With less than two weeks remaining until the 2013 Formula One season gets underway, testing has been completed, and teams are fine tuning their cars in preparation for the opening race of the season at Melbourne. The question however is who looks to be in a good position after testing, and seems set to shine at Albert Park?
The twelve days of testing are over, and one of the most striking perceptions that has been gathered from the running in Jerez and Barcelona is that the competition seems as close as ever. Of course testing has its limitations, and is not always an accurate depiction of who will be at the top of the leaderboard when the real racing gets underway, however an understanding of where the teams stand can still be gleaned from testing.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg grabbed the headlines during the final two days of testing at Barcelona, a track renown for testing the overall performance of a car, by both setting scintillating times to top the standings on their respective days. After a dismal second half of 2012, which saw Mercedes struggling in the lower half of the field, the team seem to have made dramatic steps forward over the winter, and now have a car capable of challenging for race wins or podiums.
At the start of testing Hamilton, whose move from McLaren was one of the talking points of 2012, suggested that aiming for the points positions was the target for the team. However after their true pace became apparent at the end of the final test, the general consensus is that the Mercedes could realistically challenge for race wins, and potentially hand Hamilton a tilt at the 2013 title.
However again one has to consider the limitations of testing, where we don’t know relative fuel loads, and where laps are set on different tyres on a track which is constantly evolving. Another issue for Mercedes is dealing with the tyre degradation issues which have blighted them over the past two years. Although it is clear that the car is fast over one lap, we’ll only tell in Melbourne whether it can compete with the best over a race distance.
In all likelihood Red Bull will be there or thereabouts in Melbourne, as Sebastian Vettel goes in search of a fourth consecutive WDC. Red Bull may not have set the headline times in testing, but that’s not their approach in testing. On long runs the car looks well set-up and has showed that it can cope with changing conditions. As BBC’s technical analyst Gary Anderson remarked about the Red Bull, it “looks totally planted, as if it just has more downforce than everything else”. Ominous signs.
Ferrari also seem to be in much stronger shape than last year, where at this stage of the season the Ferrari seemed a horrible car with no prospects for the season ahead. This time the car looks well balanced, and has demonstrated good pace, raising hopes that the team can win their first title since Kimi Raikkonen claimed the title in dramatic fashion in 2007. Fernando Alonso will definitely be hoping to collect his third WDC, whilst Felipe Massa will be looking to continue his form from the end of last year.
Raikkonen meanwhile should be happy with this year’s Lotus, which looks like a car which again should be competing at the front end of the grid. Indeed it is too close to call, with many observers arguing that there’s little to choose between Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus.
McLaren meanwhile seem to be slightly behind in the development stage, with Jenson Button admitting that the team are struggling to understand the car. Although McLaren have demonstrated good pace over a single lap, their times in long runs have been worryingly slow in comparison to Red Bull and Lotus. Whether they’ll be able to improve the car in the next couple of weeks to solve these issues remains to be seen.
The rest of the field seem relatively close together. It’s hard to split Sauber, Force India, Williams and Torro Rosso, and indeed the gap between the whole field seems to have been narrowed. Caterham and Marussia still remain at the back, but hopefully over the course of the season they will develop and be able to close the gap to the midfield.
Although testing may not have conclusively told us who looks strong going into the start of the 2013 season, one thing it has demonstrated is that an enticing and enthralling season lies in store, as the world’s greatest drivers battle it out in cutting edge machinery to be crowned 2013 World Drivers Champion.