The first pre-season test took place last week in Barcelona, an important step for the teams as they start to understand these new cars. But it was really frustrating for us, the reporters, and you, the fans, as we were working with limited information; this ‘behind closed doors’ test had no access for the independent media, or we were given limited pictures and timing sheets, some of which were not correct.
I want to start by addressing the fact that we are unclear of how accurate the timing is, as there was no official time sheet; we were working off leaks and towards the latter part of the week, we began to figure out the most reliable. But these need caution, as we don’t have the information and what the teams were doing on track.
The headline for me was reliability, which may seem surprising given what we have gotten used to in recent years, but thinking back to Jerez in 2014, the V6 hybrids were introduced that test saw a lot of stoppages as they got used to the new power units. We saw last week that for the majority of the existing manufacturers, managed what we have come to expect in terms of mileage.
This reminds us how far the sport has evolved over the last 75 years, and on the reliability side, since regulations limiting how many power units can be used in a season, I think this may be because they have been simplified by the regulation changes. Teams don’t need to lock in the power unit until FP1 in Melbourne, and there could be a lot to discover between now and qualifying
Mercedes and Ferrari particularly stood out with their reliable and productive start, while Red Bull’s manufacturer era got off to a cautiously impressive start, and Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin design caught the eye of many observers upon its delayed arrival.
We know we don’t know what engine modes they were running in, but Mercedes, we understand have the strongest power unit, but until we get to Sakhir next week, we will be able to see the characteristics of these cars out on track. But the rumours are that Mercedes is in a good place with the power unit, that doesn’t mean that the works team are necessarily favourites as they have McLaren, the winners of the last two con
But many do believe that the works team are the favourite, in 2009 (As Brawn) and 2014, the last two times we changed power units, they dominated the season. They will be hoping to do the same this year, but Barcelona was a shakedown is motorsport terminology for giving a car a first run-out to make sure everything works.
On top of that, everything the teams were using was new – cars, engines, tyres and fuel – after the biggest regulation change in the sport’s history. Though naturally we are drawn to lap times, even unofficial times, these are, as always, just a guide for us to be working with, as well as cold conditions compared to what we will get in Bahrain and for the Grand Prix in June.
One big thing all the teams learned was that on-track running meant rapid learning and progress, because of the complexity of the new cars, and the time it takes to build up the knowledge to get the best out of all the systems. This may well be why the factory teams of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull did so well, as they have the most experience of what their new engines need and how they should be run.
Are Mercedes already favourites
Even before the start of last season, with power units taking longer to develop, there were already rumours that Mercedes was ahead in developing the PU and had an advantage. As so when the light went green on the opening day, they were first out, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli would combine for 500 laps over their three days of running – the highest mileage recorded by any team.
They also appeared to have a decent amount of speed, topping the timesheet on their second and third track days, with Russell’s time of 16.445 still ending up as the second fastest of the week despite the team not running on Friday when the track would have been at its best. It wouldn’t be a surprise as we have heard rumours we had for a year.
Speaking on Monday at the team’s launch, Russell said, “Obviously, we’ve only driven the car for three days and it’s still very early days, but it doesn’t look like it’s a turd, which is a bonus. To be honest, in the early days like this, you know when it could be a really bad car, and you can highlight those negatives early on; we don’t believe it is. But is it a car that can produce a world championship? It’s still way too early to see.”
Mercedes, I think are confident that they have a good car, but we know until testing is complete and the first race in Melbourne will give the answers we are looking for. But if it’s a good power unit, for their customers. We also know that Russell has said he feels ‘ready’ to win a championship; this could be his opportunity.
The team will play it down, but there will continue to be a possibility all season that they will take the championship, but we know it can be hard to dismiss them given their history, coupled with rumours about their potential advantage, aren’t likely to play to them given its spin season and we don’t really know what their true performance is.
Ferrari
Ferrari was also another team who stood out, and Lewis Hamilton topped one of the days, but I think we need to wait, as we are so used to hype and them not delivering when it matters. The team and you have to say both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc need a decent season after a few difficult seasons, especially last year, after challenging McLaren for the title in 2024, then failing to win a Grand Prix.
We know how long it has been since they won a championship, hopefully they are back in the mix. During the test, they set the fastest overall time, a 16.348, a tenth faster than Russell, which, however, came when the track was at its best in the final hour on Friday. Ferrari engines almost ran for a total of 1,000 laps, which isn’t a world away from Mercedes’ tally of 1,137.
Be careful, how many times have we sat after one test to have that hope that Ferrari will be fighting for championships, and they failed to deliver, or it just falls apart mid-season? But if they do deliver the car and despite the difficulties under the previous
Hamilton has the advantage; this is the fifth reg change of his career and third PU change, he struggled in the first half of 2009 but dragged McLaren back to winning ways mid-season. 2014 saw him go on to six championships in seven years. We mustn’t get carried away, listening to his comments, Hamilton sounds eager and passionate again, rather than the downbeat and questioning one we had last year.
In his post-session interviews, considering he has never made much secret of his dislike of testing, even said he had found the week “really enjoyable”. Hamilton also said they were doing “better” than in the test last year, saying he was already finding this new generation of car “more enjoyable” to drive than their ground-effect predecessors.
Ahead of a big year for the team and their two drivers, it appears so far, so good.
Red Bull and Ford
I think this year was looking to be tough for Red Bull and Racing Bulls, at least to begin with, though they did impress with them being the best of the new power unit suppliers. It’s a good start, but this year, though, they will want
The biggest problem Red Bull seemed to have at the test was driver-inflicted. The team made the somewhat odd decision to run in the rain on Tuesday, something only Ferrari did as well. Isack Hadjar crashed in the afternoon in the quick final corner, having just switched from full wet tyres to intermediates. The Frenchman did enough damage that the team needed to ship in new parts, and Red Bull could not run again until Friday even if they had wanted to.
I’m intrigued to see how this year plays out because there was almost a ‘civil war’ between Red Bull and Renault during the first half of the previous cycle, while McLaren had a fractious relationship with Honda. I don’t think, given there added challenge of becoming an engine coo-partner, realistically they will need time.
I don’t think that if this is the case, as they are responsible for some of the PU development, we were all expecting teething problems which never materialised, but their biggest issue was self-inflicted when Isack Hadjar crashed on the opening day, effectively losing the flexibility and one of their testing days.
Red Bull leaves Barcelona with a solid haul of data. Its Racing Bulls sister team chipped in with a similar amount of mileage to give RBPT a lot of data to pore over. I think this for both teams, but we won’t know how this will play out. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a new power unit partner entering and immediately fighting for championships.
But we saw during last season how Red Bull brought themselves back into the championship after a year of decline, but that to me was Verstappen’s experience and talent, which can help them this season. It will take time, and as long as we are seeing progress and they hit certain targets, we believe that is linked to championship position at a certain point, but given the changes that might have changed, given them becoming a power unit partner.
Looking ahead to Bahrain
The next two weeks in Bahrain, next two weeks are about two things: correcting any problems or issues the teams may have found and chasing performance. Teams will want to build on reliability and turn that into what they hope will be championship contenders, but it’s important for them to build their baseline.
They don’t want to waste time, as when we get to Friday in Melbourne that is when the teams become more restricted in terms of parts allocation with power units and gearboxes etc. No team will want to lose parts which are limited early on as that will lead to penalties, but I think they need to expect that this season.
For us, it will be our first opportunity to see these cars in action to see things like handling and consistency in terms of performance… but everything I’ve written can be wrong when we get more information and a better picture of where the teams are… if I get a chance, I’ll write a revised version after Bahrain
