F1 pre-season testing: Re-naught at Jerez

Jean-Eric Vergne of France and Scuderia Toro Rosso talks with a Renault engineer during day one of Formula One Winter Testing at the Circuito de Jerez on January 28, 2014 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

Not many in the paddock would have expected that before the start of testing in Jerez on Tuesday. Renault clocking a mere 81 laps with three cars over three days of testing. To cut the long story short, it basically has been a complete failure for Renault until now.

Let’s just recap what Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Caterham have “achieved” these past three days:

DAY 1: Toro Rosso- 15 laps, Red Bull- 3 laps, Caterham- 1 lap

DAY 2: Caterham- 11 laps, Red Bull- 8 laps, Toro Rosso- Didn’t even leave the garage

DAY 3: Toro Rosso- 30 laps, Caterham- 10 laps, Red Bull- 3 laps

Compare that to 177 laps for the Mercedes W05 alone! You might be asking in what positions did the Renault-powered cars finish. Sorry to say but the above figures are very much misleading because majority of the 81 laps have been in-and-out so a competitive laptime is straightaway out of the question. Even then, Vergne set a face-saving time on Day 3 which was some 6.5 seconds slower than the pacesetter. That is how pathetic the situation has been for the French engine manufacturer.

The question arises why so given Renault have been working on the new power units for close to 2 years. The answer is not so clear-cut though. Different reasons have been proposed:

Crankshafts- News came at the end of Day 1 that the set of crankshafts prepared for the Jerez test were defective. Take that! The fears were tempered though after reports that there was no basic design problems and can be rectified well in time for the second test in Bahrain.

After this, the common view was that we could see more miles covered for Renault during the rest of the days. Come Day 2, a similar story with cars leaving the pit lane and either doing just an in lap or stopping on track before crossing the finish line. Day 3 wasn’t an improvement either with Sebastian Vettel‘s new Australian teammate suffering a similar fate- a stranded RB10 with smoke coming out of the rear. Videos from Jerez clearly show that the Renault-powered cars(especially Toro Rosso) sound sick.

The new reason is even more dramatic and is sure to give sleepless nights to both the engine people on Renault’s side and the teams’ chassis engineers. The problem seems to be with ERS and linking the two main sections – the MGU-H and MGU-K. Now this doesn’t seem to be any ordinary issue and something which won’t be solved in a week’s time. Unlike last year when a KERS failure would result in a deficit of only 3 tenths a lap, this year we are talking in terms of a few seconds if the ERS fails. This might be the main headache for Toro Rosso and Caterham but Red Bull’s problem is even more acute with a redesign of a car seemingly necessary due to Adrian Newey’s love of compact cars which has resulted in serious cooling problems for the new turbocharged engines.

Obviously when the team’s top management leaves the track mid-test to attend an emergency meeting back at Milton Keynes, things are not all well. Reports are also coming that Red Bull might canvass for an extension to the current test by one day at least but the chances of the team pulling out of the last day to concentrate on solving the problems back at the factory are equally likely.

The tag of “World Champion Engine” carries immense responsiblities and the current quandary is doing nothing to improve Renault’s reputation. All the time Mercedes and Ferrari are racking up the miles and will be in a much better position in Bahrain to focus on performance runs. Renault need to do something quickly or 2014 will quickly become one of their most embarassing seasons of all time.

Everyone won’t be disappointed with the absence of “the finger” though, in that case. Exciting times ahead.