Trials of rigor before the European season
As the European season is set to begin in a week, with a host of new developments on most of the single-seaters, teams are preparing by conducting straight-line aerodynamic tests or promotional filming days.
In just over a week, the eleven Formula 1 teams will meet in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. This will mark the beginning of what is called the European season, an opportunity for all teams to bring more or less significant developments to their cars.
The teams should arrive with new front and rear wings, but also potentially new sidepods, exhausts, and other ingenious new ideas.
Even though testing is prohibited during the season, teams have two possible options available to test these new components before the start of the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix scheduled for Friday, May 10 at 10:00 am. They can conduct promotional filming – provided they cover less than 100 km with rain tires or specific Pirelli compounds – or carry out a straight-line aerodynamic test.
In recent days, several teams have conducted some tests, including the Lotus team, which entrusted an E21 slightly revised to Davide Valsecchi during a straight-line test at the Duxford airfield – hosting its first F1 since Maria de Villota’s accident at the wheel of a Marussia on July 3, 2012. The Enstone team was imitated by the Sahara Force India team, which had Conor Daly drive the VJM06 on the same airfield yesterday.
The Caterham team was also on track yesterday in France, at Magny-Cours to be precise. Charles Pic was able to drive the CT03 in what was a promotional filming day, in the rain, on the Nivernais circuit. There are rumors that the Malaysian team could also conduct a straight-line aerodynamic test next week at the Spanish Idiada complex. They would be following in the footsteps of Scuderia Ferrari, which was at Idiada last week for an aerodynamic test.
The teams should therefore arrive in Barcelona with more or less revised single-seaters, and the big question for each of them will be whether they can and should retain these new elements for the qualifying and the race in the hope of providing a performance gain for their drivers and thus start this series of races in the best possible way on the Old Continent.
