Some like it hot

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Some like it hot

Written by Kate Walker

Friday, 05 March 2010 20:47

In a week's time, the first Friday practice session of the 2010 Formula 1 season will have finished. We will have seen ex-Campos, now HRT turn a wheel in anger for the first time, and Mercedes GP's mysterious new diffuser will see the light of day.

Winter testing couldn't be trusted this season, thanks to hidden fuel loads and differing testing strategies – we all know this. And thanks to the rain and less than desert-like temperatures found in Spain this February, tyre performance in Bahrain will be quite different. By this time next week, we'll know quite a bit more about how this year's challengers compare.

Tyres were always going to be a major player in the 2010 season. With in-race refuelling banned for the first time since 1993, tyre performance and wear is more important than it's been in years. The received wisdom is that drivers who are smoother on their tyres are going to fare better over the course of the season than their more heavy-handed colleagues. Final stints on low fuel are going to be more about tyre preservation than out and out speed, and pit stops are likely to happen 40 or 50 laps into a race.

As ever, the technical boffins have found a way of easing the pressure on the drivers. If by easing the pressure you mean adding another thing to think about and fiddle with at 200mph. Adjustable front wings allow the driver to trim the car, also known as managing the handling as the fuel weight drops. Trimming the car allows the driver to manage his tyres, so reliable front wings will be a great help for drivers like Lewis Hamilton, who is known to work his. Adjustable front wings aren't new, but they will be much more important this year than they've been in the past.

Michael Schumacher shouldn't need too much help managing his tyres, as he is known to be a fairly smooth driver. But he is also known to be a technical man and good with detail, so expect the German legend to be a master of maximising the adjustable wing by the end of the season. And while the Mercedes car wasn't a star performer at the various winter tests, Ross Brawn is rumoured to have a diffuser up his sleeve that will appear for the first time at Bahrain.

While Schuey doesn't seem to be guaranteed a win in the first few races of the season, most pundits expect to see him take a podium pretty early on. But those pronouncements were made in the wake of winter testing, when Ross Brawn was telling the press his car was a bit off the pace of the front runners and was suffering balance issues. No one knows what's likely to happen to the cars' performance when the diffuser is added, but if any driver can quickly learn how to make the most of a new part, that man is Michael Schumacher.

The Sakhir Circuit is going to be the scene of a few firsts next weekend, and I'm not including the rookie drivers' debuts in that statement. Obviously new teams Lotus and Virgin will be making their racing debut, but next Friday will be the first time HRT have the opportunity to test. Drivers Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok are going to have to squeeze a lot of testing and development work into the three free practice sessions. I've heard about being thrown in at the deep end, but that really takes the biscuit!

I don't know what's going to happen if the car is deemed unsafe to race. Obviously failing the scrutineers' exam would put paid to any racing plans that weekend, but would the team be granted special exception to do testing in season so they had a hope of being able to compete in Melbourne? After all the effort it's taken to bring the new teams to the grid, it would be a shame if any (more) of them had to drop out before the end of the season.

Friday morning at Sakhir will be the first time the drivers will have to learn to manage the fuel weights and tyres in concert with the desert heat. The cold temperatures in Spain last month mean that tyre performance from the tests is only an indicator of performance in Bahrain – expect to see the teams making the most of their allotted tyres in the practice sessions, as teams establish how to balance a fast qualifying lap with steady performance in the early stages of the race, when the cars are at their heaviest.

It's going to be an interesting start to the season, of that there's no doubt. And I'll be giving you all the news direct from Sakhir International Circuit – keep an eye on girlracer throughout the race weekend. Kate Walker Girlracer Magazine http://www.girlracer.co.uk