1 Jon Noble on Formula 1 in 2016

With testing yet to get underway, there aren’t many answers to questions around the 2016 season, but for someone like Jon – in the epicentre of the motorsport media world – he has a great sense of what to expect.

He shared his thoughts on the key pre-season talking points.

F1’s new team, HAAS they got a good chance?

If you look at the media coverage of the new HAAS F1 team, there’s a bandwagon that’s packed to the rafters, a bandwagon saying the team is going to a huge success. Jon’s onboard with it, here’s why:

“I think they’ll be alright. Car wise there shouldn’t be any reason not to have a solid package – Ferrari input, Ferrari developments, Ferrari engine. So the package they’ve got should be competitive enough to battle in the midfield.

Early on will be tough as they learn to operate on a grand prix weekend. The level of detail that the teams are facing now, like analysis, preparation, simulation, calculation of data, and getting everything bang on, is going to be their biggest challenge. That could take them half the season.

It won’t be a HRT scenario. They’ll be quick

When you look at Williams and the jump they’ve had to make, and with the continuous pitstop problems they’re still facing now, for a team that’s been around for years and always been there, they’re still battling.

This is where Haas, operationally, may have a few, what we call, “finger troubles”. But in the end I think it won’t be a HRT scenario. They’ll be quick. Maybe plagued by some trouble early on, but rapidly they’ll get there.“

So will HAAS do better than McLaren?

“I think McLaren will make a big step, just because I think they’ve understood and the message has got through. I think the biggest battle they faced was McLaren getting Honda to understand where the weakness was, certainly the weakness in the package with the turbo, and agreeing that this was a problem, which they finally did around Monza time.

Honda accepted it, are changing it, and it should – on paper – deliver steps in performance. If it finds them even one second, the jump that gives them should help tremendously. I’d be surprised if either of those two teams, Haas and McLaren, are stuck at the back next year.”

So who’s at the back then?

Manor? – a year ago were in a position where they might not have made the grid and didn’t race in Australia – then lasted the whole season, gained new owners, gained Mercedes power – are they still going to be at the back?

“I think you’ll probably have a mixture of Manor, Sauber, could even be Renault and Red Bull early on shuffling down the order because everyone has come so late in terms of developments. The Mercedes teams will be alright thanks to consistency. So maybe Manor, Sauber and potentially Haas pegged at the back, Red Bull shuffled down to the midfield for a little bit and then come back up.”

And Mercedes to win it all again?

“I hope not. Hopefully Ferrari have made that step. I think Vettel needs to battle, and I don’t think we need four races of Nico Rosberg winning them all and Lewis Hamilton finishing second in all of them. People will lose interest and switch off. So hopefully Ferrari will make that step.”

Who’s your Champion for 2016?

“For F1’s sake it would be fantastic if Sebastian Vettel could do it. It would be something fresh. The uplift F1 had in Malaysia last year just gave us a glimmer. It’s such a good story; seeing this resurgence in Ferrari.

More than just winning it, just for the championship to go to the final round with Vettel or Kimi vs Lewis and/or Nico, and having two teams properly at it again, head-to-head. We haven’t had a two-way title battle in a while, and it’s got the potential to be quite intense as well.

We saw it last year with the Mercedes complaint about Haas, there was the fuel complaint at the start of the year, some about brakes and suspension issues as well in the background. It’s got the potential to be quite an entertaining fight.”