This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: Once More Unto the Breach Silly Season Runs Already

Once More Unto the Breach

The November break has finished, and the teams are back at the circuits, testing the wheels off their interim cars, and playing mind games with the competition.

Williams have gone to their first test fully intent on continuing where they left off. They have a bundle of new components to test that are destined for the new car, so a lot of miles are expected, as the emphasis this season will be on reliability. Just as importantly, the team has to evaluate the progress Michelin has made during the break and decide which of the half dozen or so potential directions that development can take would be most appropriate. All told, they have a very busy schedule but are currently well on target to deliver a serious challenger in the new year.

Whilst not exactly first amongst equals, BAR are fully intent on getting stuck in to the off-season, and have taken a very interesting new car along for testing. Despite the 'concept' label they have put to the car, the chassis is actually based on the one they raced last year.

The main differences relate to repackaging the back end to account for the new engine. Its revised shape - wider but lower and shorter than last year's - required the geometry of the rear suspension to be revisited. If the team were to remain on Bridgestone rubber, they would also have relocated the cockpit, shifting the centre of gravity to account for the reduced engine mass. However, until the Michelin characteristics are established, it is significantly cheaper and about as effective to move the balance point by relocating the ballast.

The first test has only two aims for BAR - run the new car to prove the new engine is not a complete duffer, and to establish a baseline for working with Michelin in 2004, to which end Takuma Sato will be pounding out the miles in the old car. After which, the team will have data that will let them directly compare Michelin vs Bridgestone on their old chassis, and establish how effectively they understood the data the tyre manufacturer supplied when setting up the new rear end. Having spent a season trailing Renault, one lesson BAR has really taken on board is that getting properly to grips with the tyres is going to be the vital to getting on terms with their rivals this year.

McLaren's MP4/19 is an interesting beast. Despite carrying the branding of a new car, in essence, it's the MP4/18 project that was abandoned in favour of continuing the MP4/17D in 2003, but with some fairly superficial changes to meet the revised dimensional requirements of 2004. Even the engine has been around for a surprisingly long time, having been run on a dynamometer back in July - though considering how vital it is that engines are completely reliable for a whole weekend in 2004, it makes sense to put a lot of time in to testing reliability. This seems to be the emphasis on the new model.

The abandoned MP4/18 package was designed to introduce a significant performance step, but in practice was not sufficiently reliable, and didn't bring quite the performance expected. In evolving the project to its current shape, the emphasis has been put on reliability, with secondary attention going to understanding why the performance was not quite the major step expected. It seems this new car releases the potential its predecessor promised, but also has the potential to be as reliable as the Ferrari.

The question the remainder of the paddock is asking, however, is where this car is going: McLaren are notoriously secretive about their off-season projects, so having this much information available about the car is a bit suspicious. Indeed, there are at least two teams who firmly believe this car is an interim release, intended to be reliable for the initial fly-away races, whilst the team is busy working on a whole new package to bring out for the European season. Now wouldn't that put the cat amongst the pigeons!

Silly Season Runs Already

With McLaren announcing Juan Pablo Montoya's move to join the team for the 2005 season, a spate of speculation has begun over what will be happening next year, with the two most obvious questions being 'who will replace Montoya,' and 'where will David Coulthard go?'

Perhaps it is early to predict Coulthard's departure from McLaren, but it is difficult to imagine the team dropping Kimi Raikkonen, if they have any say in the matter. Whilst the Finn has not yet built Coulthard's experience at developing a car, there is no doubting he is a talented driver, and his results to date have been noticeably better than that of his Scottish teammate. Apparently, Coulthard's work is very much cut out for him next season, as it will be vital to earning him a new drive. Well, probably.

Williams have been widely quoted as gunning for Mark Webber to join them from Jaguar. Of course, those comments are presupposing the team can be persuaded to come up with the readies to purchase the remainder of Webber's contract. Interestingly, another strand that has been repeated more than once puts a different slant on the purchase price: Jaguar would apparently be happy to replace Webber with Coulthard, provided Williams paid the Scotsman's salary, and contribute a couple of million to the budget. If that is really the case, then it is something of an indictment of the state of their budget.

That's not the only route Williams are supposed to be considering. Jenson Button's star might not be shining at its brightest, but the Grove-based guys are continuing to keep an eye on what he does and are particularly interested in seeing how he stands up as a team leader next year. Given his solid performance against Jacques Villeneuve, a decent start to next season is expected to see the team approach him for a return to the fold. Apparently, Button has already expressed an interest in getting back in to a Williams alongside Ralf Schumacher, as it would provide the perfect opportunity to show how far he has come since his introduction to Formula One against the same driver.

The remaining popular option is to bring Rubens Barrichello in from Ferrari. With Williams in the ascendancy, the seat would offer the Brazilian a chance to operate on a genuinely level pegging with his teammate, with an improved chance to win races and potentially a Championship. As Ferrari are apparently lining up Felipe Massa as a replacement in the next couple of years, unless Michael Schumacher retires, Barrichello's card is well and truly marked. Even if Schumacher does leave, most of the key personnel are expected to quit at the same time, so remaining as team leader would not be as profitable as expected anyway.

It seems we can expect little to be decided, let alone signed, until well past the middle of next season. But at least it offers the fans something to speculate on over the Christmas break!