Well I suppose this all means that the 2014 season is underway... sort of as we have now seen the first official test of the year completed with mixed results over in Spain. It was the first time we got to see the cars outside the image manipulated world of photoshop and into the brutal light of day - and with that several cars looked very different than their pre-test release photos. Toro Rosso for example released a couple of cleverly angled images of their car, concealing what they've done with the nose making it look like one of the better designs. But... in the real world their nose section definitely falls into the category of things which are reserved for late night television - so much so it was featured in a tweet by Ann Summers... Thanks to Lotus for spotting that one as it one part of the internet even I dare not tread. And remember that highly filtered shot of the side of the Force India - well the reality is nowhere near as fancy, the new aggressive paint scheme just looks like someone has forgotten to finish colouring it in. As for their nose - they've gone for a longer, more erect black appendage... F1 is definitely not child friendly any more. As of the last post several teams hadn't released their challenger - probably because it wasn't after the watershed hour at the time but now all 10 of the cars that attended the test (with Lotus MIA) have unveiled their designs to the world... with more interesting results.
Mercedes
After seeing some very odd interpretations of the regulations thus far and the resulting observations that the world has made - observations that found their way onto Top Gear last night - the Mercedes seemed miraculous. It looks considerably better than anything else we've seen, going for the same flat nose as the Ferrari but doing it right. When something like this was possible it makes you wonder why no-one else had opted for it, instead of going for the very phallic growth (and whatever Lotus finally come up with). But despite the sleeker more natural design, Hamilton still managed to crash the thing into a wall on the first day of testing making him one of only two drivers to hit anything across the four days. Yet the questions were raised against both Ferrari and Mercedes for their nose design on grounds of safety... thought that was the whole point of the regulations... but that debate will go on for a while I imagine. Can't we just congratulate the team for making a car in the current set of rules that looks nice...
Red Bull
Given the reputation that Adrian Newey has for designing cars to sit just inside the regulations with the narrowest of margins it was always going to be interesting to see what his 2014 car would look like. The results were not disappointing, even through Red Bull haven't gone the same way as Ferrari and Mercedes (and no-one has gone where Lotus have gone) they've made the protruded nose look acceptable. It files down to a very narrow and purposeful point at the end of the nose and the decrease in cross-sectional area is far more progressive than many others. Nothing unduly sticks out where it shouldn't and looks very tightly packaged. But testing has been difficult for Red Bull - it seems Newey may have pushed things a little close once more and the back of the car is wrapped up so tightly there are cooling issues and a series of mechanical failures. Yet somehow I can foresee the multiple-champions arriving in Melbourne after the Bahrain test with a very strong car.
Caterham
Just when we thought we'd seen it all, Caterham came out with this... and it is very different and has created a myriad of different polarising reactions across the internet. It looks like the sort of thing you'd build when you've run out the type of lego bricks you needed to finish off and had to compromise with what was in the bottom of the box. Also the sidepods look very big and bulky, perhaps this has something to do with the cooling problem Renault are having with the power units making it one of the least cohesive designs on the grid. But Caterham have done something different with the nose - apart from the way it looks - they've attached the front wing to the underside of the... appendage. As a result it gives the prong a purpose so it isn't just waggling... exposed at the front. It is a novel design, whether it is a fast one remains to be seen because after all they'll probably still only be fighting Marussia for last place. However Caterham had an ace up their sleeve for 2014 - bringing fan favourite Kamui Kobayshi back to the sport to partner a rookie and GP2 graduate Marcus Eriksson in a refreshing line up. Although I probably would have kept Van Der Garde.
Marussia
The final contenders rolled their car out later than the others and didn't take part in the first day of testing in Jerez, and seeing what Caterham - their immediate contender - had done there was some anticipation about the final car to be revealed. Even through Marussia have stepped away from their completely CFD designed car they entered in 2010, the team have always managed to engineer very elegant cars even if they are anchored at the back (retaining Chilton isn't going to help that and racing against Kamui). The 2014 car is no different - and even without sponsors the livery doesn't look dull or empty unlike Williams or Sauber thus far. Like Force India they've gone for a less subtle appendage on the front but painted it black to make it less visible - but the car is has much smoother lines than the Caterham and despite turning up late, still did more laps than Red Bull managed....
Can we learn anything from initial testing
This early phase of testing was all about making sure that the cars worked, rather than seeing what their ultimate pace was, therefore we can't say who has the fastest car - or we'd be claiming Williams have made an almighty recovery to be title contenders. While might be possible, we haven't seen anywhere near the full force of the cars, teams running turned down engines to max out the mileage and to see what falls off. For Mercedes it was a front wing that fell off and planted Hamilton in the wall for the second consecutive winter test. McLaren had a poor first day with mechanical issues but once it was fixed the car did seem to be an improvement on last years, as much as we can tell. Such is the nature of F1, as soon as they seem to be doing well the other teams start questioning the legality of their car - regarding a section of bodywork covering the central rear exhaust. Aside from the front wing failure and McLaren's issues, Mercedes powered cars seemed to be the most reliable and completed much more laps than the other engine manufacturers.
Ferrari looked competitive too, with Alonso one of the few drivers to be pushing enough to get the car a little sideways on occasion. Teams with customer power units from Ferrari - Sauber and Marussia were also have a sufficiently reliable time, although Sutil did manage to knock the nose of his Sauber making it look much nicer for it. I think only Alonso was forced to stop out on track due as a result of the car breaking down of the Ferrari powered drivers.
But then we come to Renault who had a diabolical time in Jerez, Red Bull completed 21 laps over all four days most of which ended in Horner and Newey going home early to think about what they haven't done. Considering that Mercedes completed 309 laps it really didn't go well, Toro Rosso having switched to Renault power themselves only managed 46 laps. Of all the Renault powered teams Caterham did the most running mostly with Kobayashi at the wheel. Right now Red Bull are not happy with Renault and have announced to the world that the French manufacturer 'will have things sorted out before the Bahrain test' and that Caterham only managed to do so much running because their engines were turned down...
Whatever the actual form is - Magnussen and Massa set the top two testing times - one thing is for sure Australia is going to be a feast of unpredictability and unreliability with cars which are reportedly more 'interesting' to drive. The difficulties for Renault might mean that Lotus haven't lost out quite so much by not visiting the first test... possibly being all to aware of the issues Renault were facing and were doing their own work at home. 2014 should be a season with more competition and a closer field with Williams and McLaren getting closer. Bring it on.0
