In the cold light of day

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Written by Kate Walker

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 17:58

Felipe Massa topped the time sheets all day Monday. The Ferrari must be fabulous. German legend Michael Schumacher has already shown teammate Nico Rosberg who’s boss, hammering home Rubens Barrichello’s advice that the young German should get out of Mercedes to save his career. But surprise of the day was Pedro de la Rosa, putting in good times with the Sauber, and topping the time sheets for a while. And now let’s get back to the real world.

The above paragraph is complete and utter nonsense. Sure, everything I’ve written is something that actually happened at Valencia yesterday, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth believing. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again – you simply cannot read anything into the lap times we’re getting right now. That said, there are a couple of lessons we can take from the first test day.

Lesson 1. The Sauber is likely to post a lot of quick lap times in the coming weeks. You may have noticed on Sunday that the Hinwil machine is somewhat bereft of decals. I like the sleek look of the car, but looks aren’t everything – every inch of blank space on the C29 is another hole in Peter Sauber’s bank account. In order to attract sponsors and cash, the team needs to convince potential investors that the car is capable of delivering this year. Best way to do that? Test on as many light fuel loads as you can get away with, so that people begin to associate the car with speed and a good position on the lap boards. You should expect similar behaviour from the other sponsorship-light teams when they turn up, although Renault are looking like the exception to prove the rule. As ever.

This isn’t to denigrate the achievements of de la Rosa or teammate Kamui Kobayashi, who was also posting fast laps. Before the teams broke for lunch on Tuesday, the Japanese newbie was second on the leader board, with a lap time of 1.12.056s. Both men are talented drivers, and if the car can deliver then they should be competitive. I take some reassurance from the 74 laps Sauber posted yesterday – I don’t know how many of those were long stints to check overall performance and fuel consumption, and how many were hot laps designed to impress, but the car doesn’t seem to have reliability issues, which is always a bonus.

Lesson 2. Ferrari will be running long and running hard, squeezing as much out of the testing as they possibly can. We’ve all heard the rumours about a B-spec car. The current rumour making the rounds is the far less surprising news that the prancing horses are having trouble with fuel efficiency. It’s common knowledge that the Ferrari engine was one of the thirstiest on the 2009 grid, so it’s hardly surprising that this year’s effort is having trouble. Sure, the boys at Maranello have been working on improving fuel efficiency, but it takes a lot more work to get from -10 to 10 than it does from 0 to 10. Even if Ferrari have made greater strides than any other engine supplier, they were starting from so far back that they needed added effort just to equalise, not to dominate.

If Ferrari’s main concern is getting their machine around a race distance at maximum fuel efficiency, you can expect to see more of the long-running stints Massa did on Monday. The car’s pace seems to be pretty reliable, irrespective of the unknown fuel loads they’ve been running. Massa was top of the time sheets for Monday morning and afternoon, and topped them again on Tuesday morning. If he’s running long stints on heavy fuel, that’s very impressive. Not sure whether the plaudits should be heaped on car or driver (I’m thinking the latter for now…), but Massa has certainly shown he didn’t lose the instinct for speed or circuit driving during his long recuperation, and for that we can all be thankful.

Lesson 3. Reliability rocks. The one thing we do know is that none of the cars spontaneously combusted while going round the track, which is always good news. And no, winter testing isn’t known for its history of spontaneous combustion, but anything can happen when cars are taken out for their first few runs, and it was good to see a fairly trouble-free Monday. Robert Kubica was posting some slow lap times in the Renault, but reliability wasn’t an issue. In fact, the only car to present major difficulties on Monday was the Toro Rosso.

The Italian outfit are beginning their first season as a manufacturer, although some common parts are still allowed. The STR5 is a good-looking machine, and the placement of the decals is very seductive. Unfortunately, good looks aren’t everything. Monday’s session was cut short after 18 laps due to gearbox issues, but everything looked to be working well on Tuesday morning – Sebastian Buemi was a second off the ‘pace’, although we’re in the dark about fuel loads, and he was able to run 41 laps before breaking for lunch.

And that’s all, folks. Massa is back, and he was top of the timings, but all we really know is that the Brazilian is back behind the wheel and seemingly back on form. Cars without significant sponsorship are going to be out to impress over the next few weeks. Based on the past day and a half, the designers and engineers look to have delivered reliable cars. Give it a couple more weeks, keep an eye on who’s consistently on top and the lengths of their stints, and we might just know who’s going to blow us away from March to November. Kate Walker for Girlracer Magazine www.girlracer.co.uk