results that don't work in the real world. The boffins can only feed into the computers what they know - and they don't know everything. Reality is so complex that there are always factors that haven't been noticed, let alone taken into account.

So it is entirely possible that McLaren has produced a car that does not perform as it is supposed to. It has happened before to them as well as to other teams. The difference is that McLaren, thanks to its experience and facilities, is better able to find the problem and fix it than most. The floor cut-out looks to me like an attempt to solve the problem with the rear wing. Testing it with the 08 rear wing was necessary if they were to confirm that it works as expected - we will see the 09 wing on the car in the later days of the Barcelona test, I think.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

sean
very interesting point regarding the simulators at mclaren,but we havent seen these cars in a grid or race yet.We have no idea how these cars will react down force wise in a pac situation . rememeber limited down force and a huge front wing going into the first corner at melbourne every year there is huge carnage so all we may be talking on monday is the huge crashes,no one wanting to overtake through fear of damageand only 5 finishing cars.
Date Added: 10/03/2009

Clive
Good point, Sean - we won't really know how the cars compare until qualifying in Melbourne. And we will also see whether those huge front wings get knocked off more frequently!
Date Added: 11/03/2009

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