Interpreting the data from Formula 1 testing is always fraught with difficulty. That’s especially true when teams are having their first experiences with cars built to drastically changed regulations, as was the case this week.
The key objective for teams was discovering how accurate their simulations of their new designs had turned out to be, and what real-world problems they might not have foreseen. The widely discussed phenomenon of ‘porpoising’ was the most obvious example.
However in logging over 3,000 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, the teams have given some early indications into how their development efforts have turned out over the off-season. They still have one more three-day test to go, and for a couple of teams this already looks like a vital chance to get their 2022 programmes back on track.
Lap times
Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the test, lapping within two-and-a-half seconds of his pole position effort from last year. Clearly, the new generation of…