Testing times

We've had two four day tests and at the time of writing all the cars had just pulled into the garage for lunch at the circuit de Catalunya, just outside of Barcelona, leaving just a day and a half to go for the teams to get it right. Two weeks tomorrow the opening round in Australia would have been and gone, we'd know who our first winner was and have our first answers as to who will be king in 2015.

Testing goes a long way to ironing out the little problems that can be so catastrophic during a race. Getting the miles on the car, understanding it, lap by lap knowing what it will do and then extracting that performance and more. Below are some photos taken from autosport.com from the first test at Jerez and the last and current test outside of Barcelona.

There's been some cold mornings, but you'd expect that for winter testing!

Mercedes leapt out of the pits early in Jerez and despite a few hiccups along the way have continued logging the miles while hovering near the top of the times despite running slower tyres.

Lotus look in better shape this year after switching to Mercedes power.

Ferrari made a spectacular start to testing in Jerez, but have since been a bit more circumspect. They've certainly made progress over the winter though.

Sauber have been relaxing at the top of the times a lot, which goes to show never trust testing times. However, they look like they'll be a bit more competitive after last years nil points campaign. A further good sign for the progress Ferrari have made with their power unit.

It's been a troubling start for the reunion of McLaren Honda. They've not got many laps on the board, and there have been many problems.

Consequently returnee Fernando Alonso has been hanging around the garage a lot. After his accident last week, he's had to skip the final test and there are even doubts he could make it to Australia. A lot of mystery seems to surround what happened.

However, progress was made yesterday at McLaren. Jenson Button managed 100 laps yesterday. I think McLaren could be dark horses for a few wins this year, their chassis is looking a lot better while the Honda has plenty of untapped potential.

Red Bull may well have slipped down the order a bit. Adrian Newey has taken a step back from design duties, although still a great influence but they haven't set the world alight over the winter. I think Ricciardo should have the measure of Kvyat too. Never rule this team out. Renault's power unit still seems out of sorts too.

The Toro Rosso is apparently a bit skittish, but Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jnr have logged plenty of miles as they aim to get up to speed. Their combined age is just 37, but both, Verstappen in particular look at ease in the car. Expect some action from these guys.

Williams have kept themselves to themselves, but again have managed plenty of miles and not really gone for out and out pace during testing.

Mercedes have just kept on sorting everything out but Nico Rosberg served a statement of intent when they finally stuck on some soft compound tyres and blitzed everyone with a time 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else that day.

Force India missed the first test, only had their 2014 car for the second test and then only brought out their 2015 cars at the second day of this final test. Still it seemed reliable out of the box, they just need to get as much mileage as they can.

Grosjean has been pushing the Lotus, he deserves to have a decent car to allow him to attack for podiums once again, although I think he may have to settle for points.

Kimi Raikkonen had actual enthusiasm for his new Ferrari. After a terrible year last year, this car seems far more suited to his style of driving. Watch out for a return to form from Kimi.

If anyone is going to be the Mercedes main rival this year, it looks like Williams have kept up the momentum from a great 2014 to push even harder in 2015. They've shown their hand a little over the first couple of days of the final test, I think they may grab a win this year. Whether it's Bottas or Massa is too close to call.

Don't rule out Vettel getting a win in his debut season for Ferrari. He topped the times on the opening two days in Jerez, the car seems a lot more suited to him than last years Red Bull. He also seems to have acquired renewed motivation, Ferrari look to have turned a corner.

Great news that Manor (formerly Marussia) look like they should be back on the grid for Australia. They're looking to race a modified 2014 car with a 2015 machine on the way. Good luck to them.

Meanwhile the rest have two more days to get some laps in, get reliability and most importantly the speed.

At Mercedes though, it looks effortless. It's going to take a lot to beat the Silver Arrows in 2015. 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

FIA look to ban FRIC suspension systems

According to autosport.com the Front-and-Rear Interconnected Suspension that most teams use in Formula 1 could be banned before the German Grand Prix. The FIA has left the door open for the ban to be put back until 2015 but that will require unanimous support from all the teams.

Mercedes are thought to have the most advanced system and one which is one of the major strengths of their current dominant car. The chances of all teams agreeing to delay the ban then are slim one would have thought as some teams may not have the system or cannot work it as well as others so it may advantage them to see it banned sooner rather than later.

I'm sure Mercedes doesn't see it like that as it appears to be an integral part of their car. Apparently the FIA wrote to the teams on Tuesday to tell them they believe the system to be illegal. So what does FRIC suspension do? Well it's sort of trying to mimic active suspension which adjusted itself to stabilise the car which then helps with the aerodynamics.

In a note Autosport has seen Charlie Whiting, FIA technical delegate says this: "Having now seen and studied nearly every current design of front to rear linked suspension system we, the FIA, are formally of the view that the legality of all such systems could be called into question."

This is because the system is not rigidly fixed to car, so therefore could be seen as a moveable aerodynamic device which is outlawed in Article 3.15.

To me it seems strange that it is suddenly banned when nearly halfway through a season. I'm aware it isn't uncommon for the FIA to change things part way through a season, such as what happened with Pirelli last year. However just because they've done it before doesn't make it right. In fact I've never seen it as the right thing to do because it changes the playing field. Why should a team suffer when they've designed something that up to now was legal? These sort of decisions should be made in the off season if it's a system that is already being used.

By all means if a team invent something during the system and it's a little dodgy then ban it, but if most have had this system when the season start to ban it now does seem unfair. 

Teams have been running their cars in this kind of configuration since testing started in January, how can it now be illegal? Ok they've said they have just finish studying 'nearly every current system' but it has been around for a few years now, and Renault introduced a version as far back as 2008, so the FIA have known about it for a while.

I do find it a strange thing to do, especially less than two weeks before the next race with minimal chance to test. The last day of testing at Silverstone is tomorrow, (Felipe Massa was fastest today) I hope the teams see sense and delay the ban until 2015, but as the autosport article notes, if one teams design isn't that good or if even they don't have a version of this then why should anyone else benefit? If a team then chooses to run it in Germany, then a team could make an official protest if the FIA's opinion is that it is illegal.

I'm sure this will cause a fair amount of controversy, but lets see what happens first, I hope any such ban is held back to 2015. Although again as I have written before, it might be against the moveable aerodynamic devices rule but I hate seeing Formula 1 being so consistently constrained by the rules. I know they do it for money reasons, but this is the most advanced motor sport, could we stop trying to standardise everything and let the teams breathe and invent so the best drivers in the world can thrash these devices around a track. This is meant to be a breeding ground for creativity that should be allowed to flourish. 

Anyway, that's another story, as for this story it should be watched with interest and if a ban does come in it'll be very interesting to see which teams benefit and which teams don't and if the pecking order changes at all.