Posts Tagged Jerez

It’s been a very interesting few days for the teams testing in Jerez. This is the first and last time that all 10 teams will test before the first race in Melbourne. The big surprise was the performance of Brawn GP, with Jenson Button behind the steering wheel. The team has not had any technical problems whatsoever, with Button racking up more than 130 laps. This is pretty amazing in itself, considering that this is the first real test of the BGP001. However, what’s even more incredible is the speed of the car. Button managed to post a lap time more than a second quicker than Felipe Massa in the Ferrari, on the third day of testing. While this may not be completely representative of the true pace of the Brawn versus the other teams, it is hugely impressive.

Ferrari has also stunned in Spain, with the F60 consistently being at the top or near the top of the timesheets. While the team has had a lot of reliability bugs to sort out, Kimi Raikonnen has mentioned that the team expects to have the car completely ready for Melbourne. He has also said that they have not really tried to post a stunning lap-time yet, as the team has focused on longer stints and full race simulations.

BMW Sauber has also shown a lot of promise, with Kubica only 0.05 seconds slower than the Ferrari on day 3. During all tests the team has just shadowed Ferrari, needing just a little bit more performance to eclipse the red car.

The mid-field at the test is made of the usual teams. Renault and Toyota are trying really hard to find some extra speed in their cars, and to pull clear of the mid-field. Red Bull, Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso makes up the rest of the teams expected to be in the second half of the grid.

The big disappointment during the test week has been the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers have been at the bottom of the timesheets every day. Although Lewis had a small accident which damaged his front wing, it is speculated that the MP4-24 has some serious aerodynamic problems, especially with the rear wing. The team has been running the 2008 spec wing for most tests up to this point, with new parts being added and changed all the time. This is worrisome for the Woking-based squad, as the other front-runners have been focusing on getting their cars set up for Australia, not testing new parts. Ron Dennis has repeatedly said that the team is doing fine, but it is becoming more and more obvious that they are in trouble.

Brawn GP may prove to be the big surprise of 2009. It would be ironic if the team who mashed together a car at the last minute, with a Honda chassis and Mercedes engine ends up outperforming most of the other teams. Plus the Brawn looks beautiful, perhaps even more so than the McLaren. This season may just prove an old saying in motorsport: if a car is beautiful, it will be quick.