...Because teams are testing. I was browsing my usual sources for auto racing news today, and I realized that F1, WEC and IndyCar are all in their preseason testing cycles, which means we have stuff to talk about that isn't me telling stories from the Rolex 24.
Let's start with WEC. I know that just the other day I was complaining that open car development isn't everything, but I love WEC because that's where the weird cars live. So far, the news stories I'm seeing have to do with the the big four in LMP1, Audi, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan. Nissan is testing at Circuit of the Americas, but I haven't heard any news, other then they are testing. Audi just finished a test at Motorland Aragon in Spain, while Toyota has tested at Motorland Aragon as well as France's Paul Ricard circuit. Both Toyota and Audi are staying pretty tight lipped about their test results, but both claim to be happy with their cars. About the biggest news to come from Toyota is that they are sticking with their current super capacitor hybrid system as opposed to a battery system (more on hybrid systems in a while). I'll be honest, I don't really know what any of that electrical engineering stuff means. Porsche also recently finished testing their latest 919 in Bahrain. Their team principle claims that the 2015 Porsche driver squad reports that the car is more drivable then last years. Which I guess is better then the alternative. So, to recap the testing results for the four big WEC teams, things are coming along well, but what else would you expect the teams to say?
Here's where things get interesting with regards to WEC in my opinion. Megajoules. Nissan is rumored to be chasing the 8MJ hybrid class, as is Toyota (which is currently in the 6MJ class). Audi is looking to move up from 2MJ to 4MJ, and Porsche says they are currently evaluating which megajoule class they want to enter (currently, the 919 is a 6MJ car). I was reading the dead tree edition of Racecar Engineering a while back, and they were saying that one of the major advantages Toyota had over Audi in 2014, at least in terms of pace, is that Toyota had a megajoule advantage. Specifically, Toyota's decision to use a 6MJ design gave them a pace advantage over Audi 2MJ. It looks like everyone this year is trying to up their megajoule game, so if either Toyota, Nissan or Porsche can hit 8MJ, that could give them a significant advantage over the competition. I also speculate that as soon as a team hits the currently elusive 8MJ mark, it will start a hybrid arms race, as the other teams try and catch up, or be relegated to the dust bin of hybrid history. Despite the two preceding paragraphs of stuff, any serious discussion of this year's Le Man's competitors is premature until the hybrid systems are finalized and we have some comparative lap times.
[NOTE FROM THE RACING NERD: If you're reading my discussion on hybrid classes screaming that I'm an idiot, I agree. Also, I feel WEC hybrid subclasses deserves it's own discussion. A full article discussing Audi 4MJ car versus Toyota, Nissan and Porsches 6MJ and/or 8MJ cars is coming].
Which brings us to Formula 1, where we actually do have comparative lap times. F1 finished their first preseason test in Jerez Spain about two weeks ago, and shockingly, Ferrari power topped the lap times. It's hard to judge the truth of preseason lap times since you don't know the cars fuel load or what the team was trying to accomplish with their testing, but I'm having a hard time believing that Ferrari was the only team hammering out laps while everyone else was just cruising. Is Ferrari Mercedes fast now? Probably not, but it is definitely looking good for the red cars with the prancing horses on the side.
And speaking of Mercedes, the Silver Arrows cars were working on reliability. Despite being dominate last year, Mercedes had a few technical glitches to iron out, like when Louis Hamilton's car burst into flames in Hungary. Mercedes turned an insane amount of laps more then everyone else in Jerez, and if I was the other teams, this would make me nervous for two very specific reasons. First, Mercedes wasn't working on race pace. Even though Ferrari topped the lap times, Mercedes was still quick, and they had the fastest strait line speed by 7kph. The speed trap numbers obviously don't tell the whole story since Max Verstappen's Torro Rosso and Marcus Ericsson's Sauber-Ferrari were both faster then Kimi Raikonnen through the trap. (Hands up, who things Max Verstappen is going to be faster then Kimi Raikonnen when the F1 season starts proper in Australia? No one? Didn't think so.) So, while strait line speed doesn't necessarily equal quick lap times, it does prove they have plenty of horsepower, and with that the potential to be plenty quick. Lap time just wasn't the focus at Jerez. Therefore, if Mercedes can be competitive when they aren't focusing on lap time, how quick will they be when they actually put in some effort? Second, like I said, Mercedes turned a lot of laps. I haven't seen a break down of number of laps per stint for Mercedes, but I have to assume the answer is a lot, I just can't imagine them getting the mileage they did by turning a lot of short, low fuel runs. So, if the car was loaded down with a lot of fuel, it makes sense that they were weren't number one on the lap time charts. If a Mercedes full of fuel can run lap times competitive to cars on lighter fuel loads (assuming the others cars where on lighter fuel loads), I'm going to nervous about the speed of my car compared to the Mercedes under similar fuel loads, like you get during race conditions. Just because Mercedes wasn't the quickest at Jerez, I still think they're going to have the fastest car on race day.
Which brings us to McLaren. I can't help but wonder if Fernando Alonso is regretting his career choices right now. His old ride at Ferrari looks like it could be a contender this year, and his new ride at McLaren looks like it might struggle to get out of the pit lane without embarrassing itself. If you didn't hear, Honda had serious reliability problems at Jerez, and Alonso was a full 30kph slower through the speed trap then Mercedes. That's not good. Will Honda get the biggest of their problems figured out before the first race? More then likely. Will that engine be competitive with Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault? Now that is a much better question. I keep reading internet commentators claiming that Honda had a design advantage. Honda got to build an engine from scratch with a year's worth of data on the current V6 turbo formula. Where would Honda get this data? Did they call up Mercedes and ask "can we have all your test data and design files?" Of course not. The other three engine supplies have a year worth of data, Honda has squat, and they're trying to play catch up, and as a result McLaren is currently stuck with a lemon. I just hope Ron Dennis bought the extended warranty.
And then there's IndyCar. They're testing at New Orleans Motorsport Park. Which is a thing. I guess. You see, the teams are using the old Dallara road course aero components, which is funny, because now that Brazil is cancelled, those old cars won't actually be raced in this years IndyCar season. I guess teams and drivers are learning the ins and outs of NOLA, but other then that, I'm not really sure what IndyCar is trying to accomplish with this test. I did hear Simon Pagenaud saying that he expects good racing for the NOLA race, Which is good. I guess. Let's be brutally honest with ourselves, you can parade the cars around all you want, but IndyCar testing doesn't really start until teams take delivery of the new aero kits. At that point they can start figuring out how to get the most speed out of the 2015 cars. Still, it's good to see the DW12's back on the track, even if they're just wandering around aimlessly.
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