DUNBAR/LAT
S BLOXHAM/LAT
WorldMags.net
REGAN/GETTY
O N -T R A C K A N A LY S I S
BATTLE FOR 2ND, 3RD, 4TH WILLIAMS v FERRARI v RED BULL
The battle behind Mercedes looks to be very close and could well provide the entertainment for the season.
The outcome of this battle could well be decided by in-season development of the three teams
WILLIAMS
FERRARI
RED BULL
I was very impressed with the Williams, which
still has great straightline speed, but also looks
like it has picked up aero grip relative to the others
over the winter. Both drivers looked comfortable
and it seemed that they were driving well within
the limit. The Mercedes engine could prove to be
its trump card in this battle for best of the rest and,
if you listen to the engine note and shift points, it
wasn’t a million miles away from the works team
(and quite different to fellow Merc-powered team
Lotus). I wouldn’t bet against the odd win.
The Ferrari looks much better than the 2014 car.
Slow-speed front grip looked very good through
the final chicane, and the driveability out of the slow
Turn 5 hairpin seemed a huge step forward. The
Ferrari did seem to have shorter gear ratios than the
Mercedes teams, and whether that’s something it
feels is more suited to their engine or a choice that
will change for Melbourne remains to be seen.
In the high-speed corners the car looks reasonably
good, but the front grip on that initial turn-in isn’t as
good as on the Mercedes.
The chassis itself looks as impressive as we’ve come
to expect, and out on track it looked particularly good
under braking for the slow-speed hairpin into Turn 10.
On the longer runs Kvyat looked more ragged than
I expected and it looked like he was really hustling
the car around in an effort to get a laptime out of it.
Perhaps there’s a hint of frustration over straightline
speed, but it couldn’t have been good for the tyres.
I still don’t believe that the Red Bull is quicker than
the Mercedes in the corners. Front-end grip in the
medium and high-speed turns doesn’t look as good.
SEASON
TALKING
POINT
73
XPB IMAGES
I really don’t know
what to make of the
McLaren. The
well-documented
powertrain issues
make it hard to judge the car balance out on track,
because it isn’t running with full power or close
to the limit. If a car is running around a couple of
seconds off the pace owing to a lack of power,
it’s bound to feel easy to drive and look balanced.
8TH SAUBER
Sauber’s strategy at the
moment is to ensure
that the car is as reliable
as possible and to sneak
in some points at the
start of the season. The team has done well to
produce a solid, reliable car in a difficult situation
towards the end of last year in terms of resources,
and I do hope that they get some rewards in
the early grands prix.
6TH TORO ROSSO
XPB IMAGES
He was very consistent in terms of lines, and I rarely
saw a front wheel lock up, even into Turn 5, and he
looked like he was driving well within himself. It was
impressive to watch how he would carry a huge
amount of speed into Turn 4, manage to sort it out
by balancing the steering and brakes mid-corner,
and still ensure he got on the throttle early.
9TH FORCE INDIA
THOMPSON/GETTY
The car looks quite balanced and generally a tidy
package. It seems to do what the drivers want,
which is particularly confidence-inspiring when you
have two rookies with a combined age of 37!
It was the first time I had seen Max Verstappen
live on track and I have to say that my initial
impressions are that he fully justifies all the hype.
WorldMags.net
Force India has joined the testing party quite
late; we may need to wait until perhaps even the
European season to see its real 2015 car. Out on
track, it looked very much like a car doing its first
test without any real set-up work done to it.
MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 73
THOMPSON/GETTY
DUNBAR/LAT
In the build-up to the
final test, I kept reading
the drivers’ comments
about how great the
car felt. Watching out
on track, I have to say that it wasn’t as convincing.
Yes, the engine driveability and power will feel a
big step forward, but in terms of chassis balance it
looked edgy: Grosjean and Maldonado didn’t seem
to be able to drive on the same line lap after lap.
7TH McLAREN
PREVIEW
5TH LOTUS
S BLOXHAM/LAT
It’s clear that Kimi Raikkonen is happier not just
with the car but also with the new group of
engineers in the race team. A happy Kimi is a
formidable one, so the intra-team battle with
Sebastian Vettel should be good to watch.