Sunday 25 January 2015

What can we expect from the opening test of 2015 in Jerez next week?

(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)

The first Formula One track action gets underway in just one week when the team’s pitch up at the Jerez circuit in Spain for the first of three four day winter test sessions.

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team are once again expected to be the team to beat in 2015 following their extremely dominant 2014 campaign which saw the Silver Arrows win both the Drivers and Constructors championship.

Nico Rosberg, who finished runner up to team mate Lewis Hamilton last season expects the pair to be fighting for the championship once again this season and believes that as it takes time to settle into a new team that Sebastian Vettel is unlikely to mount a challenge to Mercedes this season after the German joined Scuderia Ferrari from Infiniti Red Bull Racing over the winter and will drive alongside Kimi Raikkonen.

The Williams Martini Racing Team became the first outfit to reveal images of their 2015 car which was published in the latest edition of F1 Racing Magazine on Wednesday morning. 

On the same day the Sahara Force India Formula One Team were in Mexico City to reveal their new 2015 livery.

The next team to unveil their new car will be the McLaren Honda Formula One Team who will launch their new MP4-30 at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking on Thursday before Scuderia Ferrari follow suit on Friday.

The first test is used as way of teams to shakedown their new cars with the exception of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team it is expected that all of the teams will run their 2015 cars next weekend. 

The Silverstone based outfit have instead decided to spend more time in the Toyota wind-tunnel in Cologne, Germany before unveiling the VJM08 at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya ahead of the second test.

The Lotus and McLaren Formula One Team’s will have their new power units in Jerez as McLaren begin their partnership with Honda while the Lotus F1 Team begin life with Mercedes power. 

So the opening test won’t really give us the opportunity to gauge the performance of the new cars as it will be used for collecting data and making sure the new cars are reliable.

McLaren have already run their new power unit, however the Lotus F1 Team have not run their new power unit so it will be interesting to see how the Enstone based outfit get on during this test.
Ferrari will be hoping to put their extremely disappointing season in 2014 behind them and will be looking to hit the ground running.

The Italian team have made many changes over the winter not least bringing in four time world champion Sebastian Vettel who replaces Fernando Alonso who has joined Jenson Button at the McLaren Honda team.

Ferrari also have a new Team Principal with Maurizio Arrivabene joining the team from Philip Morris. So it won’t be until the second test of the winter at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya from February 19 – 22.

© Ben Johnston 2015

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