Across the last few years Formula 1 test sessions have been busy affairs, with teams combining to rack up over a thousand laps per day, allowing them to tick off plenty of items from their schedule. But seven years ago the new era got off to a very different start, as MotorsportWeek.com reflects.
This week in 2014 Formula 1 hurtled into a brave new era with the introduction of the much-vaunted 1.6 litre V6 power units. It didn’t get off to an auspicious start.
At the end of January in 2014 the Formula 1 fraternity gathered at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain for the first pre-season test.
Already there had been fears over the cost, speed and (lack of) sound of the new power units, as everyone grappled with new technology and terminology following a generation with the screaming V8 engines. The regulations had been in the pipeline for several years but the first test at Jerez represented a new leap for Formula 1, with manufacturers eager to learn about the engine, transmission, the ERS, the MGU-H, the MGU-K, cooling systems, control electronics, the eight-speed gearboxes to name but a few. The emphasis was about understanding, getting a baseline, and – hopefully – reliability, with performance for the most part not even under consideration. It was the first litmus test for anxious manufacturers Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, who had spent several months, even years, working on the development of power units behind the scenes.
The revised aerodynamics regulations had already caused some consternation after a handful of teams produced inelegant solutions to chase maximum performance. Ann Summers, a British retailer specialising in sex toy products, even got in on the act when Toro Rosso’s front-end appendage was revealed. Force India and McLaren also had cars that were unlikely to adorn iconic posters while Caterham’s end-product was a true eyesore.
There were a few storylines to keep an eye on, most notably some high-profile driver changes, with Kimi Raikkonen re-joining Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo getting his shot at the big time with reigning champions Red Bull, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg forming an intriguing line-up at Force India, Williams recruiting Ferrari stalwart Felipe Massa, and a number of rookies including Kevin Magnussen at McLaren and Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso. There was also a new numbering system, with drivers selecting their own numbers, as opposed to the previous team-based linear approach.
Most attention had been paid to Mercedes, given the efforts it had devoted to the impending turbo hybrid era, and it was a sign of intent when its W05 kicked off the 2014 season as soon as the pit exit opened at 09:00 on Tuesday’s first of four test days. The #44 appeared on the front of a Mercedes for the first time and the car began to lap the Jerez track. But Lewis Hamilton’s day came to a close before lunch had even been served when a front wing failure sent him into the Turn 1 barriers at high speed. Hamilton was fortunately uninjured but he had at least made it onto the circuit on a day that was dominated by a lack of noise.
Two of the 11 teams weren’t even present on the opening day of running. Lotus had already abandoned plans to attend the Jerez test and had targeted the following Bahrain test, in mid-February, as more optimal for its build programme. Minnows Marussia hadn’t made it on time after late technical glitches with its MR03 meant the car’s departure from the UK had been delayed.
Raikkonen’s Ferrari halted on its installation lap, as did Perez’s Force India, while Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso stuttered in the final few hours of the day and stopped due to a software fault. It meant Jerez’s flat-bed truck was called into action a fair few times – and wound up with more mileage than some Formula 1 cars.
Reigning champions Red Bull, having unveiled the RB10 in the pit lane on a dusky morning, had the shutters down for the majority of the day. Sebastian Vettel eventually brought the #1 car on track for the final few minutes but he amassed only three non-timed installation laps. Williams, running its all-blue heritage livery, had a spate of electrical and sensor issues that kept Valtteri Bottas in the garage for much of the day. The eyesore Caterham only appeared for a lap at ambling pace in the hands of rookie Marcus Ericsson. McLaren had a hydraulic and electronics installation problem that meant its MP4-29 did not run at all.
Raikkonen, in spite of the F14T’s initial refusal to move, wound up with the fastest time of the day – a 1:27.104s, which put him almost 10 seconds slower than the best time set at 2013’s test. It wouldn’t be the last time a car designed by James Allison led the way in the hybrid era, though sadly for Ferrari his success came in different team kit.
Hamilton’s pre-shunt time left him second, seven-tenths off Raikkonen, with Bottas three seconds behind, Perez at six seconds, Vergne nine, and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez – relatively anonymous by the standards of the test – 15 seconds in arrears. Over the course of the day’s action just 93 laps were completed. Some of the doomsayers pondered whether anyone would reach the chequered flag of Australia’s season-opener in seven weeks’ time.
Matters did improve as the week developed. Marussia turned up, more mileage was added – Mercedes even firing a warning shot to its rivals by managing a race simulation – while a few drivers dipped into the 1:23s, led by McLaren rookie Magnussen, with further improvements stymied by a damp final day. Matters didn’t, however, improve for everyone. Red Bull was at sixes and sevens, barely able to string a run together, and ended the week with just 21 laps under its belt, as a spate of problems was compounded by Renault’s wider issues. Vettel was sanguine about the delays, explaining “that’s what tests are for,” but it was evident Red Bull – and Renault – had problems to resolve while its Mercedes counterparts had started on the front foot. There was also an attempt at conducting a wet-weather tyre test, when a couple of tractors released some water onto an already damp circuit, but the usefulness of gathering wet weather tyre data on the new structures was limited on account of the tardy lap times, with teams still focusing on systems checks and other assorted power unit work.
Since that relatively underwhelming week Formula 1 cars, assisted by revised aerodynamic regulations, have developed to be the fastest in history while the performance and reliability of the power units has come on leaps and bounds; even the sound – while not as ear-piercing as the screaming V8s or V10s – is a world away from the tinny noises first heard at Jerez. Mercedes, meanwhile, has yet to be beaten to either world championship.
When Formula 1 testing for 2021 officially begins in Bahrain in March there’s no doubt it’ll be slightly more productive than when the hybrid era first got underway. Oh, and the cars won’t look so bad…
