After what felt like a 6 month long winter break Formula One cars finally get back on the track tomorrow at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona, Spain. In the current home of F1 winter testing all of the teams, and their new liveried cars, will finally get the chance to hit the ground running and see whether their toil over the dark winter months has resulted in the performance they wish for!



Usually there is little change in the ranking of the 10 teams on the grid, however, as this year F1 is experiencing a fairly important rule change, one can expect the grid to change up more than usual. The most incredible of these jumps could be seen for Brawn in 2009 when the team who had just joined F1 ended up winning the Championship with Jensen Button! While it is very unlikely that any team will replicate that this year, we can all hope!



The recent change to the Aerodynamics regulations has massively simplified the front wing and increased the size of the rear wing also. These small changes will have a massive impact on the entire aerodynamic structure of every car on the grid, additionally, if FOM are correct: that this change will lead to better racing then, 2019 will be a season to look forward to!

What’s the point of testing?

Teams aim to find out if their wind-tunnel and aerodynamics modelling is accurate and how the new tyre compounds work. Last year we saw Williams fall from fifth to tenth place in the Constructors Championship, this was because the team were modelling their aerodynamic testing incorrectly which lead to the team experiencing instability in the rear of the car, this in turn resulted in the car being incredibly difficult to drive. Both drivers had difficulty keeping the car facing forward thanks to this minor error!



Speaking of drivers, Winter Testing is key for drivers to learn how the new car feels and handles. Some cars, such as the 2018 Sauber, seemed excellent on paper but both Leclerc and Ericsson spun the car numerous times in testing before changes were made. That car actually went on to take 48 points last year thanks to the team locating that difficulty in testing.

So when is it?

Testing will begin at 8 A.M. and end at 6 every day with an hour break at 12-1 everyday from Monday the 18th to Thursday the 21st. The second week of testing begins on Tuesday the 26th February to Friday 1st March.

Where can I see it?

If you live in Ireland or the UK, you can find testing on SKY F1 from 1 to 6, with a recap show after the coverage ends. Outside of the UK, check the schedule of your usual F1 provider. Of course there are a number of less legitimate ways to watch F1, which I could not legally recommend of course.

What should I look out for?

Testing allows the teams to experiment with engine settings, try new front and new wings and learn how the tyre compounds change over time. As a result the times in testing, especially in the first week, are not representative of the car’s actual speed around the track. The phrase “the stopwatch doesn’t lie” is not necessarily applicable here however as teams often deliberately run different fuel or engine settings or “sandbag”, in order to appear slower than the actual ability of the car.



While times don’t mean a huge amount one can learn a lot from how the car acts on track. Specifically, if the car is spinning regularly, for both drivers, or the drivers are making more adjustments as the car enters a turn this could imply the car is aerodynamically unstable. If the yellow “flow vis” paint is on the car look to see is the streaks appear to go in straight lines or seem very messy. Flow Vis paint is designed to give a visible representation of how the air is acting around the car. Messy streaks show the aerodynamics of the car are acting up or are not being properly controlled.



Finally, engines. Simple guide to engines, the speed traps don’t mean the car is terrible or amazing. Very often the Red Bull car is one of the slowest cars in the speed traps and it is the third quickest car around most circuits. Different teams have different strategies as to how they get around the track, straight line speed is not the only defining factor.



Also if the car breaks down: that’s bad.

Who is driving which car on Monday?

In 2018 Constructors Championship order:



Mercedes: Bottas (A.M.) / Hamilton (P.M.) (WDC)



Ferrari: Vettel



Red Bull: Verstappen



Renault: Hulkenberg (AM) / Ricciardo (PM)



Haas: Grosjean



McLaren: Sainz



Force India (Now Racing point): Perez



Sauber (Now Alfa Romeo Racing): Raikkonen



Toro Rosso: Kvyat



Williams: (Not participating in Day 1)



