Winter testing begins

The garage doors will be opened in Jerez, Spain tomorrow (1st February) as winter testing starts in what will be the opening skirmishes of the 2015 title fight. Despite my previous rant about the state of Formula 1, which if you so desire can be read here, there is a lot to get excited about.

All the teams apart from Force India are present at the opening test. Force India are saying it's so they can have extra development time, although with their owners under investigation for money related activities in India, I really hope it's not because the team have money troubles of their own.

As anticipation builds towards the first race of the season in Australia on March 15th, here's a few things I, and I'm sure you will be excited about in the run up to the lights going out and the action starts.

I think the first thing I have to mention is Fernando Alonso's return to McLaren after their acrimonious split in 2007. Alonso is accepting he will need patience as McLaren and the returning Honda get used to each other again. But how long will that patience last? I can't wait to see how these great power houses of Formula 1 gel together. McLaren have taken a new design direction while it'll be interesting to see how Honda perform after watching the other three manufacturers for a year. Will they have learnt from others mistakes?

I'm equally looking forward to seeing how Jenson Button stacks up against his Spanish team mate this year. Button stepped up when paired with Lewis Hamilton and I've a feeling he's going to give Alonso a much tougher time than anticipated.

Will Mercedes still be the dominant force? Over the winter Renault and Ferrari successfully argued they should be allowed to develop their power units throughout the season rather than stop at the end of February. They will still only be allowed to change a certain amount but they can extend their development times as they try to catch up to the Silver Arrows squad. Of course this also means Mercedes can continue developing, and Honda have now been given the go ahead to continue working on their engine too. 

It all means it should be closer, but with such a head start for Mercedes it's going to be tough to catch the works squad which could mean it's another head to head between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton could return serene in his accomplishment of last year and go on to higher heights and dominate, or Rosberg will have learnt what he needs to do to get into Hamilton's head and take it to him in a wheel to wheel battle. That's a situation I'm looking forward to seeing.

Daniel Ricciardo returns with Red Bull, if Renault have done a halfway decent job in improving their power unit, I think he could be a dark horse for the title. I look forward to seeing how Daniil Kvyat copes with being pushed into the big time. Ricciardo handled it well, but does Kvyat have that mental strength?

Sticking with the Red Bull world, how will two rookies in Toro Rosso cope without anyone to learn off? Well Ricciardo managed, and Max Verstappen comes into the sport at only 17 years old with just one years car racing experience and a few F1 practice sessions but he is also being touted as the next big thing. Will he handle that pressure? I think he will, from interviews and how he manages himself, he's going to go at his own pace, but expect good things. Carlos Sainz Jnr has had success in junior formulae, and a lot more experience than Verstappen whilst also being three years older. If he doesn't beat him, could this be a one year adventure for the young Spaniard?

Ferrari's new car looks spectacular, although Sebastian Vettel in red takes some getting used to. Technical director James Allison says the car should suit Kimi Raikkonen a lot more than the monster that was last years Ferrari, so hopefully we'll see Kimi able to drive to a higher level than he was able to show in 2014. Whatever the situation with Kimi, whether fair or not, if Vettel doesn't thrash him like Alonso then people are going to judge his titles even less favourably especially after the beating he took from Ricciardo at Red Bull last season.

Ferrari have been in turmoil and this is a building year for the Scuderia, nevertheless, I'd like to see both drivers find their feet again in this still new Formula 1 that both struggled with last year. A change of scenery for Vettel after being with Red Bull so long will re-motivate him as he looks to build Ferrari back into a winning force.

I hope Williams build upon their brilliant 2014 and are able to challenge for wins. They've got the driver line up to really push on, and an ever improving and cohesive technical team, I believe they could be challengers this year if they are consistent.

Lotus now have the same Mercedes power unit, so it would be nice to see Romain Grosjean back up there and they're already talking of targeting Williams. Force India will want to aim for the top five especially with a driver line up of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez while Sauber will be wanting to score points after their pointless campaign in 2014.

At the time of writing both Marussia and Caterham are still looking to find ways back to the grid, but it's highly unlikely.

At this time of year there's always a lot of questions with very little answers. Testing never gives a full picture but hints will start from tomorrow.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Formula 1 needs to get its house in order

Formula 1 never sleeps. It’s only been a short few months since Lewis Hamilton won his second world championship and already the teams are preparing to commence battle once again as testing kicks off tomorrow at Jerez in Spain. The preparation started long ago, and developments will be coming thick and fast from the first test onwards.

Of course a sport that never sleeps sometimes suffers from sleep depravation which is why Formula 1 seems to make so many issues for itself. Bernie Ecclestone has been brilliant in building Formula 1 up to the global phenomenon it is today but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t got some things wrong.

In fact as the 2015 machines take to the track there’s a lot of issues still raging. How can a sport which generates billions not keep 12 teams on the grid? Why are classic races being forced off the calendar making way for countries which have no hope of filling the grandstands? Why are the tickets so outrageously expensive?

The answer to most of these is money and the private equity firm CVC which Bernie sold the promotional rights to while still running the sport himself. They do little promoting though but are more than happy to suck every last penny out of the sport while seeing it go to pot.

We should’ve been rejoicing about what sensational power units were created last year, how efficient but fast they were not how quiet they were. Yes, the noise takes away a little impact live, but once the race is underway you soon forgot it and on television it doesn’t matter.

We should have been remarking how excellent the racing was, how close the wheel to wheel combat was and what a brilliant fight to the end of the championship we had. But we didn’t, we talked about the sport losing viewers, teams falling off the grid, the uneven distribution of money for the teams.

These make people question the product, but there’s nothing wrong with what’s on the race track. They need to take a look at how it’s promoted. Reach out to the fans, to the younger viewers (note to Bernie, they’re important for the future) through social media, which even now is only just beginning to be looked at by the sport properly. Also maybe if you don’t want to lose viewers, don’t sell the television rights to pay TV channels. Now there’s a thought.

This has all been created by Bernie, or if you want to go further back to 2000 by the FIA’s then president Max Mosley selling the commercial rights to Bernie for a cheaper than cheap fee and for 100 years at that. It enabled Bernie to do what he does best and make money and dividing the teams with various commercial deals that split the grid into haves and the have absolutely nothing.

There’s plenty of detail that can be gotten into, but the gist of it is that Formula 1 which has the fastest cars in the world supposedly driven by the best drivers now has less than 20 cars on the grid, many of which are driven by drivers who have to bring a tremendous amount of sponsorship to even get a seat, usurping many better drivers who simply don’t have the backing.

That’s not right for the supposed pinnacle of motor sport. Not that the teams will come together to thrash out appropriate cost reductions or the FIA will step in even though it is technically their championship. The FIA is weak while the teams mainly think only of themselves. It’s a survival of the fittest sport and none will want to give up an advantage.

I’m a huge fan of the sport, I love the idea of the best drivers, driven by such focus and desire to be the best in the world climbing into their state of the art machines and taking them to the edge. This is Formula 1 at its purest.

But it hasn’t been pure for a very long time, and there will continue to be clashes. In the end I just want to enjoy what’s on the track and as a fan I’m in mind to just ignore it and hope the problems go away and concentrate on the racing, which I think is the basic premise of most teams attitudes and particularly Bernie Ecclestone and CVC.

That’s not the way though, it’s time for a change and a fresh approach at the top of the sport, give the money to the teams, let them pick the best drivers, not the biggest wallet and open the sport to the fans and reduce costs for circuits so you don’t rip a hole in the traditions and soul of the sport. But the racing? Leave that alone, it’s great, time to start shouting positively about it as the cars hit the track.

all photos taken from autosport.com