The End of the Beginning…

Packdown in Barcelona tonight as the Team head back to the UK after the conclusion of the second and final pre-season Formula One test.

Our

second

week

the

Circuit

Barcelona-Catalunya

was

another

successful

one,

with

Alex

and

Max

completing

cumulative

307

laps

the

famous

Montmeló

track.

As is usually the case with pre-season testing – however many test days and weeks are scheduled – there was a subtle change of emphasis in this second half of the programme, with work shifting out of the basic getting-to-know-you phase, and into more performance-based running.

Max Looks Down The Camera Wearing His Helmet

One of the more significant changes caused by the contraction of the testing programme into two three-day tests has been a greater take-up of split days. Last week, in test one, the Team ran Max on day one, Alex on day two, and split day three with Max in the morning and Alex in the afternoon. For the second test, all three days were split, continuing the pattern, with Alex in the mornings of day one and day three, Max on the early shift for day two.

With a stronger performance bias than the first test, where reliability was the primary factor under the microscope, the Team were carrying out more set-up changes this week, thus the car spent more time in the garage and completed fewer laps on shorter runs. This was very much in the programme – though stronger winds and a damp circuit on Thursday morning also added a natural limitation to the mileage.

It’s not only the drivers and the car that get a work-out during the testing sequence. It’s also an excellent opportunity for the garage crew to scrape off a bit of rust and recover some sharpness. There’s plenty of work on this done back at the factory – but it isn’t really a substitute for working on a hot car at a live circuit.

While the first test featured an appropriately-sized crew to run one car, for test two, the full race crew were on hand to practice pit stops. At the back-end of last season they set a World Record of 1.82s at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and the aim will be to maintain that level of performance once the season commences. As is always the case, the new season will feature new equipment and new processes, and people slotting into different roles. Getting thoroughly comfortable in the environment is vital to hitting the ground running.

Wednesday – day one of test two, saw Alex complete 29 laps in the morning and Max do 84 in the afternoon. Alex’s morning started late after a problem with the rear suspension. Very minor, and something that won’t trouble the Team again, but tricky to get to, requiring the gearbox to be taken off. Alex missed the first couple of hours of the day.

Summarising his morning, Alex said: “We had a small issue with the suspension and lost a bit of time, so this morning was a little frustrating – but we did so many laps last week we’re still on a good footing and haven’t really fallen behind our plan. Even though we didn’t get as many laps as expected, the car was feeling pretty good and already an improvement on how it was last week.”

Guillaume Rocquelin – aka Rocky – head of race engineering, added: “That’s a bit of a shame but things like this are the reason why we have testing. Once that was addressed, we ran without any problems and completed a good number of laps.”

Max took over in the afternoon and did 84 laps. He also tried the ‘experimental’ Pirelli tyre. It has been designed specifically to cope with the high-speed banking that the Zandvoort circuit has constructed for the return of the Dutch Grand Prix in May. A firm decision has yet to be taken on whether that race will run on the experimental tyre, or stick with the standard constructions (perhaps with higher pressures mandated) but the data from Barcelona will be invaluable in helping Pirelli make an informed decision.

For the most part these tests have avoided bad weather – but Thursday was pretty wild, with high winds and a track that started very slippery after overnight rain, with Max ending his morning after 31 laps, slithering off on a damp patch.

“It was a bit of a shame with the weather, so we couldn’t really run as much as we wanted, but overall it was positive. We spent time driving with the aero rakes, gathering all the data we could and everything went well."

Every day we are improving, learning more, and that’s exactly what you want from testing.

"It was never the target to run as many laps as last week. I think we have done our long runs and now it’s about checking parts and trying different things. It all takes time and the end result is fewer laps, but I think we tried everything we wanted to today.

"Regarding the spin I had this morning, I had a look back at the footage and I just clipped a little damp patch, which I didn’t see. I think I just tried to take a little too much road on the entry!”

Alex had the better conditions in the afternoon and completed 61 laps but the blustery wind – often a problem on the exposed hilltop above Montmeló – still made for difficulties.

“This afternoon was a little bit disrupted, mostly because of the wind, which was tricky, and it was hard to get a good read on balance, but otherwise it wasn’t too bad today,” he said.

“Everything’s going well, but of course we need to look at the data as it was not so easy to do direct comparisons today [but] we have done a lot of running and I think the positive thing is that we know the direction we’re happy with. We have got a good base heading into the start of the season.”

Alex On Track Side On

Rocky added: “Today we had pretty tricky conditions on track because it was wet, cold and slippery in the morning and windy in the afternoon.

"I think it would have been easy to make mistakes and set ourselves back, either by damaging the car or by trying things we don’t understand because of the wind. So, we were quite cautious today and I think this was reflected in the amount of laps we completed.

"We wanted to make sure whatever we did was sensible, both in terms of not doing anything stupid so close to Melbourne. We did short runs and changes that were suited to the conditions to make sure we got the most from the day.”

Did the Team complete it’s testing checklist in Spain? No. It never, ever does, because, just like in practice at a grand prix, the list of items you would like to test is far longer than the time available. There are always lower-priority items on the list that get looked at if there’s time, or if other jobs are shuffled aside.

In reality, the Team achieved what it wanted to do, and perhaps slightly more than expected. This allowed the final day of the test to be tasked primarily to preparation for Melbourne. More than anything, this is a sign that the testing cycle had gone well: it’s not always the case that a team can afford the luxury of doing race prep: it won’t if it’s still chasing reliability gremlins or figuring-out design elements right to the chequered flag.

Rocky, said: “Generally the plan for today was to give the drivers some practice time in the car ahead of Melbourne and that went well. We feel between the reliability and long runs we completed in the first week, and the performance tests in the second, we’re quite well prepared for the first race of the season in Australia.

"Obviously, this year we had six days of testing instead of eight to tick off all the jobs on our list and I think we approached this with a good structure and discipline which meant we were able to make the most of the time given to us.”

Alex evaluated his winter testing experiment as “solid and smooth,” He completed 59 laps in the morning before a trip through the gravel curtailed his running a little ahead of the lunchtime switchover.

“We’ve pushed the mileage and completed a lot of laps, testing and experimenting with a lot of development parts and everything is looking good. We have a lot of data to look through, but we now have more of an understanding of the car."

In the afternoon, Max added another 45 laps. With the chequered flag flying and the sun beginning to set, he said: “I definitely feel ready for Melbourne and the last two weeks have been a good preparation.

"We tried everything we wanted to over the six days which is very important from our side, so I’m happy with that. Overall, I can’t complain but that doesn’t mean we should stop the hard work and there are always things to improve. No car is ever perfect, especially at this stage in the season, so we will keep pushing to make improvements.”

The question everyone asks the drivers is the simple one: “are you competitive this year?” and the drivers, like their peers up and down the pitlane, always shrug.

Testing can tell a team a lot of things, but it can’t tell them how their competitors are likely to perform two weeks hence: your performance doesn’t tell you how much fuel a rival was running, what upgrades they’re going to make before Melbourne, or how much weight they’ll lose once the testing spec car is converted to something race-ready.

Capturing Week Two Of Testing

Alex On The Curb In Barcelona

Alex In The Middle Of The Barcelona Track

Max's Orange Driver Boots

Max In The Barcelona Garage

Team Perform A Pit Stop At Testing

Max Enters The Barcelona Pit Lane

Up Close With Alex On Track

It doesn’t say if what you saw was a rival pushing as hard as it could or keeping something in reserve. “I don’t really look too much at [rivals] as nobody knows exactly what they are doing, so it’s better to focus on ourselves,” concluded Max.

“Overall, I think the pace looks pretty good, it’s been a positive start and I hope it’s enough to be competitive in Melbourne. We’ve been happy with the car since day one and it felt strong from the first lap, but we won’t know where we are until we get to Melbourne. I can’t believe it’s already time to go racing, I’m excited and now I can’t wait to get out there.”

Thoughts will now turn to that first race. The team and airfreight will begin heading Down Under a week from now. Before then, there’s a vast amount of data to sift through; cars to strip and minutely examine; design tweaks to fabricate and test.

There isn’t a moment to spare: the cars will roll out of the garage for the 2020 Australian Grand Prix first practice session in Albert Park in just 13 days…