Four days of pre-season testing concluded at Jerez yesterday afternoon, and we have found out, as expected things aren't quite as we imagined them to be.
It was widely tipped that the change in the regulations would shake-up the order of the field, and that appears to be exactly what has happened. Here is an analysis each teams' performance over the course of the week.
Red Bull: It's widely recognised that Red Bull have been struggling after only completing 21 laps over the entire course of the test, less than Marussia who did more in 1 1/2 days. The cause? An alleged packaging issue. Meaning that Adrian Newey's 'coke bottle' rear-end has everything in too much of a compact space, resulting in severe overheating issues.
The Austrian-team tried to make a quick fix by cutting some holes in the rear of the bodywork, however it did not solve the issue. With Vettel and Ricciardo's laps being as much as +15 seconds off of the pace, it's no surprise that Newey flew back to England on Wednesday to try and come up with a solution. Whether it's able to be a quick fix or not is another matter. Only time will tell come Bahrain.
McLaren: After the first day of testing was completed on Tuesday, it looked as if McLaren were in trouble having only completed a single installation lap, with hydraulic and electrical issues to blame. Despite Button cancelling his scheduled press conference for that evening and the team keeping rather quiet, they were optimistic of improvement for the following days.
Their optimism was well rewarded, with Jenson Button topping the timesheets on Day 2, and Kevin Magnussen on Day 3 after only half-a-day in the car with the team preferring to run Button in the morning. Day 4 was also very positive, with the Dane completing over 100 laps.
Their pace is in part due to the unique 'butterfly' rear suspension design on the MP/4-29 that actually makes up part of the rear-wing beam, forcing the diffuser to extract air from underneath the car and allowing it to create far more rear downforce.
Some teams are set to launch a protest against this design, as it contradicts some regulations. The irony being however, that the majority of teams doing this will be trying to come up their own take on this concept back on the drawing board in the factory.
Ferrari: Another team that appeared to get off to a troubled start, was Ferrari with their F14 T. The returning Kimi Raikkonen didn't even complete his installation lap before the team asked him to stop on the back straight with the car being recovered by truck to the pitlane.
Things improved however, with both Raikkonen and Alonso completing over 200 laps by the time that the test had ceased on Friday evening. The reliability of their car was also demonstrated, as the team only stopped once more on track, thanks to Fernando Alonso.
Controversy is again present however, with the teams' 'turbo cover' being under investigation. The FIA's rules state that in the event of the turbo failing or coming loose, that it would not simply break through the engine cover and potentially injure a member of the crowd or another driver.
Most teams are getting around this by creating a stronger engine cover, that is designed to allow the turbo to spin freely whilst not compromising safety. However, Ferrari have manufactured an individual casing for their turbo, which results in a weight saving of around 4kg.
The legality and more importantly safety of this solution is not known, meaning that James Allison might be sent back to the drawing board once more.
Mercedes: The German team launched their car on the morning of Day 1's pre-season test at Jerez and it appeared to be one of the more eye-pleasing designs of 2014.
Lewis Hamilton was the first in the car and demonstrated the speed of the Paddy Lowe designed machine. It did come unstuck just four hours later, with the Brit suffering a front-wing failure and going into the barriers at Turn 1, ending their running for the day.
A hastily redesigned front-wing was transported overnight to ensure maximum running on the following days. Although never the outright fastest, Mercedes demonstrated some good pace, and superb reliability after completing more laps than any other team throughout the course of the week.
The only questions to have been asked about the W05 are the positioning of its front-wing camera mounts, it is thought that are situated too far back and will offer an unfair aerodynamic advantage. Mercedes were seen testing new parts throughout the week, none other than a 'monkey-seat' rear wing, that is situated just about the central exiting exhaust.
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