Development Race Begins: Barcelona Test 2013

After the first test at Jerez, teams have now had a chance to put their latest cars through their paces. They have also had a chance to sample Pirelli’s new brand of tires and get some understanding about how it is going to affect their cars. Out of the eleven teams, ten teams have launched their 2013 challengers with only Williams left, who chose to launch their car before the second test to understand how the new breed of tires will affect their car.

As usual, the times set at Jerez look complicated and it’s hard to get an understanding about the performance of the different teams, especially with Jerez not being one of the regular race tracks. Still, it is possible to gain some insight into the performance of the teams. Here are the ten fastest times set during the testing at Jerez.

1. F Massa 1:17.879

2. K Raikkonen 1:18.148

3. J Bianchi 1:18.175

4. R Grosjean 1:18.218

5. S Vettel 1:18.565

6. E Gutierrez 1:18.669

7. J-E Vergne 1:18.760

8. N Rosberg 1:18.766

9. J Button 1:18.861

10. L Hamilton 1:18.905

Out of all the times set at Jerez, two times are particularly noteworthy. Button’s time of 1:18:905 and Massa’s time of 1:17.879. Button’s time was set on the first day of the test, with hard tires on a green track. This led to a lot of teams touting the McLaren as a serious title contender for this season. Also Massa’s time shows that this year’s Ferrari has a lot of potential. You have to wonder what Fernando Alonso can do with this year’s car when he almost took last year’s car to the title.

With the Barcelona test about to start, the teams are now slowly getting down to the business. It remains to be seen if any of the teams debut any trick parts. Already there has been considerable interest in the Caterham exhaust solution as well as a hidden slot at the front of the Ferrari. With the times already so close between the teams, every team is doing its best to keep any secret parts a secret. With considerable time left before the first race begins, any wonder part can be easily copied and hence, the advantage lost. With Barcelona being an aero intensive circuit, it will give us a fair assessment of a car’s pace and we can start getting some insight into the order of the grid before the first race. But as we all know, a fast car in testing holds for nothing as Mercedes found out last year. A development race has already started with the cars scheduled to get big updates by the time they are lined up on the grid in Australia.

So far, the times are very close and it looks set to be an amazing season. The Barcelona test will give us some more insight as to what this coming season has in store for us.