Testing Review: 3rd & Final Winter Test (Barcelona, Spain)

That’s a wrap on winter testing for another year, and it’s perhaps harder than ever to tell the order of team performances. This is due to the new Pirelli tyres possibly being even more unpredictable and difficult to understand than the previous years. 

Pirelli Will Be A Huge Influence To The First Races Of The Season
(at least the hard and medium tyres have distinctive colours now!)

Tyres definitely are the focus still despite the rising temperatures we saw in the test, even at 24C the tyres were degrading, making race simulations and set-up work difficult and unreliable to a certain extent, which was emphasised by big names.

Defending champion Vettel took a review of the testing season - "if you sum up the whole three tests, we were all limited to what the tyres could do. It was extremely difficult to read some set-up changes and find a good direction with the car because the tyres were simply not good enough". 

Vettel Finding The Conditions A Bit Slippery 

Jenson Button seconded this. His confidence in his new McLaren has grown since he and Perez admitted set-up struggles, but the tyres have given inconclusive results, finding progression extremely slow.

Rain fell on day one and two of the test, so most of the action and what we can take from the test happened on day three and four naturally. Mercedes have been the headline grabbers with both Hamilton and Rosberg topping the timesheets on these days. All Mercedes personnel though both driver’s and management have been frequently suppressing the media’s expectations. Of course we can assume low fuel loads, but the times nevertheless were still widely considered remarkable by experts. 

Rosberg & Mercedes Have Much Potential 

Ferrari and Lotus have gone from extremely reliable to the least, bringing out the most number of red flags between them. Ferrari are hard to read in terms of pace particularly due to small amounts of high fuel runs, and with rivals McLaren are the most are the hardest to predict. I won’t be surprised if they are on pole or even in the middle of the grid amount 12th. Don’t be surprised yourself either.

In the midfield Adrian Sutil made his return to Force India after a year's absence, putting in some decent times, it will be interesting to see him up against Paul di Resta again, and perhaps one of the best teammate match ups to look out for this year. If di Resta wants to prove big teams that they missed a trick by not recruiting him, he needs to beat Sutil by a decent margin, and achieve some podiums like Perez, or competitively lead a grand prix like Hulkenberg in Brazil.

Alonso's F138 In The Heavy Rain

After Jules Bianchi lost out on the Force India seat to Sutil, simultaneously Razia's sponsor money from Brazil didn't clear into Marussia's account, and Bianchi quickly went from being disappointed to relieved. On day three, he finished half a second clear of the Caterham, which Chilton has found hard to do. Could be the gem of the back of the grid teams.

Jules Bianchi Debuting For Marussia

Next time we see the cars will be in PF1 in Melbourne!

Every race F1 Hub will bring a full Race Report, and throughout the seasons will be talking about both hot topics widely publicised, and unusual thoughts and reports.

Our website www.f1hub.co.uk will be launching in the next week before the start of the season!

Nick, F1Hub

Talking Point: London Grand Prix Fading Away

Having a Grand Prix in London? British or not, that's a pretty cool prospect. Yet many cities have had the prospect of attempting to host a race, most recently the titled 'Rome Grand Prix' was proposed in 2009, before being abandoned in early 2011 due to no support of local residents, no possible agreement to share the Italian Grand Prix with the most famous Italian track Monza. Rome instead turning attentions to a 2020 Olympic Bid.

The London Grand Prix was proposed by Bernie Ecclestone and sponsored by Santander, and the effort gone into making this city street circuit not a stop start and dull right handed corner track has been well placed. You can't tell me as a fan this video didn't or doesn't still excite you?

Bit Cheesy Production But Still An Impressive & Exciting Track

(also see a computerised on-board lap at the bottom of the article)

Until this coming year, Spain have been the sole nation to host more than one Formula One Grand Prix in a season for a large number of years, with Germany occasionally hosting races at both the Nurburgring and the Hockeinheimring. 


More than ever, countries from all across the world are bidding to host a race on the international circuit, which led to the argument that Spain should no longer have two races. Between this and financial troubles for both venues, the European slot in Valencia was taken away and replaced by the US Grand Prix in New Jersey, but this is now due to debut in 2014, alongside the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi. 

Russia's Circuit In Sochi Has Venues From The 2014 Winter Olympic Games In The Surrounding Environment, Including The Striking & Unique Long Turn 3

That means if the Grand Prix calender in 2014 is to stay being 20 races or less, another existing race needs to be ditched, with the financially struggling and not amazingly popular Korean Grand Prix looking the most likely to concede at a best guess.

Nevertheless, with Argentina, South Africa, Thailand, France, and most recently/most promisingly Mexico all bidding for a slot over the next few years - having two United States races makes commericial and entertainment sense, but could the F1 calender contain a second British Grand Prix, even if it could be funded and be supported by London residents and government?

The Autodrome Hermanos Rodriguez was the venue for the Mexican Grand Prix, and is the most likely place to revive the Grand Prix, as it lies within the capital, Mexico City - Mexico now has two Mexican drivers, Perez & Gutierrez

Nigel Mansell won the last Mexican Grand Prix in his dominant 1992 season

Bernie Ecclestone certainly has been more complimentary of England recently, which despite being British himself is unusual.

"I think they did a good job with the Olympics," he said."It is the first time I have been proud of England. They showed that England can do it if they have to. The population was behind it. I just think that Formula One could do the same job for a lot less".

"Let's look at the worst-case scenario, which they wouldn't need to, and say a race in London costs them $50m (£31m) a year. Over 10 years that is $500m (£311m). What is that as a percentage of the £10bn they spent on the Olympics? And you are going to get good coverage for 10 years. When you think really and truly, the F1 industry is British. We have won more World Championships [than the foreign teams] and it is not government supported at all." 

He may be in his 80's but he's got a point!

If any country should have two races as well as the US, Great Britain is that place, perhaps with Italy and Germany as close runners up. Do you have a different opinion? If so then comment away!

As cool as it would be for so many reasons, but having being barely mentioned in the public eye for many, many months; it may be a dream that does not come true.

Share your thoughts on the London Grand Prix, and any other Formula One calender opinions by commenting below!

Nick, F1 Hub

A computer simulated lap of the London Grand Prix track onboard

Testing Review: 2nd Winter Test (Barcelona, Spain)

As Formula One moved onto the second of the winter tests in Spain and the first at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, temperatures for the majority were still extremely low. Overall, the test has now given experts more information and analysis to get a slightly better picture where teams performances are... 

Mark Webber & Red Bull Doing Pit Stop Practice

The low temperatures became a main talking point of the test though, as it had a major influence over the tyre performance of the new Pirelli’s for the 2013 season. First brought up by Sergio Perez and later followed up by others. 

The graining was initially a worry, with the surface of the tyre tearing up after merely one or two laps, as the energy in the rubber simply runs out because of the loss of temperature and pressure – quite an incredible feat, with Perez evening stating if it were the same at the first race in Melbourne, to expect between seven and ten stops.

However, more experienced drivers indicated that this sort of degradation is usual for the cold conditions of pre-season testing as thermal degradation kicks in. Nevertheless, it is still believed some races may be contain many pit stops, producing the sort of race strategies we saw at the start of 2011.

Van Der Garde's Stricken Caterham Doing One Of Eight Red Flags On A Wet Day Four

As in the last two seasons though, as grand prix take place, teams will learn how to manage the tyres. One team who seem to have carried on their trend of being tyre-kind from 2012 is Lotus, with Grosjean racking up 24 laps on a medium tyre which impressed many.

Grosjean and Webber on day 3 ran a race sim at the same time, with Webber in the Red Bull only out racing the Lotus overall by a mere two seconds. Many experts are predicting massively close times, both in qualifying and in races. To emphasise this see the top ten times by drivers over the four days, as they cover less than one second. Of course, we don’t know fuel loads and therefore can’t assume everything, but having seven different teams in the top ten is a stand out fact here. I won’t be surprised to see this as the case in Melbourne.

     1)      Sergio Perez [McLaren] 1.21.848

     2)      Fernando Alonso [Ferrari] 1.21.875

     3)      Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber] 1.22.160

     4)      Romain Grosjean [Lotus] 1.22.188

     5)      Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull] 1.22.197

     6)      Nico Rosberg [Mercedes] 1.22.611

     7)      Pastor Maldonado [Williams] 1.22.675

     8)      Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus] 1.22.697

     9)      Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] 1.22.726

     10)   Valtteri Bottas [Williams] 1.22.826

Day four saw various times of rain for the drivers, with eight red flags came out with various spins off the circuit costing over an hour of overall track time. This only allowed Bianchi who is gunning for the final Force India seat to slip and slide around, but he did an impressive job considering no doubt. The day before Adrian Sutil piloted the orange and green car for the first time since late 2011, it is now up the Force India board to put us out of our misery and finally decide on the seat hopefully before the third and final test so they can put in the miles they need.

Sutil Keeping His Fingers Crossed To Resign With Force India Ahead Of Rookie Bianchi

Hamilton set the best time in the rain, but despite the Mercedes looking quite quick and Rosberg expressing his confidence in the car in comparison to last year, Lewis refuses to let on any belief that the car is capable of fighting for podiums and victories at the beginning of the season. Perhaps he is managing his expectation so any good results that come their way becomes a huge high rather than a relief.

Whilst Perez topped the timesheets overall, Jenson Button has admitted that McLaren have had ‘a tricky winter so far’, and that ‘at times the car feels good; at other times it doesn’t’ - classic Button! Infact, some experts have begun to believe that it is unsurprisingly Red Bull, but with Lotus joining them at the top in terms of race pace, and perhaps McLaren third.

Lotus Could Improve Once Again This Year After An Impressive 2012 Campaign

This leaves the last top team Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso making his 2013 bow over the first three days of the test, and poor Felipe Massa setting times in the rain on day four. Whilst they don’t seem to have fallen to the lows of the start of 2012, Alonso dubbed their new F138 ‘okay’, further expanding that it feels more or less the same as where the predecessor was at the end of 2012.

In the terms of the midfield, Nico Hulkenberg has been impressive in his new Sauber team, as well as the new Williams FW35 which launched this week, despite the setback of having to replace their exhaust, which was declared illegal by the FIA as well as for the already slow Caterham who seem to have made no steps forwards at all disappointingly.

The third and final test starts this Thursday 28th February for four days. Next stop after, Melbourne! Check back for the review of the final test, right here at F1 Hub. Thanks for reading as always, please share and help build our Formula One online community.

Nick, F1 Hub

F1 Games Developer Codemasters Blog Praise

The F1 Hub blog currently is only advertised through Facebook pages primarily, and we have got some great praise considering how young the project is, only 4 months old. The blog has been since 1500 times in over 50 countries.

See More Photos At The Bottom!

To receive praise, no matter how short from Codemasters, the developer of the F1 games for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 & PC is very welcome and appreciated.

Our website is in full swing development at the moment and still hoping for launch before the new season starts. In the mean time, 'like' our facebook page and keep reading our blog!

If you're reading the blog for the first time, have a look at some of our articles, particularly our most popular 'Talking Point' blogs.

Nick, F1 Hub

BAR F1 Car Built In Shed By One Man

It's rare you get to see a Formula One car in real life, hear the sheer roar of the engine and admire the details that millions upon millions of pounds go into each year by each team. To see one every day would be quite special then wouldn't it for someone who doesn't work for a Formula One team huh?

No Massive McLaren Technology Centre Here - Just A Shed!

Kevin Thomas from Brighton however, wanted a Formula One car so badly he actually decided to take on the mammoth task of building one. Every year it takes years and hundreds of people to design and create one, but slowly bit by bit he has been putting together his own Formula One car, inspired by an old BAR (British American Racing).

He has begged and borrowed parts to get where he is today, starting with the chassis which he amazingly got from eBay, after contacting the seller personally. At many points he considered it perhaps impossible to gain all the parts, but he amazingly is left with one bit to get - the engine. 

Pretty Impressive For A One Man Band

The BAR his vehicle is inspired by runs with a 600 horsepower V10 engine used in that generation, before the V8's currently used, of which this season are using for the last time, before turbo V6's are used from next year onwards. Unless something extraordinary comes along, it seems Kevin will have to settle for something more realistic but still beyond the experiences that many could even imagine. "I'll probably go for a Formula Renault 3.5 litre engine, that will be plenty fast enough to scare the living daylights out of me!"

He'll never be able to generate the sort of downforce created by the BAR team themselves, but i'm sure a lot of you reading this will be quite envious! Nevertheless, some admiration and credit has to be given to the skill to put these components together, particularly the use of carbon fibre.

Kevin Leaves Near Brighton

I'm not sure of his intentions once a engine is fitted, but regardless, well done Mr Thomas, a credit to Formula One, motorsport, and engineering. I hope a Formula One team notices you for your efforts. 

Testing Review: 1st Winter Test (Jerez, Spain)

And the engines have started revving in 2013! And with that, mixed results from the first of three tests for the teams on the tricky Jerez circuit. With the notoriously abrasive surface at the Spanish track in comparison to the majority of the championship tracks tearing up the new Pirelli tyres, teams have been trying to understand what they can of them and their 2013 offices.

Sergio Perez aka Checo, making his McLaren bow

Testing got off to an awful start for McLaren as Jenson Button ground his new MP4-28 to a halt after just three laps on day one with a fuel pressure problem, the same problem that cost Lewis Hamilton a race win in Abu Dhabi last year. Meanwhile Perez got settled into his new office on day two and four, quietly making about his business. Nevertheless, Jenson ended up clocking the fastest time of day one with a 1.18.861 lap, almost 1 second faster than Mark Webber’s Red Bull despite only doing half the laps because of the earlier problem.

Webber and Vettel have both been doing long runs mainly, not showing their one-lap pace to any extent, which indicates they are likely using this unusual circuit to understand the tyres more so than the car, and waiting until the two tests in Barcelona to vary their programme. Overall the Bull still looks like the stomping force in downforce terms, but has been spotted by many as being a ‘one-line’ car, from which if the driver goes off the racing line it struggles to recovery quickly.

With Red Bull focussing on tyres though, have other top teams missed a trick here?

The Mercedes Started Badly On Day One

Similarly to Button on day one, Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes didn’t do too many more laps before smoke, then fire. This was followed on day two with Lewis Hamilton careering into the barriers at the end of the straight following a brake issue. 

Hamilton’s decision to join Mercedes was already looking down until day three and four, where the Mercedes W04 did 148 and 145 laps each impressively for Nico and Lewis respectively, effectively four race distances without a fault. The car looks fair in pace, but Lewis has admitted it has much less downforce than his 2012 McLaren as the design doesn’t have as many detailed aerodynamic parts to other top teams.

Hamilton Walking Away From His Wrecked Car After 15 Laps In A New Team

Fernando Alonso was a noticeable absence from testing, as the only race driver not at in Jerez, instead stating he is focusing on further fitness. Unofficially, many believe he’s waiting for the more significant tests in Barcelona which will show more than this week.

Massa looking to find his 2008 form, finished day three with a 1.17.879, one second faster than Button’s time on day one. He had earlier said how impressive Button’s time was, and to be fair it was, as the track evolves hour after hour of rubber being put down. On day four though, Pedro de la Rosa made his test debut for Ferrari, but lost the morning session after a fire from a gearbox failure. Regardless, Ferrari seemed not to be in the massive hole they dug themselves at the beginning of 2012, but likely behind Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus.

Pedro de la Rosa Had A Fiery Debut Also

Lotus have taken a noticeable step forward is Lotus who started well and finished well in 2012 as it was, but in 2013 are hitting the apexes from the outgo and some solid times, including topping day four with a 1.18.148 just ahead of Jules Bianchi in the Force India. Don’t be surprised to see Lotus fighting for top grid spots and podiums from the outgo again.

Essentially auditioning for the final Force India race seat, Bianchi was only 0.027 seconds behind Raikkonen, making his point noticeable to management. Fellow rookie Esteban Gutierrez has also impressed in the Sauber, putting in quick and consistent performance runs. 

The New Mexican In A Sauber Seat

Let’s hope he and fellow midfield rookie Valtteri Bottas for Williams thrill us this season. Williams are the only team not to run their 2013 car, and won’t until the second test in Barcelona now, as they similarly to Red Bull have concentrated on tyre knowledge.

The Toro Rosso looks as though they may struggle to improve on ninth position from last year, with the car quite slidey, but Riccardo and Vergne are clearly keen to push past this in the bid for a potential 2014 Red Bull drive.

Force India & Many Cars Attached Sensors To Gain Aerodynamic Data 

The Caterham looks like it has little grip in the corners, which may make it a fourth year of trying to catch the midfield and failing. Despite the higher budget, I won’t be surprised if Marussia finally break Caterham’s hold on tenth, as their basic car looks neat and tidy with more room for development, with Max Chilton and recently confirmed GP2 2012 runner-up Luis Razia at the wheel.

You can never take too much from winter tests to a certain extent but so far, it seems the running order may be extremely similar to last year. F1 Hub will be bringing a round up of the two Barcelona tests so check back soon!

Nick, F1 Hub

2013 Season Challengers

Here's a comparison of the car designs, features and liveries of the new 2013 challengers. 

To the naked eye of many there are similarities to last year's cars, but subtle evolution's for many may make huge steps forwards. Nevertheless the main technical focus seems to be the development of the front noses, with a big split between the stepped nose approach widely used in 2012. Take a look for yourself below.

BBC's technical analyst Gary Anderson after the Red Bull's unveiling today, "Overall, I'm not seeing the steps forward I saw on the McLaren, on which everywhere you looked you thought: 'Yep, that's better.' On the Red Bull, that's less so. More of it looks the same." 

Has Red Bull's 2012 championship charge right to the last race hindered their 2013 car even beyond Adrian Newey's capabilities?

Only time will tell starting from this Tuesday's first winter test until the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, where the World Champions are in the pecking order, and by what distance.

Check back for the last few new unveiling's soon.

Red Bull RB9

McLaren F138

Ferrari F138

Lotus E21

Mercedes F1 W04

Sauber C32

Force India VJM06

Williams FW35

Launch Date: Tuesday 19th February

Toro Rosso STR8

Caterham CT03

Marussia MR02

Check back for Williams unveilings on the 19th!

Nick, F1Hub