Formula One's 2011 Season Draws Ever Closer as the Final Test Concludes in Spain

After the turmoil in the Gulf States, the scheduled test and race in Bahrain had to be cancelled.  This left a bit of a break between the last test in Barcelona and the new Formula One opener in Australia.  This short gap was filled though with one final trip to Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber had done very well on the final day last time out in Barcelona, but he was just beaten by Ferrari’s Filipe Massa.  

With Ferrari choosing to carry out some promotional filming on the first day, Webber had one fewer competitor to deal with on Tuesday.  However, he still did a fantastic job, despite tricky cold conditions, to open Red Bull’s test with a pole time of 1:22.544.

I suppose technically McLaren must have been pleased to finish day one in second place. However, Jenson Button was almost four-tenths of a second slower than the Red Bull and was less than optimistic about his team’s new updates.

Things look better for Renault who managed to finish third and fifth.  Nick Heidfeld showed yet again how worthy a replacement he is for Robert Kubica by putting in a strong performance to finish fifth despite a pretty nasty cold.

Vitaly Petrov took over in the afternoon and evaluated significant aerodynamic set ups for Australia.  The R31’s new rear wing and floor seemed to be working as Petrov finished in a very interesting P3.

Sauber, Force India and Lotus all had clear days.  Sergio Perez finished with his Sauber in fourth.  Nico Hulkenberg ran for the first time in the new Force India in the morning and finished ninth, whilst Paul di Resta took over in the afternoon and managed to get up to P6.  Lotus gave GP2 drivers Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia an oportunity to test the T128 and they finished P7 and P10 respectively.  

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi had a few technical problems but finished in eighth and Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio closed out the time sheets, finishing P11. 

The Second day again belonged to Red Bull.  Sebastian Vettel continued to show the promise of the RB7 by posting a pole time of 1:21.865s.  Like his team mate the day before, Vettel managed to put in over 100 laps, but he was interestingly a little cautious about singing his cars' praises too much.

It was another great day for Torro Rosso who seem to be looking very competitive in all of the pre season tests so far.  Sebastien Buemi finished second and was able to cover an epic 120 laps.  

Yet again Renault looked impressive with Vitaly Petrov finishing third having also covered over 100 laps. 

However, whilst the likes of Torro Rosso and Renault look to be making positive steps forward, it looks more and more likely that McLaren are taking a step backwards.

Lewis Hamilton may have finished fourth quickest, but a hydraulics leak, followed by an exhaust failure all meant that McLaren only recorded 57 laps.  Following this performance, Lewis Hamilton more or less admitted that in its current state the McLaren MP4-26 wasn’t going to be a Title contender.

Felipe Massa opened Ferrari’s final test with a full evaluation programme.  Massa finished the day in fifth and Ferrari were happy with the information they had gathered.

Force India and Sauber continued with their positive tests.  Paul di Resta finished sixth for Force India and Kamui Kobayashi was happy enough with P7.

Mercedes’s first day out in Barcelona was mixed.  Nico Rosberg managed to finish eighth having evaluated his team’s new upgrades.  However, the team's day was cut short when the new bodywork had some 'issues'.

Lotus, Williams and Vigin  all had an OK  days testing.  Jarno Trulli finished in P9 for Lotus and was ‘pretty happy’.  Pastor Maldonado finished in P10 for Williams and Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio finished P11 having suffered from an electrical problem.

On the third day of testing, Red Bull were finally nudged off the top spot thanks to a 1:21:761 by Sauber’s Sergio Perez.  Sauber suffered a small KERS issue which cut their full programme short, but they were still very pleased with the result. 

Felipe Massa continued to build on the Ferrari 150th Italia’s promise by finishing second having carried out some aero comparisons.  That was Massa’s last time in the car before Melbourne, but I think the Ferrari man will be more than happy with his work so far.

Red Bull and Williams both had strong, comfortable days.  Mark Webber was quietly confident in P3, and Rubens Barrichello was P4.   

Mercedes GP substantially upgraded their car for the final test having had a pretty mixed pre-season. Michael Schumacher seemed pleased with the developments and finished a strong P5.

Renault opted to test both drivers again on the third day.  Nick Heidfeld continued to look promising, finishing P6, but Vitaly Petrov’s day was cut short with KERS problems.  Petrov ended the day in P8.

Lotus also chose to field both drivers, and funnily enough, Lotus also experienced a mixed result. Heikki Kovalainen was pleased with P7, but Jarno Trulli’s day was effectively killed by technical issues. (Trulli finished P12).

Force India, Torro Rosso, and Virgin all had a productive day.  Adrian Sutil finished P9 for Force India, Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio ended up P10 and P11 respectively.

McLaren weren’t in action on Thursday.  Though the test is five days long, the teams are only allowed four days—(I don't know why?).  Anyway, whilst most teams were going for a ‘four in a row’ option, McLaren decided to have one day's break in the middle so that any spare parts had plenty of time to be delivered if needed. 

By day four I expect Mercedes GP were pretty pleased with their steps forward.  Michael Schumacher ended Friday on top with a 1:21.249, whilst his team mate Nico Rosberg finished up third (Rosberg only got an hours testing so not bad eh?).  Of course, this isn’t Brawn 2009 all over again, but it is interesting to see new bits working well quickly.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had yet another trouble free and positive session, he finished second.

Renault suffered from a gear box issue, but Nick Heidfeld still managed fourth.  Williams fielded both drivers and had a mixed day.  Rubens Barrichello finished P5, whilst Pastor Maldonado could only manage P12 having suffered from engine problems. 

Sauber, Toro Rosso and Red Bull all had a productive Friday.  Kamui Kobayashi was P6 for Sauber despite technical issues.  Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari finished P7, and Sebastian Vettel ended up P8 for Red Bull.

Lotus and Force India also had good days finishing P9 (Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus), P10 (Paul di Resta, Force India) and P11 (Adrian Sutil, Force India).  Both teams were happy with their performances.

It wasn’t such a good day for McLaren though, who yet again failed to impress when Jenson Button ended the day in P13.  Button only managed 57 laps, but was quick to point out that he thought the car was fast, just not very reliable at the moment.

Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio closed out the time sheets in P14.

HRT had planned to take part in the final day of practice with their new F111 (which was unveiled on Friday), but their dampers got held up Spanish customs!  

They didn’t miss much though as the final day of pre-season testing was practically useless as the remaining teams fought with heavy rain rather than each other.

The weather was so bad that only three drivers completed competitive laps.  (Though the only teams present were Ferrari, Williams, Mercedes and McLaren).

Nico Rosberg did what he could in the rain to test his team’s new additions and though the wet track was an issue, no doubt Mercedes GP will be happy to have finished the final session on top.  Rosberg set a pole time of 1:43:814.

William’s driver Pastor Maldonado was second, and Lewis Hamilton ended McLaren’s frankly dismal pre-season tests in P3.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher didn’t record times and Ferrari began clearing up almost 30 minutes before the session's scheduled finishing time.

The rain was a real blow for McLaren who are now one of only two teams who failed to carry out a race simulation with their new car.  (The other team being HRT).  There really isn’t much else to say about Saturday’s session!

So what, if anything has changed since what I thought was the last test in Barcelona a few weeks ago?

Well, Red Bull and Ferrari still seem to be the teams to beat.  Ferrari have had a fantastic pre-season and even Red Bull are worried about the Scuderia.  Both teams also seem to have very strong and positive driver line ups.

Mercedes GP have had a slow start to testing but seem to have improved with every edition to the car. I still don’t think that the Merc will be a Title contender, but I think their performance at this final test has indicated possible race wins in the future.  One of Brawn GP’s biggest problems was a pretty poor development over 2009, but if Mercedes GP can improve their car as quickly as they seem to be, that can only be a good thing.

Not a lot has changed in my mind about 2011’s mid-field.  I still strongly believe that we are about to see the best mid-field for a long time—possibly ever!  I believe (and hope), we’ll see Renault, Force India, Williams, Torro Rosso and Sauber all jostling for points and even podiums.

I’m also feeling positive about the back of the pack.  The likes of Lotus, Virgin and HRT have showed promise in the pre-season build up.  I don’t think we’ll have the same terrible slowness from 2010 at the back, and we might even see some points finishes.

That just leaves McLaren then.  It seems that since 2009 McLaren have started the season on a back foot.  Everyone agreed the 2009 car started terribly but by the end of the season the car had significantly improved.  Though 2010’s car was a race winner by Australia, I think you could argue that it wasn’t as good as it could have been.

Basically, I think McLaren have got into a bit of a situation where they start a season below where they want to be, build the car into something much better by the end, but ultimately hinder next year's car by constantly catching up.

I think Jenson Button is right, the car is probably good and yes its' results are probably unfairly hindered by reliability issues.  

The problem is, whilst I have no doubt those issues will be ironed out as the season continues, by the time they are gone, so too will be the front runners.