Jerez testing Day 1 – Gian Carlo Minardi raises alert over the employment of chemistry

The new era of Formula 1 started this morning with the first session of collective testing which took place at the Jerez circuit. Only Lotus and Marussia didn’t take part in the event….It was a quite complicated session for teams, who had to deal with new technical upgrades. If, generally speaking, testing times have to be taken with a pinch of salt, today’s times have to be considered just as they are, even if I was pleased to see Kimi Raikkonen completing 31 laps.

“As it could be expected, it was a quite complicated session; red flags were deployed several times. Hamilton had his first running severely curtailed, as his car was involved in a collision. Mechanics worked much longer than their drivers. It was an unlucky day for McLaren who had to stop because of electronics issues, whilst Red Bull and Caterham had their cars completed only late in the afternoon, so they only managed to shake down”, says Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

Attention was mainly paid to cars’ new shapes, especially to cars’ nose, which is trunk-shaped “The problem is always the same. People who write regulations are not designers, so this is the result. Without even considering cars from an aesthetic point of view, which is highly controversial, influential people such as Eng. Adrian Newey and Gabriele Tredozi – who was at Jerez – focus their attention on safety.  If a car catches the broadside of a competitor’s, these bulges can cause serious problems; furthermore, they can distort the design of a F1 car.”

Thanks to his long-standing experience as a constructor, the manager from Faenza wants to focus his attention on a very interesting fuel related issue “I hope that engine suppliers and fuel suppliers haven’t brought regulations to the extremes like the chassis manufacturers. Through the employment of chemistry, the specific weight of fuel could be altered and the performance of the turbo improved, distorting the Championship and misrepresenting the intention of FIA, who aims at having that product applied to standard cars. In the past, in fact, before adapting fuel features to F1, the fuel supplier had to provide some samples to be previously tested on standard cars. With regards to engine, some beholders have written up a performance ranking by using some phonometric instruments; Mercedes and Ferrari are ahead of Renault. Obviously, it is also necessary to analyse gas consumption, which is a very important topic.”

Hamilton successfully completed 11 laps, finishing behind Ferrari. Mercedes finished ahead of Bottas, Perez’s Force India and Toro Rosso, who successfully completed 15 laps “Mercedes proved to be a dreadful car. Force India delivered an excellent performance.”

Tomorrow the second day of testing will start. Let’s wait and see McLaren and Red Bull’s testing times.