A team-by-team look at the preseason form
The Australian Grand Prix is less than a week away and there is nothing else Grand Prix teams can do now in preparation for 2009 until Friday practice gets underway. The cars are currently in freight containers so the hard work of winter testing has been well and truly completed.
The new regulations and the in-season testing ban put more emphasis on preseason running than ever before. The teams started unveiling their new cars in the wet conditions at Algarve in Portugal before moving onto Spain. The focus then switched between Jerez and Barcelona where the teams conducted four major tests in total.
Ferrari and BMW arranged some private running at Mugello and Valencia respectively, and also joined Toyota in Bahrain where they hoped to escape the poor European weather. Ironically, their trip to the Middle East was marred by sandstorms that rendered several days useless.
The testing times produced no clear leader heading into Albert Park and the only certainty is that 2009 will be very close. Although Brawn GP is the team on everyone’s lips, it is worth noting that Williams set the fastest time of anyone at Jerez at the end of last week.
You wouldn’t expect Williams to be championship contenders, but if they can go quickest who will it be instead?
Here is a brief snapshot of what each team has managed with their new cars so far this year.
FERRARI
Usually when a team develop their car right up until the end of the F1 season their next design attracts less attention and struggles the following year. We have seen this recently with both McLaren and Renault, but Ferrari always arrive at Albert Park with a car that was every bit as good as the previous race winner from Interlagos.
It looks like the prancing horse have done the same again in 2009.
Ferrari was one of the first teams to launch their new car and skipped the opening Portugal test in favour of private track time at Mugello. This allowed them to solve a few minor technical glitches away from prying eyes, although they clearly didn’t solve all of them because reliability became a talking point later in the preseason.
Ferrari also skipped the first Jerez meeting and went straight to Bahrain where they had the edge on BMW and Toyota. They were quickest on four of the seven days in the desert and set the fastest time of the week. They were also reasonably quick at the start of the final Barcelona test and had fairly consistent pace, so if they can avoid mechanical concerns Ferrari will be one of the championship contenders.
MCLAREN
The big story of winter testing has been the disastrous pace from McLaren. Martin Whitmarsh has told supporters “We go into the start of the 2009 season fully aware that we do not yet have the technical package that will allow our drivers to fight at the front.†That is a very McLaren way of saying the MP4-24 is a lemon. Suspicions were first raised when the team began testing their car with a 2008 rear wing attached, although everyone assumed at the time that McLaren had a perfectly good reason for doing so.
They did. Their 2009 rear wing was rubbish.
When McLaren stuck with the old bodywork at the second major test in Jerez it became clear there was a problem. The full 2009-spec car was almost two seconds off the pace when it finally did hit the track, and slipped even further behind when the team moved to Barcelona. The rear end is reportedly unstable at high speed, and the car also has poor mechanical grip in the slow corners. Lewis Hamilton has thrown himself into the barriers a few times which suggests the MP4-24 is an unwieldy beast.
On the final day of pre-season testing at Jerez the team introduced a whole heap of new parts onto the car and their pace improved dramatically, even though they were still half a second of the ultimate pace in very favourable conditions.
McLaren are in trouble heading into Melbourne, but just how much trouble remains to be seen.
BMW
BMW have improved every year since they bought Sauber and doing so again in 2009 will involve winning the world championship. That is Mario Theissen’s goal and he has every chance of realising that with a car that appears to be quick and consistent.
BMW was the first team to have a Formula One car running to the 2009 rules, and also had KERS working before anyone else. They are probably the most prepared team heading into the new season.
Their new design ran for the first time behind closed doors at Valencia, and BMW was lucky to score four days of dry running whilst the other teams splashed around in Portugal. They covered plenty of miles which proved the car was very reliable.
That reliability disappeared a little when BMW went to Bahrain with Ferrari and Toyota, and although they set some quick times there wasn’t much to pick between the three teams. They were the first to break into the 1m32s bracket though which was a significant milestone during that week.
When BMW made it to Jerez for the third major test they set the fastest time on the final day and were also quick in Barcelona so they are looking very good for the year ahead.
RENAULT
Nelson Piquet debuted the R29 in Portugal with some laptimes that were as ugly as the car itself. Both he and Alonso were around two seconds off the pace, although they recovered half of that deficit in Jerez. At the end of that second major test the Renault had improved further and was one of the quickest 2009 cars on track.
Fernando was consistent if unexciting in Barcelona, but set a really quick time upon returning to Jerez where he blitzed the (then) fastest time of winter. Renault has improved dramatically throughout the offseason and now have car that can break free of the midfield. In Alonso’s hands it could be in contention for podium results. In Piquet’s hands it is more likely to be in the gravel.
TOYOTA
2009 might finally be the year that Toyota build a car capable of racing for Grand Prix victories. Their challenger was not super quick in Portugal but really showed some speed in Bahrain. Timo Glock set the fastest lap ahead of Ferrari and BMW on a number of days and was never far from the front.
Toyota were also the most reliable team in the desert and have had very few problems since an oil line caught fire at Algarve. It’s hard to separate them from Ferrari and BMW, although they were just behind on raw speed.
Only by a tenth or two though, which isn’t much at all.
TORO ROSSO
The giant killers of 2008 look set to crash back to earth this year. Toro Rosso only had four full days of testing with their new car and lost one of them due to front suspension problems (which must be a concern for Red Bull as well). They were a fair way off Red Bull’s pace, and were also behind the Force India drivers for much of the Barcelona test which suggests they aren’t going to be that competitive.
Adrian Newey’s design is certainly a good one though so once Toro Rosso get the most from it they should be deep in the midfield. However, a lack of testing and a Vettel shaped hole appear to be hurting them badly.
RED BULL
If Red Bull are ever going to become race winners, this year represents their best chance. The Renault engine has been improved and the new aerodynamic regulations fall right into the lap of Adrian Newey. They certainly appear to have an extremely quick machine at their disposal in 2009 but there are significant doubts about its reliability and consistency.
The car debuted at Jerez and it instantly went quickest with both Vettel and Webber topping the timesheets. The only problems came from multiple breakdowns.
When they returned to the Spanish circuit later in the month Vettel set a stunning laptime that was 1.5 seconds clear of the pack. He was untouchable. Nobody else got within a second of his time that week, and it wasn’t beaten until the very end of the preseason in favourable conditions. Even though Vettel was on light fuel it was still a great time which proves the speed is there.
However, that raw pace was missing throughout the final Barcelona test where the team also suffered more mechanical dramas. It might very well be those flashes of speed were just that.
WILLIAMS
Williams have been the quiet achievers of winter testing and could be a surprise package for the new season. They have only topped the timesheets once but have been very close on a number of other occasions. They were equal with McLaren in Portugal when Hamilton was running 2008 aero, and they were also the team that got closest to Brawn GP on their super quick days.
Kazuki Nakajima also ended up setting the fastest preseason time of them all at Jerez on the very final day which is a nice claim to fame heading into 2009.
FORCE INDIA
The VJM-02 made its debut at the second Jerez test with Giancarlo Fisichella and lapped about a second off the midfield pace. The team stayed ahead of Renault and McLaren, but Renault improved whilst Force India did not.
Their lack of speed will be disappointing because the new regulations gave the team a great opportunity to charge up the grid. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise though as they had to bolt a Mercedes engine into the back of their chassis at relatively short notice, and did so whilst they sacked their technical director.
Force India rarely appeared at the very bottom of the timesheets but never made it near the top. They don’t have a quick car, and their drivers aren’t particularly inspiring, so it looks like they will remain Formula One’s perennial tail gunners.
At least they’ll have major bragging rights if they can beat McLaren in Melbourne.
BRAWN GP
The Brawn GP car impressed during its first test with two days competitive laptimes from both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. However, it was the third day of running at Barcelona that rocked the F1 world.
Jenson Button lapped a full second quicker than anyone else. It was a remarkable effort from the team that’s lucky to be there at all.
The shockwaves resonated when Rubens lowered Jenson’s mark even further.
The team was similarly impressive during their final run at Jerez where Rubens beat Vettel’s super time from earlier in the winter. Jenson Button then set a time that was a thumping two seconds quicker than what other teams had managed in the earlier Jerez tests. Only Williams beat it with a qualifying lap in more favourable conditions.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Brawn driver’s pace is their speed across long runs. The car is probably more competitive in race trim than it is in qualifying spec, which will worry the other teams greatly.
They could be the teams to beat in 2009.
Nothing is certain though, and nothing will be until the cars and drivers arrive at Albert Park.
Speculation will count for nothing on the weekend, and in theory almost anyone could win the race. Even McLaren.
The real test will come halfway through the race on Sunday, and that isn’t far away now.