This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: First Test Expectations Arrows in the Cold

First Test Expectations

One good thing about bringing testing opportunities down to two months ahead of the new season, is that none of the teams can afford not to make the most of the time. So, there's no surprise that most of the twelve teams made it to Barcelona this week.

As a rule, there is not too much to be gained by comparing teams at test sessions - especially when there is a mix of old and new cars, and the programs being run are completely disparate. Nevertheless, there were some details revealed to the careful observer, which should post some solid portent for season ahead.

Williams, to begin with, are concentrating on a couple of programs that mostly require mileage: testing the new engine, and helping Michelin evaluate new tyres. As usual, for the most part, the team ran with relatively full tanks for the tests: it works the engine and chassis harder, whilst revealing little to the competition about the absolute potential of the package. That did not stop them from letting Antonio Pizzonia pump out the fuel for some quick runs at the end of the morning and afternoon sessions: he demonstrated that he, and the new Michelin rubber, is good for pace. And sponsors do like to top the timesheets on the first test day of the new season!

Results from the test are pretty positive for BMW and Williams. The engine has had fewer problems than expected so far: as the tests progressed, and as the drivers have brought the units closer and closer to projected running limits, results have pretty much matched expectations. The return of complex engine control mechanisms means that there is a lot of work involved: as the focus moves from fuel conservation to outright power and back, there are a huge number of variables to be checked. Nevertheless, the step made between the engine's first run at the end of last season, and now, is good, and checking out well. Testing is incomplete, but it looks like 860bhp is going to be exceeded for Melbourne.

McLaren were working with Michelin rubber for the first time, and so far, they have spent a lot of time establishing how the French brand differs from the last season's Bridgestone offering. They are running the 2001 car, and getting used to the way the new tyres work. As the characteristics are established, the team needs to confirm the geometry for the 2002 is correct for Michelin tyres. Other than tyre setup work, the team has some new aerodynamic tweaks to check out, in preparation for the new car's arrival. There has been some work on other revised components, which have been changed according to the new packaging required for the 2002 engine, but there's no real detail there at present. New boy Raikkonen has had a pretty unremarkable reception. His first outing in the new car went well enough, but was largely unremarkable, and attitudes in the McLaren pits seem to reflect it: largely positive and welcoming, but not sparkling with expectation. All the same, things are pretty laid back, as it is early days yet, and the Finn has plenty of time to demonstrate why he's behind the wheel.

Looking at the remainder of the grid, there is little of particular interest. Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli drove last year's Benetton, revealing to the world at large that Renault would, as expected, be running a yellow based colour scheme. Sadly for Renault, that's just about all that was shown off: the 2001 car performed to its usual standard, keeping Button in the pits for most of the day, whilst Trulli worked to get used to the beast. Olivier Panis continued to evaluate the new BAR, which, despite feeling better than last year's car, has not shown much in terms of performance so far. Panis claims to be optimistic for its potential, but there's no indication from this test that it will be setting the world on fire.

However, at the moment, the most interesting team to watch at Barcelona was Toyota. Their new car was not blisteringly quick - don't expect to see them challenge the top three - but the whole package is clearly not out of place in the pitlane. The mechanics are working well together, diagnosing faults on the car and providing solutions, whilst continuing to react to feedback from Allan McNish, who drove on the first day. The car looked good in the wet, which is a good indicator for balance, and McNish generally appeared smooth and in control driving it, despite the occasional spin! Prospects for Toyota look pretty good.

Arrows in the Cold

One of the no shows at Barcelona this week, is Arrows. Ostensibly, it's because the new car is not ready yet, and there's no point in testing the old one.

Obviously, that's not the whole truth: there's always something that can use track time, even if only to check the latest batch of tyres on offer from the supplier, or work on improving the balance of the car. So, what ails the Arrows team?

In this case, the biggest obstacle is budget: the team operates on the second smallest budget in Formula One, since Minardi's European buy out brought them to around the same level. Moving into 2002, the team has a new engine supply from Ford - but the unit is substantially different to last year's Asiatech offering. Retrofitting a 2001 chassis to take the new engine is not a trivial job: essentially, the whole back end of the car needs rebuilding around it, a task that would have taken the best part of a month, diverting off season effort from the new car.

The alternative would have been to secure a temporary supply of last year's Asiatech engines - but initial attempts to negotiate a deal made it clear that it would have come at a steep price. Added to which, the money would have come straight out of the 2002 budget.

So, in what promises to be a very tight year for Formula One budgets, Tom Walkinshaw has been cornered into the conservative approach of building the new car, without the opportunity to run any reliability tests on new components ahead of the launch. The money saved can be better spent developing the car through the season, as the team tries to outperform Jaguar.

The big gamble, of course, is that the new chassis, packaging a brand new Cosworth engine, doesn't turn out to suffer from bad reliability as a consequence.