Analysing the second Formula One pre-season test

The warm and sunny desert of Bahrain played host to the second pre-season test for Formula One in 2014. Here we saw the long-awaited track debut of the Lotus E22, which missed the first test in Jerez.

What we witnessed in Jerez carried its way over to Bahrain, where Mercedes-Benz power yet again found cars going faster and further than their Renault and Ferrari powered rivals.

In Jerez, teams such as Mercedes AMG, McLaren and Ferrari managed to get through most of their teething problems and in the second test they were able to start working more on set up, aero and also undertake race simulations.

Nico Rosberg, who was the fastest man over the four days overall, commented that managing the 100 kilograms of fuel (which is mandatory for each race this year) during his race simulation was ‘tough’. Drivers will have to learn to (if they can’t already) manage fuel more cautiously.

For the Renault teams, things were not as smooth just yet. Despite having clocked up more laps than the three Ferrari teams, the reliability factor for the likes of Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Lotus and Caterham is still larger than the rest.

Lotus came to Bahrain having missed the first crucial four days in Jerez, and struggled (as expected) on the first three days. Their only consolation came on day four with a positive run from their new Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado.

While their key rivals begin to divert their focus towards performance, Red Bull still have not been able to crack the conundrum which is the RB10. On day two, Sebastian Vettel was able to clock 59 laps around the Sakhir circuit, more than doubling what the team did in Jerez.

Daniel Ricciardo could only complete 15 laps on the final day for Red Bull and told the media afterwards that “I guess we still need more time. We have four more days coming up and hopefully we can maximise those. I have to say that on the run we did today the car did feel better.”

The Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso were also hampered with reliability and mechanical related issues but like Red Bull they got one day where they were able to get at least 50 laps worth of running.

As did Caterham with Kamui Kobayashi who on day two was the fastest Renault car and had done the most laps of any Renault cars.

Marussia, despite not having a Renault engine, had probably the worst time on track (or lack thereof) having only completed a total of 29 laps between their drivers Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi.

Their problems largely were that of general reliability and not being able to put together a consistent string of laps without failure.

For teams like Sauber and Force India, they were looking impressive but they also had their share of technical woes that put them in the garage. But nevertheless there was an encouraging performance from Nico Hulkenberg who was fifth fastest overall in the aggregate times.

Esteban Gutierrez in the Sauber was also in the top ten in the aggregate times, having a positive four days in Bahrain. The same couldn’t be said about Adrian Sutil who was supposed to be in the car when Sauber had the bulk of their problems.

So the beneficiaries yet again were Mercedes AMG, McLaren, Williams and Ferrari. Even though it is safe to say that the cars are not yet running on 100% power, a trend is starting to emerge which has many, including Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner, predicting that one of the Mercedes AMG duo will take the top step of the podium in Melbourne.

It was also encouraging to see that Pirelli have built more durable tyres for this 2014 season. Part of the reason why Bahrain was chosen as a pre-season testing location, was because it is a circuit which is demanding on the tyres due to the heat.

Pirelli Motorsport boss Paul Hembery was pleased with the results he saw from Jerez and Bahrain and commented that “although the teams are still at a comparatively early point on the development curve with their new cars, testing data so far indicates that the 2014 tyres are more consistent and durable than their predecessors.”

“As a result, we are also seeing fewer ‘marbles’ on the circuit: one of our objectives at the start of this season.”

Will then this trend of Mercedes-Benz continue through to the season opener in Melbourne? Or will Renault jump to their current level in time for the final test also in Bahrain later this week?

Also here is a question for Roarers, based off the performance you’ve seen in the two completed tests, who or which team would you tip to be winning the first four flyaway races?

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