After three months without activity on track, F1 returns from holidays. The Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit will host the F1 pre-season test these two next weeks and Formula Rapida will cover the last minute of everything that happens at Montmelo. In some cases, it will not be the first time we see the cars on track, since in cases such as Mclaren, Mercedes or Red Bull among others, they have already done a filming day.
The first week of the test will be marked by time instability, where Tuesday and Wednesday there are snow possibilities. If this happens, the conditions of the track will be far from the ideal ones to collect the necessary information to begin to understand the behavior of the car.
This tests are not usually an strong reference point of what we later see during the season. Last year case, the two Ferrari dominated the general time table of the two test weeks with Kimi Räikkonen scoring the best time, 7 tenths faster than Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, third and fourth respectively. Mercedes, despite winning one of the first three races, overtook Maranello’s team throughout the season.
Usually we didn’t see the best Red Bull version. The Austrian team is an expert in bittering its potential and usually goes to the test with a first version that is imporved before the first race of the season. Also unknown, the livery that they will take to their car, after the presentation with black and blue camouflage. It would not be the first time they come to the test with different colors as they usually wear, since in 2015 they performed with a camouflage with white and black stripes.
The tests also serve us to see possible surprises that can be seen the rest of the season. The most famous and recent, was Brawn in 2009. The old Honda, bought by Ross Brawn presented an aerodynamically-worked car and the famous rear diffusers that made the difference on the rest. They warned in the test, being the main dominators, and they confirmed it during the season.
It will also be the first opportunity to clarify who is gonna dominate in the mid-grid teams, where the difference will be closer than ever. If we consider that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull play in another league, Mclaren, Renault, Force India and Williams are the main candidates to occupy the fourth place. Haas and especially Sauber, who can be one of the bigger surprises after his union with Alfa Romeo and an interesting launch of the car, would be probably a step below.
Force India will launch its car on the first day of the test, since together with Toro Rosso they have been the only ones who have not presented the car. In the case of the Red Bull affiliate, small details of his car are known thanks to the photography taken from his filming day. It will be interesting to check the progression or not of the Honda engine in the car of Faenza. Honda has undoubtedly been one of the main protagonist in recent years in the preseason test and not exactly for its good performance with Mclaren.
The line-up of the drives are not yet confirmed. Force India will run the first week every day with a different driver, as Ocon and Pérez will leave their seat to Mazepin on Monday and Latifi on Wednesday. For his part, Williams, for the moment, will be the only one who will have a driver in the morning and another on for the afternoon session. Robert Kubica will go up both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Ferrari has not yet confirmed its drivers and therefore we do not know if Kvyat can make debut with Maranello’s team.
The preseason of F1 is here and Formula Rapida will take you first hand, everything that happens in the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya.
Foto: Mclaren Media