One should not read too much into the first day of winter testing but the fact that Sebastian Vettel’s RB7 was seven tenths quicker than the next 2011 car looks very ominous for the forthcoming season. Vettel was fastest on the first day of pre-season testing at Valencia with a time of 1:13.769. The nearest 2011 challenger was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who set the fifth fastest time of the day, 0.784s down on the 2010 Champion. In between last season’s two main protagonists were Force India’s new arrivals Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, second and fourth respectively in the 2010 car, and Mclaren’s Gary Paffett who was also driving last season’s model. Eleven of the 12 teams took part on day one of what is a four day test, with Team Lotus joining the field tomorrow.
Although one should not focus too much on the results from pre-season testing, they do have some bearing. For instance, it was abundantly clear following the conclusion of winter testing in 2009 that the Mercedes powered rocket ship, otherwise known as the Brawn, was significantly faster than the rest of the field. On the other hand, in 2008 many within the Formula One fraternity were surprised by BMW Sauber’s lack of pace during winter testing although it was clear by the end of qualifying at the first race in Melbourne that the team had clearly been sandbagging; Nick Heidfeld finished second after qualifying fifth while team-mate Robert Kubica lined up on the front row. Sticking with the Swiss-based team, let us not forget their car’s results from last year’s pre-season testing. Despite the obvious lack of sponsorship following BMW’s abrupt departure the performance of their car suggested they would be able to mix it up with the front runners, as they did throughout 2007 and 2008. It appeared that the driver line up of Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa could challenge for some serious points over the campaign. However, it was unmistakeable that their pace was clearly a false dawn and, more to the point, a bid to generate finances and sponsors for the team.
How were they able to do this? Well, they may have ran less fuel than their rivals or completed just single lap runs rather than the longer stints opposing teams found more advantageous and informative to their cars development. So I must stress, one must not express too much glee at the sight of Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Virgin ending the day sixth fastest or the fact Michael Schumacher’s twelve laps in his Mercedes W02 were only good enough for ninth place. For the initial days of testing, the main objective for the teams is to acquire more knowledge about their cars so sufficient upgrades can be ready to improve their car's performance.
However, having a quick car at the start of testing is fundamental. If those within the team, particularly drivers, have doubts over their cars’ performance then they are already playing catch up to the rest of the field. Hence why Red Bull should be hugely satisfied with Vettel’s performance and they will hope Webber can continue in a similar vein tomorrow. The new Red Bull car has already laid down a marker to the rest of the grid; does that sound familiar to you?
1. Vettel Red Bull (1:13.769)*
2. Hulkenberg Force India (1:13.938)
3. Paffett Mclaren (1:14.292)
4. di Resta Force India (1:14.461)
5. Alonso Ferrari (1:14.553)*
6. Kobayashi Sauber (1:15.621)*
7. D'Ambrosio Virgin (1:16.003)
8. Petrov Renault (1:16.351)*
9. Schumacher Mercedes (1:16.450)*
10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso (1:17.214)*
11. Barrichello Williams (1:17.335)*
12. Karthikeyan Hispania (1:18.020)
13. Rosberg Mercedes (1:19.930)*
2011 car = *
Josh.
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