Posted on 15th February 2013
The Jerez winter tests have been interesting once again this year. It has been a week of ups and downs for many team's, watching the cars out on track over the 4 days of testing has been very interesting indeed.
I've been assessing the top team's performances and I'll give my verdict. I'll also talk about what to expect from Barcelona.
The Jerez Tests.
I've noticed that the Red Bull seem very tidy out on track once again this year. The grip and balance of the car does look positive for them, however I don't think they look particularly fast. Red Bull have been rather quiet, they have been quietly going about their business. I suspect in Barcelona they will be much more dominant, perhaps brining upgrades to the car and pushing for the extra performance. They didn't look as strong in Jerez as I expected.
The team who has impressed me most throughout Jerez this year has been Lotus. They have been on top of the timesheets twice in the 4 days. Both drivers say the car feels good, I have to say it certainly looks good on track, balanced well, and with excellent pace. I also think this years Lotus is one of the best looking cars on the grid. They will have a good season this year I think, they certainly deserve it. They are a dark horse this year and a team who are moving forward.
Mercedes had a troubled start to winter testing, an electrical problem causing a fire on Nico Rosberg's car, cutting short his session. The bad run continued into Wednesday too when a brake issue was to blame for Lewis Hamilton's crash. Reliability appeared to be somewhat of an issue for the car, but Thursday was a big improvement with Rosberg managing a very impressive 148 Laps, his best time was good for second overall. The pace of this years Mercedes looks very good, they have certainly improved and will be a contender.
Ferrari had somewhat of an eventful 4 days of testing. They've had their problems, but also they have had promising moments, its just ironing out the problems. Fernando Alonso was not present at Jerez, Pedro De La Rosa was sharing the car with Massa. Alonso will take to the car during the Barcelona tests. The Ferrari looked pretty good at Jerez and Massa was positive about the performance of the car this season. The pace looks good for them this year and with upgrades throughout the season, they will certainly be very competitive.
McLaren had a week of getting to grips with a new and relatively inexperienced driver in Sergio Perez. Perez said that the McLaren experience is completely different. He said everything is new and it's like starting all over again. Jenson Button was fastest overall on Tuesday with a time set on the hard tyre. I have noticed that once again the McLaren looks comfortable on both compounds of tyre. They look competitive, but I think the real pace will be shown in Barcelona. It will be very interesting to see how Perez deals with this at McLaren. Jenson Button on the other hand will be right up there on the time sheets.
Sauber are worth a mention here too, they have been quietly impressive I think. Nico Hulkenberg said that car feels fast and maintains cornering speed well. I do agree, watching the C32 on track it looks so well composed as it rolls effortlessly along the tarmac through a high speed corner. Esteban Gutierrez joins the team from GP2 and I'm very interested to see what he can do, this is a very good car and he's certainly a good driver. This will be a very interesting and important year for Sauber.
Testing in Barcelona begins on February 28th, this is where we will begin to see the real pace of the cars this year. The track surface in Barcelona is much smoother than that in Jerez. The teams will be focusing more on speed and performance, now any problem have been worked on and improved. You can watch every day of the Barcelona tests live on Sky Sports F1 HD and they will be covering it all in stunning 3D.
I'll be covering it all live on Twitter @TomWilkinsonF1 #TWF1 where you can follow me for all the latest news from the paddock. Read all my Formula 1 reports exclusively here at Driving For Pleasure.
