Jerez data: Ferrari impress, Honda have much to do

2015 F1 season

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Even a cautious reading of the Jerez test times suggests Ferrari has made a much-needed step forward in performance in 2015. But how much they have gained remains to be seen.

However Honda completed even less running at Jerez this year than Renault’s troubled programme managed 12 months ago, illustrating the scale of the challenge McLaren faces with its new engine partner.

Fastest lap times

This week’s test cannot give a clear view of how far Mercedes’ rivals might have reduced the awesome performance margin they enjoyed last year. The Jerez circuit does not feature on the 2015 F1 calendar, its layout is dissimilar to a typical F1 track, the surface is exceptionally rough and temperatures over the four days of running were far cooler than typical racing conditions.

Last year Ferrari’s performance at Jerez appeared more competitive than it proved to be once the season began. The F14Ts were the closest challenges to the Mercedes-powered runners at Jerez 12 months ago, but by the start of the season Renault had overtaken them as ‘best of the rest’.

But even with all these caveats, the swing in performance gap between Ferrari and Mercedes indicates progress has been made by the Scuderia. Last year they were 1.5s slower than Mercedes, this year they were ahead by 1.1 seconds. Sebastian Vettel’s 1’20.984 lap set on Monday using the medium tyres was a second quicker than either of the Mercedes drivers achieved on a same compound.

As Lewis Hamilton pointed out at the end of the test, Ferrari were probably doing more performance runs than Mercedes. But in the words of his team mate, the red car’s performance was eye-opening.

Pos.DriverTeamEngineTimeGapTyre
1Kimi RaikkonenFerrariFerrari1’20.841Soft
2Sebastian VettelFerrariFerrari1’20.9840.143Medium
3Felipe NasrSauberFerrari1’21.5450.704Soft
4Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes1’21.9821.141Medium
5Marcus EricssonSauberFerrari1’22.0191.178Soft
6Lewis HamiltonMercedesMercedes1’22.1721.331Medium
7Felipe MassaWilliamsMercedes1’22.2761.435Soft
8Valtteri BottasWilliamsMercedes1’22.3191.478Soft
9Max VerstappenToro RossoRenault1’22.5531.712Soft
10Pastor MaldonadoLotusMercedes1’22.7131.872Soft
11Carlos Sainz JnrToro RossoRenault1’23.1872.346Soft
12Daniel RicciardoRed BullRenault1’23.3382.497Medium
13Romain GrosjeanLotusMercedes1’23.8022.961Medium
14Daniil KvyatRed BullRenault1’23.9753.134Medium
15Jenson ButtonMcLarenHonda1’27.6606.819Medium
16Fernando AlonsoMcLarenHonda1’35.55314.712Intermediate

Lap time improvement since last year

All the teams who were present at this year’s test and last year’s improved their lap times with the exception of McLaren:

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Jerez lap time trend

The increase in lap times following the introduction of V6 hybrid turbo engines and new aerodynamic restrictions last year saw F1 lap times rise significantly. At Jerez, where the engines ran for the first time, the cars were over five seconds per lap slower.

Much of that deficit was eradicated over the season – in like-for-like circumstances F1 cars were around 1.5 seconds slower per lap compared with the year before.

The first test for the second generation of these engines indicates a considerable amount of performance has been found, despite the new nose regulations compromising designers’ efforts to find more downforce. As more than one manufacturer admitted they had not yet run their engine in the kind of top performance modes seen during qualifying, there is clearly more to come.

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Mileage

Teams

Unlike most teams Sauber do not have their own simulator. Therefore they have an added impetus to complete as much mileage as possible, and that is clear to see from the data.

Mercedes do not have that disadvantage, yet they also tend to complete a lot of running in testing. Reliability was one of the W05’s few weaknesses, and this test will have given them encouragement they have made progress on that front with the new car.

Last year Red Bull covered a pathetic 28 laps (less than 100 kilometres) at Jerez, the RB10 usually coming to a smoky stop soon after leaving the pits. This year was a substantial improvement, but they still covered less ground than any team bar McLaren, with its new Honda engine, and the absent Force India.

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Drivers

Nico Rosberg must be sick of the sight of Jerez after completing over 150 laps – more than two grand prix distances – in both his days at the wheel of the W06.

The Renault reliability problems which hampered Red Bull were less of a concern for Toro Rosso, and both their rookie drivers were able to gain valuable test mileage. Renault have said they want to cover as much ground with Red Bull at the next test in Barcelona as they did with Toro Rosso in Jerez.

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Engines

Compared to Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari covered a decent amount of ground when considering they are only supplying as many teams between them as the three-pointed star does.

But the difficulty Honda face in making progress with their engine when it is only being used by one team is starkly illustrated by the fact they did little more than one race distance of running. That’s little more than half what Renault did at this test last year.

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Over to you

Who impressed you most during the first test of 2015? How much quicker do you expect this year’s cars to be in competitive conditions? Have your say below.

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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81 comments on “Jerez data: Ferrari impress, Honda have much to do”

  1. I don’t know why, but I just a good feeling about the Honda engine. I don’t think that they will win the championship, but I think that the McLaren-Honda car will be the 2nd best. Not to forget that probably have the best driver to get the most out of the car, race in, race out. As for Ferrari, they seem to be headed in the right direction, but this isn’t like the previous years where people can go from 6th best to 1st due to engine restrictions. And when Mercedes are so dominant, Ferrari can make the best chassis, and still not win any races.

    1. I’m looking forward to hearing the Honda engine turned up, I mean it’s loud already and with the engine turned right down. Assuming of course that it will become louder when the dial is turned up.

      1. Mashiat Lam Gofran
        6th February 2015, 13:43

        @woodyd91 that it was loud because it wasn’t working properly.

        1. It was making a very funny noise when it wasn’t working properly, but it is inherently quite loud. Although the noise is just wasted energy so that may not be a good sign.

          1. Maybe it’s because the engine is turned right down that it’s so loud, ie the mgu-h isn’t harvesting as much of the energy as it will so it’s allowed to be converted to that noise, I don’t know I’ve a funny feeling Honda would have concentrated the first test on the engine itself trying to see if they can get the required cooling to make the size zero packaging work. If they turn up in Barcelona with as tightly packed car I’d call Jerez a success for them, in sorts!!

    2. @mashiat2 I have the same feeling. I would think that Honda should save themselves from lagging behind with the smart decision of coming on year later. Firstly by missing 2014 Honda had time to gauge the economical potential of the new era in F1, the general consensus is that hybrid is hanging by a thread but Honda thinks they can save this new engine rule. 2nd and most important Honda know what Mercedes did to clinch superiority, therefore they can at least glue themselves to Mercedes rather than see the freeze rules, deleting any chance to come back.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        6th February 2015, 22:59

        the general consensus is that hybrid is hanging by a thread

        ???
        Even Bernie now favours hybrid (albeit a simpler version).

  2. It would be interesting to see a comparison between top speeds of 2014 and 2015 in the first test at Jerez.

    It´s not reliable but would help to analyse a bit better these tests.

    1. 1 Felipe Massa (Williams-Mercedes) 307.6 km/h
      2 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 307.6 km/h
      3 Pastor Maldonado (Lotus-Mercedes) 306.8 km/h
      4 Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso-Renault) 303.3 km/h
      5 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber-Ferrari) 303.3 km/h
      6 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 300.8 km/h
      7 Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull-Renault) 294.2 km/h
      8 Jenson Button (McLaren-Honda) 277.6 km/h

      Lots of work to do from Ferrari e Renault… Still well behind.

  3. Keith, do you have any access to all the lap times, rather than the headline ones?

    It has been suggested that nearly all the Ferrari engine runs were short and that the fastest laps were separated by slow laps because they still have issues recharging the ERS when running all out.

    In contrast to that Mercedes did long runs and lap times were consistent, and that at least one of their fastest laps was done with at least 25 kilos of fuel.

    1. @w-k Especially on the last day, the Ferrari-powered cars were definitely making short runs compared to Mercedes. When Raikkonen was setting his quickest times during the final day on the Soft tyre, he was running a pattern of fast lap, followed by cool down lap, followed by fast lap, followed by cool down lap, etc. Same with Ericsson in the Sauber too.

      1. the first test could just be systems tests. at the end of the day, the ferraris times were consistently fast, and backed up by Sauber to show an improvement has been made to the Ferrari power unit. if Mercedes were as dominant as last year, i would have expected them to be fastest even on longer runs. i think the gap has closed, and it is exciting to think there might be competition between more then 1 team this year.

        1. It maybe from what I suspect, about fast,slow,fast laps, that Ferrari have improved their single lap times. But if they haven’t improved the energy recovery and storage then, I’m afraid, we might not see them challenging for race wins again.

          Which will be sad, we need Ferrari to be able to win races.

      2. …which is exactly what all cars do in Qualifying sessions. These sessions are about getting the cars into shape for the new season, @w-k and @willwood, and whether the cars will actually still be able to beat Mercedes outright in the season or not, it’s good to see that the cars are faster, more reliable and nicer to drive than they were last year.

        I, for one, am very pleased, and look forward greatly to this season in all its aspects.

    2. @w-k Timing at the tests is handled by TSL and they do not issue that data. You’d have to have someone in front of a timing screen doing nothing but write lap times down for four days to get that.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        6th February 2015, 23:01

        Or planting a camera in front of it and take 30sec interval pictures ;)

      2. Thanks, I suspected as much.

  4. The thing that I keep coming back to was when Lewis was asked “Lewis do you think this year it will be a closer fight at the front, Ferrari look strong” he said “Unfortunately not” , Now the only reason he could or would say that is if he knew just how much pace Mercedes are hiding. The Ferrari certainly looks a better car than it did last year and the PU seems to have been improved a lot. But apart from some politically correct statements coming from the team nobody seems worried at all. Its obvious that Mercedes are sandbagging but by how much is the crucial.

    Roll on Melbourne in March, because that really only when those questions can be answered to some degree.

  5. Seriously how can you come to ANY sort of conclusion about how much Ferrari may or may not have closed the gap to Mercedes from the first test at Jerez? There is absolutely no information in the public domain to come to that conclusion unless you just look at the lap table, take it at face value and go yep Ferrari are much closer to Mercedes which is basically what you have done.

    We know very very little about the running order, the only think that you could assume hasn’t changed is that Mercedes are still ahead – after that it is pure guess work.

    1. Ok, it look like you didn’t read the article, here’s the important parts for you:

      “Even a cautious reading of the Jerez test times suggests Ferrari has made a much-needed step forward in performance in 2015. But how much they have gained remains to be seen.”

      “the swing in performance gap between Ferrari and Mercedes indicates progress has been made by the Scuderia. Last year they were 1.5s slower than Mercedes, this year they were ahead by 1.1 seconds.”

      It is essentially guesswork, every year at this time. We all know that. This is what could be called an “educated guess”. And Keith is somewhat educated, hence the number of readers here.

      1. Thanks for quoting things to reinforce my point and I did read the article, in full, more than once thanks.

        There is NO evidence to take from the first test to make any suggestion at all that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes at all unless you take the lap time chart at face value and the political games played by teams during interviews as gospel truth.

        We go through this nearly every single year where people come to all sorts of quite frankly ridiculous assumptions and conclusions based on test 1 in Jerez, the most unreliable source of information on running order of the entire year.

        You might aswell put random bits of information in a hat, pull them out and call them your “educated” guesses for all they are worth right now.

        1. I don’t understand what you’re getting so worked up about. The many caveats are expressed quite clearly in the article.

    2. I agree to a certain extent. While it is impossible to say whether or not they have closed the gap, I think you can say it is POSSIBLE that they did improve their performance. As a result, there is at least something to hope for. In contrast, if they came out and lacked reliability and couldn’t get their game together the dark clouds would already be circling.

    3. A conclusion would be something like “Ferrari will challenge Mercedes for the title this year”. There is nothing of the sort in the article.

      1. “the swing in performance gap between Ferrari and Mercedes indicates progress has been made by the Scuderia. Last year they were 1.5s slower than Mercedes, this year they were ahead by 1.1 seconds.”

        Please read this quote, now read it again, and then read it just once more for good measure.

        What do you take from it? – that there is an indication that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes? What is that indication, ah yes, the difference in lap times at Jerez.

        *sigh*

        1. i get your point! there might be so many factors influencing those numbers that we really cant compare the figures as an indicator of performance. it really is just guess work. but i still enjoy keiths analysis every time. as other people said: it is the most reliable guess work there is!
          keep the good work, keith!

          1. I’m guessing from the quotes that Hamilton and Rosberg gave that Mercedes are expecting Ferrari to be much closer, not close enough that Hamilton is worried about not having the most competitive car, but close enough that they’ll push Mercedes Harder, ie no guarantee that if both Mercs finish that it’ll be a 1-2

        2. Read this reply. Then read it again. Go away from the computer, ponder for a while, have some coffee and come back. Then read it again.

          What do I take from your quote? – that there is an indication that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes? No. That would be a conclusion, which I didn’t draw from that statement because I know that test times are not very meaningful. But the statement is a fact.

    4. Matthew Coyne, look at the laptimes, that is how people come to the conclusion that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes – that is our only way of telling as that is the main indication!!! what is so hard to compute about that?? and it was consistent. also from comments from people at the track, it looks like ferrari look much better in turning now, with a pointer nose. you seem to be out to deny any hope, i dont know why, there seem to be many of you belittling lap times, but in past years, lap times actually give a good indication of the running order – last year mercedes topped 11 of the 12 test days.

    5. There is absolutely no doubt that Ferrari leaped ahead. Consider the facts:
      – tire usage about the same as others
      – long runs kinda the same
      – both drivers consistently on top
      – both drivers report car is totally different
      – Kimi told Finnish press they haven’t done low fuel runs

      In my humble opinion these are early optimistic signs for Ferrari fans. Moreover, the team has never done anything like in the previous years. Track-side watches have also reported very different looking and handing Ferrari. So, in this case and given these, 2 +2 is almost 4. Almost, because there is the unknown domain of testing.
      But anyway, real form will be revealed soon.

      1. You are the exact kind of person I am talking about coming to wild conclusions based on ridiculous interpretations of extremely inaccurate public data.

        You COULD be completely right, but the media belief is that Williams and Mercedes have been trotting around with the engine turned down filled to the brim with fuel for the past 4 days – You have absolutely no accurate yard stick to measure against to come to any sort of indication that Ferrari have leaped ahead of anyone.

        1. but the media belief is that Williams and Mercedes have been trotting around with the engine turned down filled to the brim with fuel for the past 4 days – You have absolutely no accurate yard stick to measure against to come to any sort of indication that Ferrari have leaped ahead of anyone.

          So we have no way to say Ferrari are ahead of the queue but we know that the Mercs and Williams ran full tanks? We either take both as true or neither.

          IIRC Vettel did a run starting from 1:21 for 10+ laps on medium tires. Considering that there is fuel for at least 10 laps and that he ran on Medium tires, it shows there is a scope for improvement in times with less fuel and better tires.

          Finally, the videos of tests show that Ferrari is comfortable in the corners and stable. Even if we do say they pushed to get the laps, it does mean that they have a stable car which can be pushed to extract the maximum out of it.

          Which is why maybe people are inclined to the opinion that Ferrari have improved and could have closed the gap to Mercs.

          1. @evered7, according to the BBC’s pundits, Mercedes’s stints were typically in the order of 30-40 laps.
            Mercedes might not have been on full tanks, therefore, but if those observations are correct, most of their stints would have to have been with a minimum of half a tank of fuel if they were covering that sort of mileage per stint.

            By contrast, the BBC are saying that most of Ferrari’s stints were actually quite short by comparison, rarely exceeding more than 10 laps in total. Now, it is possible that the cars had more fuel in the tank than that, but the evidence for Mercedes running with heavy fuel loads would seem to be stronger than for Ferrari.
            Overall, therefore, whilst it is likely that Ferrari have made progress – they’re unlikely to have gone backwards – at the same time I would want to exercise some caution about that until we have more evidence from their long runs in Barcelona.

          2. @anon It could very well be that the Mercs were running full tanks and have a lot of time on their hands to show yet.

            But like you have mentioned, all we are saying is the progress that Ferrari have made is real. They might have not leap frogged Mercedes but could have closed the gap. Mercedes are at the top of the performance curve and may not be able to improve on the package significantly like the others might have. Ferrari were poor and hence their returns might be greater if things work out in their favor.

            Anyway, things will get more conclusive in Barcelona.

        2. the media belief is that Williams and Mercedes have been trotting around with the engine turned down filled to the brim with fuel for the past 4 days

          So you’re perfectly willing to accept the “media belief” at face value in that case, yet you strenuously object to the same medias belief that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes?

    6. There’s plenty of info in the public domain to support this:

      ” But even with all these caveats, the swing in performance gap between Ferrari and Mercedes indicates progress has been made by the Scuderia. Last year they were 1.5s slower than Mercedes, this year they were ahead by 1.1 seconds. Sebastian Vettel’s 1’20.984 lap set on Monday using the medium tyres was a second quicker than either of the Mercedes drivers achieved on a same compound.

      As Lewis Hamilton pointed out at the end of the test, Ferrari were probably doing more performance runs than Mercedes. But in the words of his team mate, the red car’s performance was eye-opening. ”

      conclusion. Every expert watching trackside(those from Autosport for example) said Ferrari looked much better than last year. Especially valuable is the opinion of Gary Anderson who was saying consistently from the first test that Ferrari looks like a rubbish car and they’ll have a woeful year with it (and so it proved)

      So based on the conclusion above+trackside opinion, it’s reasonable to conclude that Ferrari MIGHT have closed the gap to Mercedes to some extent(no one’s saying they’re gonna be challenging them for the championships this year)

      1. Ah… but to say that Ferrari has closed the gap to Mercedes we also need to know the true pace of the Mercedes, this year, not last year. But in all honesty, do we really know?

        1. Do we know with what levels of fuel and what engine settings Merc ran at Jerez last year? Or Ferrari?

          We don’t exactly know what either of the teams are doing in testing. Any conclusion one might come with is at best an educated guess

          But having said that, this is not a scientific research. The hypothesis doesn’t need to be within the 95% confidence interval threshold to be considered viable. Or any other threshold for that matter

    7. It’s not hard to see evidence that Ferrari have “closed the gap” to Mercedes. There’s evidence that Ferrari have improved the handling of their car over least season and also they they’re making more power.

      Note that “evidence” does not mean “proof positive” and “improved” or “closed the gap” does not mean “are better than Mercedes” or “will win the title”. It just means there’s evidence that the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari will not be as colossal as it was last year. It’s possible for that gap to be smaller and also for several other teams (e.g RB, McLaren, Williams, and Lotus) to squeeze into it ahead of Ferrari.

      Yes, we get it. Pre-season isn’t always a great indicator of how a season will turn out. But the start of a season isn’t a great indicator of how a season will turn out either. McLaren had a double podium in Australia last year, then did a disappearing act for the rest of the season. Ferrari were generally regarded as having the best car in the first few GP’s of 2013. Even when the real racing has begun it’s hard to say how it will end.

      If the “stop trying to predict the future based on what we’ve seen so far” edict were rigorously enforced then a high proportion of the commentary on F1 would vanish and we’d all keep our mouths shut until the end of the season. And where’s the fun in that?

      1. I think there is no one here trying to stop you from speculating. Maybe what bothers them is when you speculate and then try to make it as evidence and then you irritate when someone challenge your speculation.

        Anyway, as I said previously, to say that Ferarri has close the gap to Mercedes, you also need to know the true pace of the Merc. But do you really know? I very much doubt it.

        Improvements mean little if others are also improving. Even though in Ferrari own standard this improvement means big because now they have a car that is tight around corners and both drivers feel comfortable with.

        But what this means to the whole competition? Especially to the Mercs because you say cut the gap. Not much if not there is none. Because we don’t know their true pace yet.

        Besides, using your own standard, the Merc must hasn’t been improved because Hamilton said that it feels exactly the same as last year and other time he said that at this time he felt the car was at its worse state. Of course if you look that into the context of the article, it doesn’t really means the car is worse.

        1. what bothers them is when you speculate and then try to make it as evidence and then you irritate when someone challenge your speculation.

          There is “evidence”. I’m not “trying to make it as evidence”. Part of the problem here seems to be that some people, perhaps not native English speakers, don’t seem to know what words mean. There is certainly “evidence” that Ferrari have closed the performance gap to Mercedes. There is no “proof” than they have done so, but there is indeed “evidence”. Last year in Jerez Ferrari’s best time was more than a second slower than Mercedes, this year their best time was a second faster than Mercedes. If you don’t realize that this is evidence in support of the theory that Ferrari have closed the performance gap then you should consult a dictionary.

          Improvements mean little if others are also improving.

          True. But what evidence (or proof) do you have that others are also improving, or are improving by similar amounts? You don’t have any, you’re the one engaging in speculation.

          to say that Ferarri has close the gap to Mercedes, you also need to know the true pace of the Merc.

          Uh huh. But to say that there’s evidence that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes all you need is evidence that Ferrari have closed the gap to Mercedes. And we have that.

          1. What evidence?

            Do you think it’s race day? This is pre season test. Furthermore, what Merc tested at some point on the first 3 days test last year might be totally different than at some point at this 3 days test. Yet you conclude as if it is all the same. You just took rough data and make it as if it’s clear as day.

            I am not saying that Ferrari is not improving. They might. But there is no evidence how the improvement has cut the gap to Mercedes. Because what programs that Merc did this 3 days was looked totally the opposite of what Ferrari did.

            Maybe wait till Barcelona when teams run race simulation.

            And slow down, don’t be rude, there is no one here that should look dictionary.

          2. Besides, as I said before, using your standard of “evidence”, the Merc hasn’t been improved I supposed?

  6. Is there any information about top speeds, achieved by drivers?

    1. Someone has posted something here, scroll down almost end of the page

      I do not know if the data can be trusted as I have no idea of the source

  7. @keithcollantine *three-pointed star

  8. I’m a bit surprised by the lack of running by McLaren, but equally well I’m sure Honda will be working harder than any other to iron out the issues in time for the next test.

    Mercedes know exactly where they want to focus their testing (long duration, high fuel load) and can be much more confident this year, so there is no pressure to get out and push the car yet.

    I would bet if you compared the long run average lap times for Mercedes and Ferrari over the whole test between this year and last, Ferrari are no closer to Mercedes.

  9. Lapstimes at this time have no meaning. Very impressed how many laps Mercedes was able to do without problems, they must be very pleased. Ferrari’s reliablility looked also good and both drivers gave positive feedback about the car, so at least they can be cautiously optimistic.

    Alonso must be kicking himself as there must be a creeping suspicion in his mind that the project he jumped into, seems to be a long one. Wonder what he thinks now that he looks at Ferrari pushing.

  10. Does anyone know the difference between “Intermediate” and “Medium” tyres?

    1. @stalemate ‘Medium’ is the third-softest slick tyre compound for dry-weather running. ‘Intermediate’ is a shallow-treaded tyre for moderately wet conditions.

      1. Thank you!

  11. While the lap times are not particularly informative, it must be a lot more motivating to finish the test having the best time laps after 1200+ km (almost 3000 if you count Sauber) than having done barely 400 km.

    Autosport asked the question, at which point do McLaren/Honda’s issues become a drama? They better do some drastic changes, soon. Honda is late to the Party, McLaren is behind areodynamically (see last year’s car), and testwise they are lagging eeven further behind. Not a good sign, at all.

    1. have you seen this years mclaren’s tight back end??? i dont think they will be behind aerowise once they get the power unit up and running. they are the true dark horse for this season, i think they could ba a winner in second half of season.

    2. The reports were that the McLaren looks completely different, and they did about 4 times as many laps as RBR did last year. The fastest time of RBR last year was >14 sec off the pace.

      So not all doom and gloom.

      1. Important point especially when Ricciardo had a podium in Aus, yes it was taken away but proved the car was in good shape!!

        I don’t think there will be the void between Mercedes and everyone else there was last year so we may see mclaren fighting at the back at the start of the year, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion that over the course of the year they’ll improve a lot and be looking to challenge for wins by the end of the year which is positive for next year, as everyone will be looking to them and attempting to copy their size zero design which remains to be seen if it’s possible

      2. @w-k Of course it is “completely different”, anything else would be tremendously stupid.

        And comparing McLaren to RBR last year is pointless. McLaren is not RBR. The last couple of seasons they have showed neither the same engineering quality nor the same capability for improvement.

        @ForzaF1

        I’ve a sneaking suspicion that over the course of the year they’ll improve a lot and be looking to challenge for wins by the end of the year

        Suspicion, or very-wishful thinking?

  12. One thing that could be put to bed after this test is the rumour that this year’s Ferrari might be slower than last year’s.

    1. @mateuss

      I don’t want to come off as arrogant or unfriendly, but you really should leave memes in the sites that are meant for them (e.g. imgur & co). Outside of them, they are just somewhat annoying.

      1. Well, that’s your preference and I understand what are you on about. (though I do not fell the same)

        Anyway, my point was, I hope there will be more similar articles on Jerez test, hopefully with long-run and speed-trap data.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          6th February 2015, 23:16

          @mateuss, I find it annoying as well.
          Does not add anything to this board, and IMO reduces the ‘quality’ of your contribution.

          1. @coldfly Fair enough, the people have spoken. From now on my humor will be dry and purely textual.

          2. ColdFly F1 (@)
            7th February 2015, 4:21

            @mateuss, now that’s the spirit!
            See you can do it. You are funny – with a hint of sarcasm – and no need to include a picture.
            +1, thanks

    2. Oh dear
      @mateuss

      I don’t mind a link to a pic ,
      It just wasn’t a funny pic :) ( to me) I can clearly see it was an American cat

      Yes , testing has started so it’s a very serious time , but let’s not make a judgement on the quality of someone’s contribution because of a light hearted moment ,

      Link on mateuss

  13. everywhere i am reading, ferraris times in the first jerez tests are being belittled. so many people assume ferrari have gone for low fuel “glory runs”. I feel these people will eat their words. ferrari might not be the fastest team come Melbourne, but with Vettel onboard, i think they will win races this year – he will make the difference even if the team is .5 seconds off the pace, he made that difference driving a top car in previous seasons vs Mclarens who had better cars at times, and vs a fast teammate in Webber. people underestimate Ferrari and Vettel, even though both have proven records!!!! MY BIGGEST WORRY has been the f1 engine token system, i thought ferrari and renault had no chance of catching up in the next 3 years, but i think both Ferrari and Renault have made a worthy improvement and wont be as far behind as last year… but if they havent then f1 is a dead racing system and not worth watching anymore, it is dreadful in this day and age to prevent competition improving, what is the point of the sport?? when you think about it, what has f1 to offer in 2015? what has it to offer over other top level racing series?? besides it being “f1” at least in WEC they have manufacturerers, too many to accomodate by latest news! racing development is much more open then this dryer and dryer year on year “F1” which does not deserve the “number 1” accolade anymore.

    1. with Vettel onboard, i think they will win races this year – he will make the difference even if the team is .5 seconds off the pace

      Why? No really why?

      What’s make this year any different than last year? Different team? Different team mate? You do understand that in order to win he not only has to beat Ricciardo but also the Merc duos right?

      Ok say that Red Bull is a dud, and McLaren is so bad that even Alonso can’t bring it home higher than 5th, but he needs still to beat Rosberg and Hamilton. How? Lady luck is with Ricciardo I’m afraid:) And don’t forget Williams.

      So I think, not want to be rude, but using your own words, you will eat your words I’m afraid.

      1. What’s make this year any different than last year?

        Vettel seemed a lot more happy with this year’s car than with last year’s car. We know that he needs a car that suits his style (see his 2012 car where he had relatively much less performance compared to Webber until the Newey managed to recover rear downforce again). But once he has it, he is very fast. Now the question is whether the new Ferrari will be enough to his liking. But from what I have seen and read, he will struggle much less than last year. Same for Raikkonen by the way.

        1. Seriously, I can’t wait to see a more “happier” and a more “comfortable” Vettel fights against Ricciardo in the new Red Bull and Alonso in Honda engine. But seriously, some wins still would be very hard to get. Even for Ricciardo to replicate, it means he need Merc reliabilty problems to stay.

        2. About “Vettel is very fast when the car suit him” argument, we tend to forget that the most comparable situation that people tend to take into account, that is when he faced Webber in Red Bull, is also the most absurd one.

          Because how can you compare one driver that have high dependency on a car (Vettel) when the car suits him with his team mate who btw has also high dependency on his car and apparantley at that time doesn’t suit his driving style?

          In other word, how do you compare “happy” Vettel with “unhappy” Webber? It’s absurd in my opinion. So sorry this “Vettel is very fast when the car suit him” is for me unbased.

    2. i thought ferrari and renault had no chance of catching up in the next 3 years, but i think both Ferrari and Renault have made a worthy improvement and wont be as far behind as last year… but if they havent then f1 is a dead racing system and not worth watching anymore, it is dreadful in this day and age to prevent competition improving, what is the point of the sport??

      I think your statement explains more about yourself than F1.

      Where are you in the Red Bull domination era, that’s not too long ago?

      he made that difference driving a top car in previous seasons vs Mclarens who had better cars at times, and vs a fast teammate in Webber.

      Why skipped to mention Ricciardo? It’s more recent than Webber? It’s not look good in the resume i presume?

      driving a top car in previous seasons vs Mclarens who had better cars at times

      2012 you mean? Yes in Hamilton hands it looks like it. In Button’s, don’t look like that for almost half of the season.

  14. Imagine the hew and cry if Ferrari had the slowest lap times of the test.

    “Ferrari still a dog in 2015!”
    “Ferrari likely worse than last year!”
    “It’s only a test and Ferrari was doing mostly long runs, but this test indicates the whole team should be fired now!”
    “Kimi is washed up.” (sorry, just had to throw that in) ha ha

    Anyways, not really a Ferrari fan as much as I am a Kimi fan. Having said that I think the indicators from this first test of the season are positive for Ferrari, but certainly not conclusive in regards to the rest of the field by any means. I will say that it would be great for the sport if Ferrari is closer to the front this season.

  15. Ferrari impressed me. Seb and Kimi too. This combination of elements (Ferrari, Seb, Kimi) it´s amazing and hopefully, they will beat the 2 victory GP challenge.
    However, I still find hard to beat Mercedes in the overall. Mileage is very important to collect data and correct all that is needed to. And Mercedes did an excellent job in that area. Not only, but specially for that reason, Merc is still the favourite team to win the championship.

  16. any idea on how many tokens each manufacturer used so far in regards to this weeks testing?

    1. none ;) The engines are not homologated yet so no tokens have been used. [I know what you mean but unfortunately don’t know the answer.]

  17. One thing Keith’s data does show is only 3 teams managed to do a better Job at Jerez last year than McLaren, those 3 teams being Merc, Williams & Ferrari

  18. ColdFly F1 (@)
    6th February 2015, 23:09

    Jerez data: Ferrari impress, Honda have much to do

    I hope Alonso does not read this article – it will ruin his weekend.

    (and now some irrelevant news: I just came back from a run around Albert Park. Fences are up; tyre walls have arrived; grand stands being erected; and I’m counting down – five weeks to go)

    1. I’m too am excited fellow orstrayun ,
      It was cool to see big name driver changes,
      Good to see testing underway
      And so looking forward to the opening race because for once I get to see FP’s and support races,
      it’s a good program by Ten (tv)

  19. Sauber’s test session was very good, I’m very glad to this.

  20. Not sure why people are so quick to write off or play down what is clearly a major step forward for Ferrari. Do I think they are suddenly as fast as Mercedes? No, but they would appear to be 2nd best (with RedBull still being an unknown quantity). Why would Williams spend a whole test running the engine in a conservative way? They would learn next to nothing about their car if they did so. Was Williams on average running higher fuel loads, probably, but Massa on soft’s was 1.3 seconds behind Vettel’s time on mediums, not a small gap. And he wasn’t just fast for one lap, on one run he set 4 consecutive laps faster than Massa’s single fastest lap, with again Vettel on Mediums and Massa on the Soft.

    Last year the Ferrari PU had the worst of both worlds, underpowered, and poor power delivery. It was well documented that they undersized the turbo in 2014 which did not allow competitive energy recovery from the MGU-H. That problem should now be solved, and it would appear the power delivery is improved as well. Watch the youtube video’s of the test and the Ferrari looks more planted both into and out of the corners than its been since 2008. And clearly Ferrari has more to come on the PU side, otherwise they would not have pushed so hard to ‘unfreeze’ development of the PU during the year. All indications are they have used the fewest tokens to date and will hence introduce more upgrades during the season than the others can.

    Aero wise this is the first car fully developed in the re-done Ferrari wind tunnel. And the 2014 Ferrari nose was the closest to the 2015 regulations of any car, meaning they would lose less if any performance with the rules change vs. the teams with the more extreme high nose designs of last year. Ferrari could therefore spend more time moving forward on other parts of the car vs. getting back what was lost. So again, no reason to doubt big gains on the aero side as well.

    RedBull as I said is still an unknown at this point. If Renault’s issues had more to do with the ICE than the ERS, it may well be harder for them to close the HP gap with Mercedes. Given the ERS water pump issue they had at Jerez we really don’t know where they are at the moment. I expect they will be fighting Ferrari for 2nd, with Williams in 4th. McLaren will spend the year playing catch up yet again.

  21. You guys can speculate as much as you like about the timings from Jerez but nobody will really know until Australia so I’ll wait till then.

  22. The only sad part will be Ferrari Turning up a Lemon in OZ in March after all the hype.
    I hope that does not happen.

    They had lowered the bar earlier by saying that the max they can do is 2 wins. Right now the expectations are running too high.

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