FORMULA 1

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Testing explained: Rob Smedley on how Test 2 differs from Test 1

Engineer Rob Smedley has a wealth of Formula 1 experience after a long career in the sport working for Jordan, Ferrari and Williams. Today he explains how the teams go about their business and what they are looking to achieve as the second week of pre-season testing gets underway in Barcelona.

As the days progress from Test 1 and on into Test 2, you’ve got the car up to speed and you’ve been through all of the basic systems checks, then you're really into core reliability and core performance tests.

We’re always mindful in the teams that the drivers do need to start getting a feel for the car at the limit of its performance envelope. But the reality is that there's such a lot of data to collect, and the only way to collect it nowadays, really, is during the winter tests. Because of that we have very prescribed tests across Weeks 1 and 2, and we need the drivers to perform in a certain way during those tests – and that rarely involves driving the car as fast as they can.

Sometimes, we do actually want the driver to push the car to the limit of its performance envelope, because without that, we’re then not going to get the data that we need. If we’re testing, say, a new front suspension which has more castor in the car, which essentially gives you a little bit more camber and a little bit more turn-in in the initial part of the corner, then you will want the driver to push to the limit of the envelope and equally, you want their subjective feedback. You’ve got all of the objective data taken from the car, but what you need is their personal feedback, as well as what the all-important stopwatch is telling you.

But there’s more routine stuff still to get through in Test 2 as well. We might want to do constant speeds on the straights. You essentially put the car in cruise control at some speed, be that 120km/h, 150km/h or 180km/h, and because you’ve then got the car in a steady state, neither decelerating nor accelerating, the quality of data that we can take from that is usually quite high.

Equally you might be doing constant speeds in a cornering condition – so Turn 3 in Barcelona, for example, is a great place to do that; you usually get the driver doing somewhere between 120-180km/h through there, depending on the fuel mass and tyre grip they’ve got on the car, and it’s just about collecting all of the data that we can.

It might not be very glamorous, but all that data that the teams collect across Test 1 and Test 2 is going to put them in a much more favourable position by the time they get to Australia for the first race of the season.

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Vettel quickest for Ferrari as Mercedes encounters setback

Ferrari topped the timesheets for the first time in 2020 on the penultimate day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as Mercedes encountered a setback.

Sebastian Vettel suffered a spin through the Turn 5 gravel early on but went on to clock a time of 1:16.841s on Pirelli’s C5 tyres, comfortably Ferrari’s best time of testing so far.

It was nonetheless over a second slower than the best time managed across the five days of testing, achieved by Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes in the opening week.

However the reigning World Champions endured its first major setback of the campaign as Lewis Hamilton stopped on track just 14 laps into the afternoon session.

Mercedes confirmed that an oil pressure anomaly prompted a precautionary engine shutdown, leaving him at the foot of the 13-driver table.

Along with Valtteri Bottas’ relatively meagre 47-lap tally – with morning running compromised by a damp track after overnight rain – it left Mercedes with just 61 laps on Thursday.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished second, 0.225s behind Vettel, while Lance Stroll continued Racing Point’s encouraging pre-season by placing third.

Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi added much-needed mileage to his tally after previous problems as he racked up 161 laps in the FW43, placing fourth overall.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen caused a red flag when he spun off at Turn 5 in the morning session and he placed sixth overall, with afternoon runner Alexander Albon rounding out the top 10.

Renault split running between Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo once more while Kevin Magnussen continued Haas’ quite pre-season phase by placing ninth.

Antonio Giovinazzi caused the session to be stopped in the morning as he spun through Turn 4 and hit the barrier, causing damage to the new rear wing on the Alfa Romeo C39.

Giovinazzi was able to return to the pit lane for repairs and resume Alfa Romeo’s programme.

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Oil pressure anomaly curtails Mercedes’ running

Mercedes suffered its first substantial setback of pre-season testing after Lewis Hamilton’s programme was curtailed by an oil pressure anomaly on Thursday.

Hamilton, who took over from Valtteri Bottas for the afternoon session, did not appear for the first hour of running, and then completed only 14 laps in the W11 before the car stopped.

Hamilton’s W11 halted at Turn 6, bringing out the red flags, and his car was returned to the pit lane.

Mercedes confirmed that “we’ve experienced an oil pressure anomaly, which made the engine shut down as a precautionary measure.

“We’re further investigating the issue; unfortunately that means our running for today is done.”

Mercedes encountered a minor electrical issue last week while customer team Williams has had a handful of power unit issues through the test.

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F1 confident Miami GP still on target for 2021 debut

Formula 1 chiefs have expressed confidence that recent developments in Miami mean its inaugural grand prix can still take place in 2021.

Liberty Media has been attempting to introduce a second grand prix in the United States for several years, and had to abandon proposals for a 2019 race in the Biscayne Bay district.

A new design was drawn up for Formula 1 to race in the area around the Hard Rock Stadium – owned by Miami Grand Prix partner the Miami Dolphins – on the outskirts of the city.

Some local residents complained and after several meetings it was agreed that the race would avoid disruption to nearby streets and only take place after school hours.

Last week Miami commissioners rejected a piece of legislation that would have needed the country and City of Miami Gardens to approve the event.

A date of May 2021 has previously been mooted as a target for the inaugural race in Miami.

“There’s been positive steps the last couple weeks,” said Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey.

“We’re actively engaged with them. I think we’ve got meetings over the next week or two to continue to nail things down.

“We feel good about where we are with that race, obviously, for 2021.

“I think, first and foremost, we want to make sure it’s a great race, a race that will live up to what that, the potential of what that race is, which is a real tentpole race for us, not just in the U.S., but around the world, a race that will capture the world’s imagination.

“We want to make sure we do the race. And we’re still focusing on trying to get things in place for 2021.

“Obviously, time continues. Time gets shorter. But we are actively working on it and engaged with it and I think making good headway.”

“The steps and processes we go through to ultimately finalise a race always have degrees of complications to them.

“But I think we feel good about the path we’re on, and we feel good about the opportunity to make the race in Miami a reality in short-term.”

Miami is understood to be the only new grand prix in contention for 2021, with prospective races in South Africa and Saudi Arabia unlikely until 2022 at the earliest.

Of the current events China, Spain, Austria and Brazil are out of contract at the end of the campaign.

A yet-to-be-built circuit in the Deodoro suburb of Rio de Janeiro eager to replace Sao Paulo’s Interlagos while Jerez has indicated that it will target a Formula 1 return in 2021.

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Zandvoort’s banked turns completed ahead of Dutch GP return

Zandvoort, home of the returning Dutch Grand Prix, has finally completed its unique banked turns which have been one of the biggest talking points of the circuit redesign.

The circuit will feature two banked turns: Turn 3 (Hugenholtz) and Turn 14 (Arie Luyendyk) with the former featuring a 19-degree angle, whilst Turn 14 is slightly less steep at 18-degrees.

The idea for the banking started with a suggestion from Zandvoort’s Technical Director Niek Oude Luttikhuis in consultation with the late FIA F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting on how to make the circuit faster and the racing more spectacular. Italian racetrack designer Dromo Circuit Design then came up with the initial sketches for the banked sections.

Dromo drafted in the help of Geobrugg along with US barrier specialist SmithFence – which has experience with oval fencing – and Dutch asphalt company KWS.

Banking comes with the increased technical challenges that this will present to the drivers and circuit safety has been a key aspect of the construction. Geobrugg had to come up with a unique solution whereby the concrete barriers are installed at a 90-degree angle to the track surface and fixed by tethering cables. This is to ensure the safety of the drivers if they leave the track – if they were installed at a vertical angle it would act as a ‘ramp’ and not be effective in the event of a crash.

The result, according to Dromo founder Jarno Zaffelli, is a set of corners that will be challenging for the drivers in a similar way to iconic sections like Eau Rouge and Raidillion at Spa-Franchorchamps or Maggots and Becketts at Silverstone.

“We did something that we thought would be really formidable to drive, that has no equal at any other racetracks.

“Turn 14 is quite ample and wide, making it full throttle, whereas the transition between Turn 2 and Turn 3 has a lot of elevation and banking changes. All of your horizon is tilting, all of your perception is evolving, you feel like you are being squeezed. It’s like being in a corkscrew, depending on the line that you are following.

“The challenge will be really huge because cars are not designed to sustain such a banking like that, so the teams will have to think about it. Not only from the tyre perspective but also the suspension as well, the handling, going into Turn 2 and Turn 3, and then out of Turn 4 will require a setup that will be a compromise because if you want to go fast there you will have to go slow in another section.”

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Coronavirus situation ‘fluid’, but Vietnam going ahead – F1

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey says the situation regarding the impact of the coronavirus outbreak remains “fluid”, but insists it is “all systems go” with the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix.

Formula 1 has already postponed the Chinese Grand Prix due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, while other countries have imposed travel restrictions on some citizens.

In recent days Italy has been at the epicentre of an outbreak of the virus, with travel advised against some areas, close to where Ferrari and AlphaTauri are based.

Formula 1 is set to visit Hanoi for the Vietnam Grand Prix on April 5.

“It’s fluid,” said Carey. “So it’s difficult to really have, first of all, where this plays out.

“Obviously, a country like Italy wasn’t really on the radar screen a few days ago and now it is.

“By and large, as a process, what we’re doing is we’re actively engaged with all the events upcoming, I guess, particularly the more current ones to get perspective from in-countries.

“I said I had a conversation [on Tuesday] with our Hanoi partner. And their update was [that] I think they said there are around 15 cases, and actually all of them have recovered

“We are continuing to talk to others about it. We’re obviously — and we are in London through our own channels connecting with experts who have insights to this.

“I think mostly what we need to do is continue to, on top of the issue to try to get the right advice, is to try to plan.

“I mean, some of it is logistics because travel planning is merging.

“I mean Bahrain just added a number of cities that have travel restrictions if you’re coming from those cities.

“So I think part of what we can plan is to make sure we have flexibility and options in place in getting to and from races.

“We’re heading to Melbourne, heading to Bahrain, heading to Hanoi. Although, to state the obvious, we’ve got to see what evolves in the coming days.”

On the potential financial impact on Formula 1 if the Chinese Grand Prix cannot be re-arranged Carey confirmed that “we would not receive the portion of revenue.

“But given the early notice on this postponement, we’re working hard to mitigate the effects, which have the impact to adjusted OIBDA [Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortisation] to be relatively minimal.

“Our broadcasting sponsorship deals are not dependent on race count.”

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Williams still slowest but can be in the mix – Russell

George Russell has conceded that Williams still expects to be the slowest team in Formula 1 this season, but is confident that it can haul itself into the mix more regularly.

Williams regressed through 2018 and last year firmly slumped to the foot of the pecking order, qualifying a second adrift of its nearest opponent on a consistent basis.

Russell classified 10th overall during the second test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with his best time of 1:16.871 just 0.030s down on Sebastian Vettel’s best effort.

The Briton is nonetheless braced for Williams to still be the slowest constructor at the start of the 2020 campaign.

“I doubt we’re in a better position,” said Russell upon the conclusion of pre-season testing.

“I think realistically we are still the slowest car, and we’re not going to get carried away with ourselves, but we’ve definitely reduced the gap.

“That’s sort of all we could have hoped for over the winter, and we’ll go to Melbourne and see.

“Don’t expect to see us in Q2, Q3 sort of thing. We’ve definitely improved, but expectations are all under control.”

Russell added that the improvements he feels Williams has made should at least vault the team into contention, if rivals fail to hit their marks.

“Last year when we outperformed our car, we were still qualifying 19th and finishing 19th,” he said.

“I hope this year when people slip up and we perform well, that’s when we can take up the opportunities.

“We should be racing, but expectations are under control. Doing it in Barcelona winter testing is one thing, but going to Melbourne will be a completely different story.”

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Red Bull lifted by Honda’s test reliability

Christian Horner reckons Honda’s reliability is “very encouraging” after his Red Bull team and sister outfit AlphaTauri used just one power unit apiece through the duration of pre-season testing.

Honda was beset by performance and reliability issues during its tumultuous relationship with McLaren, but displayed progress once it aligned itself with Toro Rosso in 2018, and started powering Red Bull in 2019.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso still took on engine penalties last year, as Honda exceeded its allocation, but through pre-season running in 2020 used only one power unit in testing.

A precautionary check was undertaken on one day – with data revealing there was no problem – while a loose pipe truncated Pierre Gasly’s running during a session in the second test.

When asked by MotorsportWeek about engine reliability, Horner said Red Bull “had an issue, and just as a precaution it [the power unit] came out on one of the days then the original engine went back into the car.

“I have to say from a reliability point, Honda has looked pretty strong at this test, and of course these six days are all about understanding the package in all conditions.

 “So far, touch wood. Reliability has looked very encouraging.”

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost also confirmed he is targeting a penalty-free season regarding power unit parts.

When asked if he felt it was a realistic target, as the morning session came to a close, he added: “Yes, I think so.

“We still have the same engine in the car and if we finish everything without a failure today, then I would say it would be one of the first big steps we would have made.

“Because in the past, we always changed the power unit during the test, this is no longer the case.”

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Hamilton admits Mercedes’ poor reliability ‘a concern’

Lewis Hamilton says there is some concern over Mercedes’ reliability after he was forced to stop on Thursday with an engine issue, just one of a number of breakdowns for Mercedes-powered cars.

Whilst Racing Point has enjoyed strong reliability, Mercedes and Williams have been beset by problems during the second week of testing, with the latter on its third power unit already.

Meanwhile the factory team completed just 14 laps during Thursday’s afternoon session after Hamilton was forced to shutdown his engine and spent the remainder of the day in the garage.

Over the winter Mercedes revealed that it had pushed the performance of its engine and encountered some issues during dyno testing, but was confident it had resolved them.

Speaking on Friday, Hamilton described the second week as “not perfect”, but is confident it will be OK for the season-opening race in Australia.

“It’s a concern yeah for sure. Normally in this pre-season testing we’re much more confident in the reliability so it’s not been perfect for us.

“I think we’re on our second engine already. It’s definitely not an easy or relaxed scenario for us but I have every confidence in the guys back in the factory that they will analyse and do the best they can in the next two weeks to make sure we start off on the right foot.”

Nonetheless, Hamilton is at least confident in the performance and speed of the car.

“It’s better than last year’s car, which is the same for everybody. It’s an evolution of last year’s car. So we all should generally have more downforce and it just feels like a continuation of what I drove last year.

“I have no idea where we stand compared to others, the team will probably have a better idea than that. I don’t know where everybody else is, I think I understand the car well so I’m comfortable and confident in terms of getting in the car for Melbourne and knowing that I’ll be able to attack and extract the most from it but whether that’s going to be enough to be ahead of others, we’ll find out.”

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FIA agrees ‘settlement’ with Ferrari over engine investigation

Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, says it has reached a settlement with Ferrari in the wake of an investigation into the marque’s power unit, which was the subject of much speculation in 2019.

Ferrari held a power advantage through 2019 and rival teams insinuating that the manufacturer was bending the regulations, amid claims that the fuel flow sensor was being tricked, enabling more fuel to be delivered to the power unit.

The sole penalty came in Abu Dhabi’s season finale when Ferrari was hit with a €50,000 fine after the team wrongly declared how much fuel was aboard Charles Leclerc’s car, prompting claims the two were related.

The power unit rules have since been revised for 2020, requiring teams to add a second fuel flow sensor to their power units.

Ferrari has repeatedly strenuously denied any accusations delivered its way.

A statement issued on Friday by the FIA reads: “The FIA announces that, after thorough technical investigations, it has concluded its analysis of the operation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Power Unit and reached a settlement with the team. The specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties.

“The FIA and Scuderia Ferrari have agreed to a number of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 Power Units for forthcoming championship seasons as well as assist the FIA in other regulatory duties in Formula 1 and in its research activities on carbon emissions and sustainable fuels.”

No further comment has been issued on the matter, which was made public 10 minutes prior to the end of pre-season testing, and after all of Ferrari’s media-related activities had been concluded for the week.

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Haas can’t be upset over Racing Point design legality – Steiner

Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner says he can’t be upset over Racing Point’s approach to its 2020 package because of how Formula 1’s rules have evolved in recent years.

Racing Point’s 2020 car, the RP20, is based on the design of Mercedes’ title-winning W10.

The Silverstone-based outfit has stressed that there has been no transfer of any intellectual property.

“I’m happy they’ve copied, I have to be because it’s not illegal,” said Steiner.

“There’s no point getting upset over something that’s legal. I can be unhappy, that’s it. It’s legal, we make the rules, we’ve got a big part voting for those rules, they were voted like this, so we have to be happy even if we’re unhappy because we can’t do anything about it.

“Has it gone too far? I don’t know. I mean, the rules are what they are and they took this opportunity got where they are. The teams are a big part in the strategy group and that what was decided, so I think they’ve done the best for them with what the regulations allow.

Haas initially applied for a licence to race in 2014 with the hopes of being able to purchase customer cars, but were refused, and the outfit then utilised the most of the regulations regarding purchasable parts when they tied up with Ferrari, entering in 2016.

When asked by Motorsport Week as to whether customer cars should make a return in the near future, Steiner added: “I think it’s too early to talk about that.

“I don’t know, it always depends on where the sport is. It may be a good idea, you’ve got me there on the back foot with that one. I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not.

“At the moment it’s not even in the books.”

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Ricciardo nearly extracted full pace of new Renault

Daniel Ricciardo reckons he was close to extracting the maximum pace out of his new Renault Formula 1 car on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Ricciardo closed out F1’s winter running with the third-fastest time of the day, with his lap of 1m16.276s being the fastest time in the morning session on the C5 compound tyre.

While the time was beaten by Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen in the afternoon, it was good enough to give Ricciardo the fourth-best lap of the winter testing programme.

Ricciardo acknowledged it was difficult to read too much into the testing classification given the teams’ varying run plans, but still felt his result was a boost to Renault.

“There’s the part where you’re reserved because it’s just testing and we had a C5,” Ricciardo said.

“We know that we’re not as quick as Mercedes now, so I don’t know what they were doing, but I don’t want to get that ahead of ourselves.

“I don’t necessarily get excited about the P1, but in saying that, if I put the C5 on and we were P6, for sure I would be disappointed.

“It is nice, at least we put in a good lap. We were able to use a good tyre relatively well. So there’s positives for sure.

“We’ve been doing this long enough to know that’s not necessarily what we’re going to qualify in Melbourne. But it’s still positive for us to see that we extracted a quick time.”

Ricciardo doubted he could have beaten Bottas’ overall winter benchmark of 1m15.732s, believing there was only a small amount of time he could have found to improve his lap.

“There’s always a tenth, but maybe at best for now, we’d be a 1m16.0s, 1m16.1s, but I don’t think there was three-tenths in it to get below the 16s,” Ricciardo said.

“I made a good step from the first C5 to the second, I think I found two or three-tenths. Maybe I could find another couple with another set. We did OK for what we have.”

Ricciardo noted a number of key improvements in the new Renault RS20 compared to last year’s car, and hailed the car’s improved reliability after a relatively trouble-free pre-season. 

“I think we have improved the overall balance of our car. I feel the rear for now is better, and in medium-speed corners, we’re able to get off the corner a bit harder,” Ricciardo said.

“There are certainly improvements. So far, on reliability and stuff we’re strong. That was something I know Renault were really pushing on improving this year. So far so good.”

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Sainz: Racing Point hiding its full potential

McLaren Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz believes Racing Point is masking the pace of its controversial ‘pink Mercedes’ and that it could be among the leading midfield teams this season.
Racing Point’s new RP20 is a radical departure from the team’s previous car, and in terms of overall concept and aerodynamic detail has much in common with the 2019 championship-winning Mercedes W10 - a development other teams have described as “concerning”. 

While differing fuel loads and tyre compounds make it impossible to fully decode the pecking order after the two Barcelona tests, Sainz suggested that Racing Point had not been demonstrating its full potential after some impressively swift early laps. 

“I think every single team, at some point of the tests, they've done a very strong laptime, so it's very difficult to know who is in front of the midfield or behind,” he said.

“I think the Racing Point and even the AlphaTauri, I would put them as probably the most dangerous guys to beat.

“The team [McLaren] doesn’t have a clear picture of how far we are from the top three. But we will see immediately in FP1, FP2 [in Melbourne], when we will run the same fuel loads or more or less. On the midfield, the Racing Point – they've been very quick the whole of the two weeks. They hit the track on the first day and they did a [1m]17.3. 

“And since then they haven't improved much because I don't think they want to - but that 17.3 on the first day, I think it impressed all of us and they're going to be quick, very quick.”

McLaren finished last season at the head of the midfield in terms of points scored, but Sainz expects the battle behind the leading three teams to be even more tightly contested this year.

“We've added some good downforce to the car and we're happier than we were 12 months ago. The car feels much better, especially in sector one and two [at Barcelona] we’re very well balanced.

"The last sector today looked at bit better but still our weakness and something that we need to be working on as a team.

“I think there's still differences in how teams are running in fuel loads or in engine modes [in testing] and we need to take that into account.

"We cannot take too many conclusions, we need to keep analysing ourselves, and I think we we're doing a pretty good job on dissecting our performance levels in different sectors and trying things to make it better.

“And the differences you're trying to spot, you see 10 kilos is three or four tenths [of a second]. So it's impossible to take a conclusion because with three tenths in the midfield you go from being P7 on the grid to being the P17.

“So who has the last three tenths in the pocket? Or who has used the last three tenths of the car? No one knows.”

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Analysis: What the FIA didn't say about Ferrari matters most

 

Public relations experts are well versed in knowing that Fridays are always a good day to bury bad news. And if they want to drop something that they hope won’t get picked up much at all; do it late on a busy Friday when everyone’s attention is focused elsewhere.
So during the final minutes of F1 testing, when the FIA dropped a statement out of the blue that it had concluded an investigation in to Ferrari’s 2019 power unit, suspicions quickly ramped up that there was more to this than met the eye.

For waiting until the moment when F1’s TV cameras were about to be switched off, team principals had already left the Barcelona paddock, and the world’s focus would be on who would top the final timesheets of pre-season running, seemed to be a deliberate tactic in trying to minimise the fallout of what had been issued.

Indeed, if you quickly glanced through the FIA statement, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was just a piece of boring administration: announcing that an investigation into Ferrari’s engine had been concluded and that nothing much had been found.

Here is a reminder of what it said:

Quote

 

"The FIA announces that, after thorough technical investigations, it has concluded its analysis of the operation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Power Unit and reached a settlement with the team. The specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties.

"The FIA and Scuderia Ferrari have agreed to a number of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 Power Units for forthcoming championship seasons as well as assist the FIA in other regulatory duties in Formula 1 and in its research activities on carbon emissions and sustainable fuels."

 

Step back a bit and analyse the carefully worded statement, though, and you quickly realise that it is actually what wasn’t said that stands out.

For while the statement did not conclude that Ferrari had been cheating with its engine; equally it did not confirm that the team had been found to be fully in compliance with the rules either.

And the lack of a definitive answer one way or another has simply served to add fuel to the fire that something was indeed amiss last year with what Ferrari was doing.

To fully understand the situation, we have to rewind to the start of the 2019 campaign. From the second race in Bahrain, rival teams had already taken note of a change in the straight line performance of the Ferrari cars.

For just a fortnight after Melbourne, where Ferrari had had a lacklustre start to the campaign and had been losing time on all the straights and the corners: suddenly in Sakhir its performance advantage was purely down to the time it was gaining on the straights.

As the season wore on, rivals kept a close eye on things – and it became clear at Monza when, through studying GPS data and being aware that any straightline speed advantage there is down to power and not aero efficiency (as all teams run minimum drag), Ferrari was gaining as much as one second per lap on the straights.

That was the kind of advantage that rival teams could not explain nor understand.

In the race, even with the advantage of DRS and a slipstream, Lewis Hamilton could do little about making a move stick on eventual race winner Charles Leclerc.

As the season entered its closing stages, rival manufacturers continued to be baffled about the nature of Ferrari’s advantage – and two theories emerged about what the Italian outfit could be doing.

The first was that it could be using a controlled leak through the intercooler to allow oil to be able to enter the combustion process and help provide a temporary power boost.

The second theory was that Ferrari had management to briefly exceed the 100kg/h fuel flow rate limit between the points where FIA measurements were taken. The extra fuel getting to the engine could then be used for more power.

Despite the suspicions, Ferrari was checked by the FIA and nothing untoward was ever found. The car passed scrutineering checks at each race.

Before the Mexican Grand Prix, though, Red Bull wrote to the FIA asking for clarification about whether or not utilising a system that got around the fuel flow sensor would be allowed. Such queries are often done to root out what rivals are doing,

The governing body responded by stating that such a system would not be allowed. It was clear that gaming the fuel flow rate to boost it between the point that measurements were taken would be against the rules.

The FIA’s head of single seater matters Nikolas Tombazis reminded all teams, in the form of a technical directive on the eve of the United States Grand Prix, that two technical regulations would make such fuel flow functions illegal.

They were:

Quote

 

Article 5.10.3: All cars must be fitted with a single fuel flow sensor, wholly within the fuel tank, which has been manufactured by the FIA designated supplier to a specification determined by the FIA. This sensor may only be used as specified by the FIA. Furthermore, all fuel delivered to the power unit must pass through this homologated sensor, and must all be delivered to the combustion chambers by the fuel injectors described by Article 5.10.2.

5.10.5: Any device, system or procedure the purpose and/or effect of which is to increase the flow rate or to store and recycle fuel after the measurement point is prohibited.

 

When Ferrari’s straightline speed performance duly took a dip in Austin – and the advantage that had been so clear in the weeks before the race disappeared – rivals were quick to surmise that something was not quite right.

In fact, Max Verstappen caused quite a stir when he told Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport about why he felt Ferrari’s pace had fallen away in Austin.

“That’s what happens when you stop cheating, of course,” he said. “But yeah, they had a good look at it. So now we have to keep a close eye on it, of course.”

Ferrari was angry at what Verstappen had said, with Charles Leclerc suggesting that the Dutchman’s remarks were out of order.

Leclerc said: “I think it is a joke, to be completely honest. He has no clue. He is not in the team. We know exactly what we are doing. I don’t know why he is speaking. He doesn’t know anything about us.”

Pushed later to explain why Ferrari’s straightline speed advantage had disappeared in Austin, team principal Mattia Binotto said it had been a combination of the team running an older spec power unit in Leclerc’s car – following a failure in practice – plus the team trialling downforce experiments to run more wing to try to boost its cornering performance.

Rivals remain unconvinced though. There was some talk of one of Ferrari’s opponents going as far as a protest at one of the end-of-season races to bring matters to a head once and for all, but in the end it never happened.

And as Ferrari’s season ended, with a fresh technical directive emerging saying that teams would be ordered to run two fuel flow sensors from 2020 to prevent teams getting around the restrictions, the chatter over Ferrari’s power unit fell away a bit.

In public at least, rivals seemed happy that the change of rules for 2020 would stop teams exploiting the fuel flow sensor matter (despite a still unexplained issued regarding a discrepancy over Ferrari’s pre-race fuel levels at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix).

"They [the FIA] are definitely doing everything they can to ensure that the complexity of these engines is policed in every area," said Red Bull’s Christian Horner at the end of the season.

"And I think they're just making more and more steps to ensure that grey areas are made very clear."

But behind the scenes, and unknown to the outside world, the FIA began a formal investigation in to the Ferrari power unit to fully understand what had been happening.

That lengthy and detailed investigation resulted in Friday night’s surprise statement, which caught rival teams by surprise both with its timing and what it said.

For it was clear that the implication of the FIA statement was that there had been some kind of plea bargain: that in exchange for Ferrari offering help in tipping off the FIA how better to police the fuel flow rules and other duties in F1, plus help with research for sustainability, a line would be drawn under the engine affair and the investigation would be called off.

That it was made explicit that the ‘settlement’ would remain private between Ferrari and the FIA, means we may never know for sure what has happened. The likelihood is, however, that the statement was put out to try to draw a line under what was probably a stalemate between Ferrari and the FIA.

On one side, it could be that the FIA was unable to prove beyond all doubt that Ferrari had actually broken the regulations with its power unit in 2019.

On the other side, Ferrari was probably unable to prove to the FIA beyond all doubt that it had been fully within the regulations at all times.

In that scenario, there would therefore be only two options.

The first would be to take the matter to court for a definitive ruling and risk lengthy legal proceedings that would probably end up with nobody coming out a winner and the sport being dragged into a massive and potentially damaging controversy.

The other way forward, as happened, would be agree to disagree over the matter, try to draw a line on it and move forward for 2020 with more robust procedures in place to make sure no teams can game the system in the future.

But hopes that sneaking a statement out to try to bury it may not ultimately succeed in bringing the matter to a close: for the vagueness of what has been said has only served to ramp up suspicions.

And it likely means that when F1 teams get together again in Melbourne before the first race of the season, the talk may not be about the year to come but instead, about what did or did not happen in 2019.

MIKA: Very strange... 

You don’t reach a “settlement” if you’re innocent. If you’re innocent, then you will be acquitted.

This FIA Ferrari bias needs to end.

So Max was right last year..Ferrari did cheat and Jean Todt as an ex Ferrari boss and now heading the FIA, sweeps it all under the carpet. This is not helping F1. 

So Ferrari keep their prize money that the other teams technically should have received, but the FIA is covering it up one way or another. Keeping it under the table makes this look suspicious. It's hard not to think something is foul.

People: So is it legal ?

FIA: It's confidential.

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Hamilton demands "better tyres" for F1's new era

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 needs better tyres, as he expressed some frustration at the increased pressures that Pirelli will lay down this year to cope with the downforce of the 2020 cars.
Pirelli has come under fire from drivers at times over recent seasons for their F1 tyre's high degradation and sensitive characteristics.

A new construction intended to help open up the tyre operating window for 2020 was tested and evaluated last year, but was unanimously rejected by teams.

The 2019 tyres are therefore being used again, but the step forward in performance of the current cars means that tyre pressures are likely to ramp up to ensure there are no problems.

Hamilton believes the situation needs to improve as F1 prepares for its biggest technical change in decades next season.

“They brought 2020 tyres, which were worse,” said Hamilton, when asked by Motorsport.com for his thoughts on the change in pressures. “It’s easier for us to go into another season with the same tyres. 

“The fact that they pump them up more isn’t so great because they looked fine last year, but they’re definitely way too inflated.

“I think we just need to make sure that we always want to be working with the best technology, the best technology partners moving forwards.

“We’re just going to keep on pushing them to try to do better, and these tyres will be OK for this year.”

Last year the FIA issued a new ‘target letter’ to Pirelli outlining desired parameters such as the performance steps between compounds and the ideal number of pitstops in races.

The drivers have also held discussions with Pirelli representatives in an attempt to have more influence.

As F1 enters a new era from 2021 with 18-inch tyres, Hamilton says that particular focus needs to be made on tyres.

“The race is what needs to improve,” he said. “Reduce aero and give us better tyres. That’s a very, very important line there: we need better tyres.

“We’ve been talking for years and years and years and years about tyre degradation, thermal degradation, and we sat in the meeting room with Pirelli in Brazil and they had never heard of the thermal degradation. They said, ‘This is the first we hear about it!’

“We’re trying to communicate with them better. The target letter, I don’t know who’s written it this year but they obviously didn’t do a good job for the 2020 tyres. But I hope for 2021 that we have a better target and one that they’re able to meet or a manufacturer is able to meet.”

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Pre-season testing analysis: Mercedes look unbeatable – but they DO have a weakness

When Valtteri Bottas pulled out of the garage on the opening morning of pre-season testing and got straight down to business with flying laps while everyone else was simply doing installation tours, you knew the Silver Arrows were looking mighty and feeling confident.

It was a brutal, defiant show of strength, a world championship outfit at the peak of their powers demonstrating to the world that they were, once again, the best at what they do. It may be a new year, offering new hope to others, but they had absolutely no intention of relinquishing their vice-like grip on this series.

They hadn’t let up over the winter, it seemed, overhauling their aerodynamic and power unit package, and even coming up with an innovative new system - Dual Axel Steering (DAS) – which was the talk of the paddock on day two, sending shivers down their rivals’ spines. Not only were they winning the physical battle, they were triumphing on the mental battlefield, too. But it wasn't all plain sailing for the Brackley-based squad. Here's what the data can tell us after the six-day test in Spain...

Test not perfect for Mercedes

Mercedes ended the first week on top of the world, falling just six laps short of the 500-lap barrier and encouraged by their efforts. Week two started off in the same vein, but then the niggles crept in. Crikey, they were human after all. They lost an entire afternoon of running after an oil pressure anomaly shut Lewis Hamilton’s engine down as a precaution.

In isolation, that’s not terrible. But when you factor in that customer Williams had four different issues with their power unit over the six-day period, while the works team are believed to have run the engine at lower levels as a precaution on the final day of running, there are signs that their new engine is perhaps a little on the fragile side, meaning even if they do have the pace advantage, they might not be able to convert it consistently.

It was also noticeable that the use of their DAS system in week two was far less frequent, especially during their longer runs, which suggests perhaps its primary use – and where they get the greatest gains – is over one lap during qualifying.

Overall, though, Mercedes had a strong test. As you can see from the total laps graph, they left Barcelona with the highest mileage – 903 laps, which is more than 13 Spanish Grands Prix race distances and 59 more than Ferrari, who had the strongest second week of all with 490 tours of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

They also looked quick over both short run and long run pace, when laps and stints from the whole six days of testing were analysed. They held the long run advantage by 1s/lap over Ferrari and 1.1s/lap over Red Bull. When switching to short runs, that advantage swelled to 1.6s/lap over Red Bull and 1.7s/lap ahead of Ferrari.

The reality is the gap won’t be that big when we come down to qualifying in Australia, but it does show that Mercedes appear to still be the kings of the top three in terms of performance.

There are caveats for the race simulations too. Mercedes did theirs in the first week, while Ferrari and Red Bull spread their respective programmes over two tests, so direct comparison isn’t possible.

Ferrari were running their engine at lower levels for the majority of the time, while Honda spent a lot of timing working on settings and proving reliability, so there’s more to come from both.

Renault rise as the dark horse

Dark horses? Are the team with the all-black testing livery the ones to watch in 2020?

Racing Point may have caused the biggest stir of the midfield teams with their pink Mercedes (so-called because it looks very similar to the 2019 Silver Arrow) but according to the data, it was Renault who were the most remarkable.

They slotted into second on the short runs, a second behind Mercedes and half a second clear of their midfield rivals and were third overall in the long run metrics, just 0.1s/lap slower than McLaren. Perhaps the most striking stat, though, is of all the teams, they have shown the biggest percentage gain in long-run pace since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Mercedes as a reference.

They’ve improved by a staggering 2.91%, with Haas making a 2.63% gain, McLaren up by 1.19% and Williams 0.92%. That’s an impressive feat from a manufacturer who has struggled since returning as a works outfit. At the other end of the scale, somewhat concerningly for those hoping for a tighter fight at the front of the field, Red Bull have lost 0.7% to Mercedes and Ferrari 0.5% in the same metric.

The caveat here is that Abu Dhabi and Barcelona are very different tracks, and a race weekend situation is very different to testing, but it is an intriguing comparison nonetheless.

Ferrari form puzzling

One of the somewhat confusing data points of the opening week was Ferrari’s straight-line speed – or lack of it.

The Scuderia had a power unit which had emerged as the best on the grid last year, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc enjoying a sizeable advantage on the straights and hauling them into contention for pole positions and race wins.

In Barcelona, despite Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto insisting they were not hiding anything, it was clear from our data – as you can see from the performance graph below – that Ferrari’s straight-line speed had taken a massive hit, as much as half a second in fact, compared to Mercedes. There was also a staggering 1.5s difference between their speed on the straights and customer Alfa Romeo.

There was some positive news for their loyal fan base the Tifosi, though. Slow corners had been their weakness, as they chased more downforce last year. But having made that a specific focus over the winter – which they conceded would be at the expense of some speed on the straights – they have made in-roads.

There are three sections deemed as “slow” in Barcelona – Turn 5, Turns 10-11 and the Turns 14-15 chicane. In those areas, Ferrari opened up a 0.3s advantage over Mercedes – while they retained a small advantage in the fast corners (around 0.05s).

It was in the medium-speed corners (Turns 1-2, Turn 4, Turns 7-8, Turns 12-13) where Mercedes excelled, cancelling out their slow corner deficit to Ferrari.

So what does this all mean for the new season?

If you had to nail your colours to the mast, it’s clear Mercedes are the ones you’d stick top of the pile. The W11 is one hell of a machine – but it isn’t infallible. And that means that there are opportunities for Red Bull – who look to have made a step – and Ferrari who will be there or thereabouts to ruffle some feathers early on.

All too often in the past few seasons, Mercedes start on the front foot and then accelerate away. But on the few occasions they have been put under pressure, mistakes have crept in. So a lot depends on whether they can get on top of their reliability concerns and if Red Bull and Ferrari can apply the pressure to make things interesting.

Behind them, it’s looking like a three-way fight for the top of what is a very congested midfield. Renault, McLaren and Racing Point have made good gains, and have potentially closed the gap slightly to the top three. The rest – AlphaTauri, Haas, Alfa Romeo and even Williams – are going to be in the mix at points too.

If the cards fall in the right way, this could be a very close – and entertaining – season. Roll on Melbourne.

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Carlos Sainz names two ‘most dangerous’ teams in McLaren's fight for fourth

McLaren had an impressive year in 2019 after finishing 'best of the rest' in fourth place in the constructors' championship behind the top three teams, but Carlos Sainz has identified two teams that could upset the Woking squad’s chances of repeating the feat this year.

With no change in the regulations for this season, the battle for midfield supremacy is expected to be even closer this season, and Sainz is especailly wary of the new-look AlphaTauri team, and Racing Point.

“Everyone is looking strong. Every single team you look at, at some point in the test, they have done a very strong lap time, so it’s difficult to know who is at the front of the midfield or behind,” he said.

“Racing Point, or even AlphaTauri, I would put as the most dangerous guys to beat; I think we will all be in the mix.”

McLaren managed to finish 54 points ahead of Renault in 2019, yet were a whopping 272 behind Red Bull in third, and Sainz is keen to close the gap to the top this year before the new era of Formula 1 dawns in 2021.

“What I hope is all of us are closer to the top than we were last year. That would be my biggest wish, independent of the position," he said.

“I wish the midfield this year could be close enough to the leaders to make sure if the leaders have an accident in lap one, that they don’t move through the field, that would be my biggest thing.”

With Racing Point buoyed by the performance in testing of their new RP20, a car that has taken more than a few cues from Mercedes’ championship-winning W10, Sainz’s wish for a closer pack could well come true. That became clear on the first day of testing when Sergio Perez finished third-fastest overall behind the Mercedes pair.

“Racing Point have been very quick, the whole two weeks," Sainz added. "They hit the track and they did a [1m17.3s], and since then, they have improved – three or four tenths quicker, [so] you say it’s tight with Racing Point or AlphaTauri.”

[MIKA27]

Giovinazzi less stressed compared to 2019 feeling

Antonio Giovinazzi says a year’s worth of experience means he is “less stressed” heading into the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Ferrari-affiliated Giovinazzi stepped up to Formula 1 full-time last year – having previously made two late-notice substitute appearances in 2017 – with Alfa Romeo.

Giovinazzi finished a low-key 17th in the championship though logged a standout fifth at the Brazilian Grand Prix, boosting his tally to 14 points.

He has been retained by Alfa Romeo, alongside 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, for the upcoming campaign.

“I feel just less stressed compared to last year,” he said. “I have already one year on the shoulder, I know already how I can approach the race weekend.

“I know most of the tracks – just Vietnam [is unknown], but it will be new for everyone.

“I just [feel] more ready, I want to be already from race one on a good shape as we need to try to score points already from the beginning of the season.”

Alfa Romeo logged 735 laps across the six days of testing, more than only Haas, as it got to grips with its Ferrari-powered C39.

Alfa Romeo finished eighth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship and on where the team has made gains, Giovinazzi said: “I think the car feels just more easy to drive.

“I think we need to improve in some points, we are happy on other points, we just need to focus on our job.

“There is still a long way to go, we have not much time for Melbourne but enough to try to solve some problems.”

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Ferrari: We’re not quick enough to win in Australia

Ferrari has issued a stark warning at the end of testing as it insisted it will not be in a position to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with its current level of performance.

Speaking on the final day of Formula 1 testing in Barcelona, Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto delivered a damning verdict on its early season chances.

“I don’t think we’ll be in a position to win in Australia,” he declared. “Obviously, every team has its own issues, some with reliability, others with lack of performance, but in a race weekend anything can happen. But as of today, we’re not quick enough to be up there.

“I believe we are ready [for Australia]. Are we fast enough? No, we’re not, and I’m pretty certain of that!”

Some have suggested Ferrari is hiding its true pace and playing games by talking down its chances, but Binotto insists that’s simply not true.

“Honestly, I don’t know what they think or what they are saying. From my side, I know our situation and I think that’s enough.

“Are we trying to hide our speed? No, I don’t think so, we know our programme and how much fuel we’ve been running, but I don’t know how much fuel the others have been running with. I think all of us have different ideas of where everybody is, but honestly speaking, as I’ve repeatedly said, I don’t believe we’re yet quick enough to fight for victory in Australia. But the season will be a long one, we’ll work hard to improve and to be in a position to win races as soon as possible.”

Asked when Ferrari might find itself in a position to challenge for victories, he added: “I think it’s too early to say; first we need to get home and go through all the data we’re gathering here, understand what are our currently limitations and then see where we are in Melbourne.”

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Steiner: F1 will ensure Australian GP goes ahead

Haas F1 team boss Gunther Steiner has said that the championship promoter will ensure all the competitors are able to enter Australia for next week's grand prix.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has also confirmed that the event will go ahead.

Fears about the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 caused disruption to last week's Formula 2 and Formula 3 testing in Bahrain as teams travelling from Italy were subject to delays at the border.

ART F2 driver Christian Lundgaard was unable to attend the test because he was quarantined in a hotel in Tenerife following an outbreak of coronavirus there.

"FOWC [Formula One World Championship Ltd] will look after us," said Steiner when asked by Motorsport.com whether there was any fear among the F1 teams that they would encounter difficulties entering Australia.

"The promoter is FOWC and they're working on it, they will tell us if we can go there and if we can get out.

"I was told in Bahrain everybody got in there. There were some people who took a little bit longer to get in because they checked them, but everybody is there, that's what I was told.

"I think, going into Australia, they will make sure that we all get in and that we all get out.

"Getting in is one thing and getting out is the next one – there are worse places to get stuck than Australia but we have a job to do and we need to come back.

"But as far as I know FOM and the FIA are really working on that to make sure that everything goes ahead in an organised manner without surprises.

"We have got everybody going by Dubai and not via Hong Kong or Singapore, so we are OK on that one.

"I don't know how the other teams are flying but I'm sure FOM and the FIA, they will work this out for us because they are in contact with the local authorities and they can make these decisions."

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Ferrari could abandon 2020 early if gap is too big

Ferrari says it could make an early switch to focus on its 2021 car if the gap to the front of the field is too big early in the season.
The Italian outfit has admitted that it is behind its rivals as it heads into the campaign, and it is having to work on both its engine performance and aero package in a bid to recover.

The effort to catch up comes against the backdrop of teams having to carefully balance how much resource they devote to this season and how much they want to throw at 2021.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said for now the team's focus remained on recovering lost ground this season, but hinted at turning off the 2020 development push early if the situation looks bleak after a few races.

"How much will the 2020 catch-up affect the 2021 [project]? - that's certainly a good point," he said as pre-season testing came to a conclusion.

"I think it's a compromise that we need to find out. I think we are very early in the season, and you cannot compromise the entire season itself.

"So at the start of the season, we certainly keep pushing on 2020 as much as we can, because it's time for us to understand the car and the weaknesses. And hopefully, it is things that we can address as soon as possible.

"If I see after a few races, and we will still understand that the gap is too big, then maybe it's a considerations that we can take into account.

"But it's early stage right now. I think it's just few days of testing. I think there are things that we can address on the car, hopefully quite soon. So at the moment, we should keep our plan as it was for 2020/2021."

Ferrari's rival Mercedes believes that teams need to be very careful in not switching their focus to 2021 too late, because doing so could result in them falling well behind.

Team principal Toto Wolff said: "There's such a massive regulatory change for 2021, that balancing your allocation of resource will be crucial in terms of how much of your resource you're switching into the 2021 car.

"Obviously, the learning and development slope is much steeper at the beginning. So if you get it wrong and you're months behind, you might be half a second behind. And this is a challenge which we have embraced in the past through two regulatory changes, and we love that one."

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Ricciardo nearly extracted full pace of new Renault

Daniel Ricciardo reckons he was close to extracting the maximum pace out of his new Renault Formula 1 car on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Ricciardo closed out F1’s winter running with the third-fastest time of the day, with his lap of 1m16.276s being the fastest time in the morning session on the C5 compound tyre.

While the time was beaten by Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen in the afternoon, it was good enough to give Ricciardo the fourth-best lap of the winter testing programme.

Ricciardo acknowledged it was difficult to read too much into the testing classification given the teams’ varying run plans, but still felt his result was a boost to Renault.

“There’s the part where you’re reserved because it’s just testing and we had a C5,” Ricciardo said.

“We know that we’re not as quick as Mercedes now, so I don’t know what they were doing, but I don’t want to get that ahead of ourselves.

“I don’t necessarily get excited about the P1, but in saying that, if I put the C5 on and we were P6, for sure I would be disappointed.

“It is nice, at least we put in a good lap. We were able to use a good tyre relatively well. So there’s positives for sure.

“We’ve been doing this long enough to know that’s not necessarily what we’re going to qualify in Melbourne. But it’s still positive for us to see that we extracted a quick time.”

Ricciardo doubted he could have beaten Bottas’ overall winter benchmark of 1m15.732s, believing there was only a small amount of time he could have found to improve his lap.

“There’s always a tenth, but maybe at best for now, we’d be a 1m16.0s, 1m16.1s, but I don’t think there was three-tenths in it to get below the 16s,” Ricciardo said.

“I made a good step from the first C5 to the second, I think I found two or three-tenths. Maybe I could find another couple with another set. We did OK for what we have.”

Ricciardo noted a number of key improvements in the new Renault RS20 compared to last year’s car, and hailed the car’s improved reliability after a relatively trouble-free pre-season. 

“I think we have improved the overall balance of our car. I feel the rear for now is better, and in medium-speed corners, we’re able to get off the corner a bit harder,” Ricciardo said.

“There are certainly improvements. So far, on reliability and stuff we’re strong. That was something I know Renault were really pushing on improving this year. So far so good.”

 

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Mercedes ready to deploy new DAS system in Melbourne, says Bottas

Mercedes’ Dual Axis Steering system – or DAS as it’s known – was the star of the show at 2020 pre-season testing. And with the system seemingly working a treat, Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas says he sees no reason why the team won’t deploy it at the first race of the year in Melbourne.

The DAS system works by Bottas and Lewis Hamilton pushing and pulling on the steering wheel in the cockpit of their W11, the action effecting a change on the car’s front wheel toe angle – with conjecture remaining about the exact benefits the system brings.

Asked midway through Week 2 whether he expected to be using the DAS system at the Australian Grand Prix in a few weeks’ time, Bottas replied: “For now, we see no reason why not.

“Everything works well with it. We're still learning more and more about it, we're happy to have it in the car and no issues really found so far, so it's all working well.”

Bottas also confirmed that both he and Hamilton had been pooling their feedback on the new system rather than jealously keeping it to themselves, responding to a question on whether becoming ‘King of DAS’ could be Bottas' magic bullet to finally beating Hamilton accross a season.

“You need to be the king of every tool in the car and you need to extract everything from your car, including the new systems,” said Bottas. “Both me and Lewis [are] trying to extract the maximum out of it, and obviously from my side, I'll try to do something better if I can. But obviously we're sharing all the information, all the knowledge, all the data, so eventually, for sure, we both will be able to extract everything out of it.”

With DAS having only been run on track for six days in Barcelona, Bottas revealed that Mercedes were still learning about the system's effectiveness, as well as the best time for the drivers to deploy it on track.

“Obviously between [Weeks 1 and 2], the engineers had more time to learn from the data and make more guidelines for us as drivers about best use and the kind of situations that can bring the advantage, how big the advantage it will give us is, which tracks – that's a little bit of a question mark,” said Bottas.

“But also it will be driver-dependent, especially at the race weekends and whichever situations we think we might get the benefit,” added Bottas. “It's up to us to also explore and discover and find the best ways to use it. So, a nice little extra tool. Not that there were so many things to do anyway on the steering wheel…”

We’ll get our first chance to see Mercedes trying to dial in their system on a proper race weekend when Free Practice 1 commences at the Australian Grand Prix on March 13.

[MIKA27]

F1 can’t race if any team is denied entry – Brawn

Formula 1 chief Ross Brawn says a grand prix will not be held if a team is denied entry to a country, amid travel restrictions imposed by some nations due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Formula 1 has already moved to postpone the Chinese Grand Prix, originally planned for April, on account of Covid-19, but the greater issue in recent days has been on restricted access.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix is set for March 15, Bahrain a week later on March 22, and Vietnam a fortnight thereafter on April 5.

Bahrain issued updated entry information on Tuesday, mirroring that recently outlined by Vietnam, clarifying that those who had visited certain countries within the last 14 days would face restrictions.

That list includes Italy – where Ferrari, AlphaTauri, Pirelli and major suppliers are based – as well as major connecting hubs Hong Kong and Singapore.

Organisers in Bahrain requested information from all Formula 1 personnel on Tuesday as it attempts to work with its government to implement specific measures for those affected.

“If a team is prevented from entering a country we can’t have a race,” Brawn told Reuters.

“Not a Formula 1 world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair

“Obviously if a team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that’s their decision.

“But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it’s difficult to have a fair competition.”

Brawn confirmed that Formula 1 had advised teams to “minimise the number of people in the paddock”, and that discussions are ongoing with the promoter of the new-for-2020 Vietnam round.

“They want the race to happen but also they’ve got to protect their population,” Brawn said.

“So we’re looking at what solutions we can find to make sure everybody is comfortable with the arrangements,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things going on at the moment and it changes on a day-by-day basis. It’s difficult to be definitive now but we’re going to find solutions.”

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Red Bull: Foolish to under-estimate Ferrari’s pace

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says it would be “foolish” to dismiss Ferrari’s potential in Formula 1 this season, in spite of its subdued test pace.

Ferrari spent much of testing away from the top of the timesheets, though Charles Leclerc posted a front-running lap on C5 tyres on the final day, providing a glimpse of the SF1000’s speed.

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has played down the team’s chances of taking victory in Australia, as it attempts to unearth the right balance between downforce and drag.

But Horner reckons Ferrari will be firmly in the mix at the front of the pack when the season gets underway.

“That is always the dangerous thing about pre-season testing, trying to draw too many conclusions,” Horner said, speaking on the final day of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

“Ferrari look understated at the last test but they are starting to wind it up and I think it would be foolish to underestimate them going to Melbourne.

“Mercedes are the reigning six-time World Champions and very much the favourites.

“Their form has always looked strong here and you want to have your issues in testing not when you are racing so winter testing can sometimes be a little deceptive but I think it will be the same teams fighting at the sharp end of the grid this year.”

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen also dismissed the notion of reading too much into the results of testing.

“I have done this six times now and testing doesn’t give you anything in terms of real lap times as Melbourne is so different so I prefer to wait and see what happens in Melbourne,” he said.

“Not only in Melbourne as it can be a funny GP where things can go really well or not.

“You need a few GPs to get a good read of it. I just don’t focus on it too much here.

“The most important thing for us here is just to test all different kind of things on the car.”