F1 teams' crucial fortnight

Why the next two weeks are critical ahead of this year’s major changes.

- Gary Anderson

The 2017 Formula 1 season is almost upon us, and with the first of the newcars set to emerge next week, nobody really knows where they stand.

There’s a lot of smoke and mirrorsin F1 and every team will believe they have made more progress than their direct competitors. But right now the pressure is on the teams, as even the last two weeks before your new baby hits the track for the first time are vitally important to how the season unfolds.

Most of the teams will be able to get a car up and running for the first test easily enough. But if anything goes wrong with any component, the car can be compromised while modifications are made. That’s why parts will be arriving in Spain thick and fast. It’ll be a busy week, so don’t expect any cheap flights!

It will probably be the last day of the second test before we see what might be considered the Australia-spec packages. I can assure you that anyone saying what they run in Australia will be very different from the end of Barcelona testing is in trouble and are attempting the ‘miracle fix’.

When you have major regulation changes, every day brings something new to the performance table. But the need for detailed design work and manufacturing lead times means decisions need to be made at the point where components actually need to be signed off.

That’s why the component you have when the car hits the track isn’t necessarily perfect, it’s just the best design you had at the point when manufacturing needed to start.

Most teams concentrate on reducing their manufacturing times. Actually, this is just as important as component research. It’s no good having components lined up and ready to go being delayed by a manufacturing problem.