F1 2014 is not too slow

There has been much bluster about the pace of this new breed of Formula 1 car since the new, smaller-engined, energy-efficient formula broke cover at Jerez two weeks ago.

Fickle fans have bemoaned the loss of screaming, sonorous V8s for quieter, turbocharged V6s. But worse, the cars are too slow! Or so some think...

The concurrent changes to the aerodynamic regulations for 2014 have made the front wingspans narrower and robbed the cars of potent, exhaust-blown rear downforce.

The result when 'F1 2014' made its debut in the first pre-season test at Jerez was a best laptime eight seconds slower than the track record for an F1 car, set by seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher's Ferrari in 2004.

Eight seconds!

This led to much scoffing that Formula 1 is now 'slower than GP2', slower than LMP sportscars, slower than a snail at a sloth convention.

But is it true?

Sauber's Adrian Sutil bemoaned the current state of F1 during the first pre-season test at Jerez, saying the loss of downforce combined with harder Pirelli tyres had made the cars "a bit too slow at the moment".

It was a sentiment shared by several others, but there are signs of real improvement in Bahrain.

The improvements in laptimes over the first three days, as teams have put more mileage on their cars and ramped up their development programmes, prove things won't be so simple.

Sutil said F1 cars were a 'bit too slow' after Jerez © LAT

Formula 1 is a technical sport after all, and this season features arguably more new technology than ever before.

Allow some of the finest minds in motorsport to get to grips with that and they're bound to find performance in leaps and bounds.

Let's take a look at the progression.

Day one in Bahrain

Nico Hulkenberg steals the headlines by going fastest for Force India. His best lap is a 1m36.880s.

That's already two and a half seconds quicker than Fabio Leimer's GP2 pole time from last season (1m39.427s), and over five seconds faster than Toyota's average pole time for the World Endurance Championship round here last November (1m42.449s).

"I think we are getting closer," says Hulkenberg. "But it's still early stages. There is still a steep learning curve and we'll go quicker and quicker.

"It shows you that engineers always find solutions to find more performance.

"Obviously the engines have a lot of power, a lot of torque, so you gain something from that.

"It's just good that we are coming back to where Formula 1 should be in terms of speed. It shouldn't be too slow."

That's right, Nico. And the signs are that it won't be.

Day two in Bahrain

Kevin Magnussen puts McLaren on top with a late run on Pirelli's supersoft tyre.

The Dane's best lap is 1m34.910s. That's two seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel's fastest race lap from last year's Bahrain Grand Prix (1m36.961s).

A point of order here: the track was generally considered to be around a second quicker than during last year's race, but this was not a qualifying simulation, simply an exercise in allowing the team's new driver to gain a greater understanding of how the grip changes between Pirelli's various compounds.

Magnussen himself said there was plenty more to come from the package, suggesting McLaren has yet to dump most of the fuel out, crank its Mercedes 'power unit' to the maximum, and see how fast she can go...

Magnussen set the pace on day two © LAT

"I don't think at all that it's slow," asserts Magnussen.

"I agreed with some of the drivers' comments in Jerez. It felt slow there and the laptimes compared to the 2013 laptimes were quite far away, but it's not that far away here and on this track it actually doesn't feel that bad on new tyres.

"I suspect we will be quicker at some point. I have a feeling it won't take too long for this year's car to go quicker than the old one."

And so it goes on.

Day three in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the week so far for Mercedes.

The 2008 world champion has been one of F1's speed critics thus far, but his 1m34.263s best is the first lap to fall within two seconds of Nico Rosberg's pole position time at the 2013 GP (1m32.330s).

"The cars feel slower," Hamilton maintains. "We're a couple of seconds off the pace of last year obviously, and in general the car has a lot less grip I would say.

"[But] we're much faster in the straights. I'm not sure what the number is but it's something like 20km/h. That's where we're getting most of it back. I guess we have a lot more power than we did last year.

"[And] we've still got to do a race distance, we've still got to do some qualifying laps to push. We've got to find out where we need to be with it."

The last part of Hamilton's statement is key: "We've still got to do some qualifying laps to push". That means Mercedes hasn't come close to reaching the full potential of its car and going all-out for a laptime.

Renault has endured more than its fair share of problems during testing so far, but head of track operations Remi Taffin can give some insight into where the engine manufacturers are in terms of potential.

Bottas: we'll get faster © LAT

"The engines are running below the limit because you need a baseline to start working on," he says. "Then you have to upgrade things and put more performance into it.

"We have to check the car in maximum-performance mode, but it's not as easy as putting a switch on and you get everything in performance. You have to do it step by step.

"If you look at maximum revs at 15,000, it's not any secret that no engine manufacturer is revving that high. I think each manufacturer has its own limits, but we are not actually touching the limits at the moment."

No one would sensibly argue that Renault has got anywhere near rivals Mercedes and Ferrari in this regard, but Taffin's comments tell us that there is more to come from his rivals too before the specs are finalised on February 28, during next week's final test.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, for one, is not surprised that the new generation of F1 machines are already knocking on the door of last year's cars in terms of pace.

"I never thought we were going to be five seconds off or whatever," he says. "I'm sure we will get even closer and at the end of the season we might be pretty close.

"I think we'll see once the season goes forward everyone will improve and there's no way it's going to be slower than GP2, so don't worry!"

Exactly Valtteri. Don't worry!

The pace of development in Formula 1 is faster than Usain Bolt in the closing stages of a 100-metres race.

The last time the rulemakers robbed Formula 1 of significant downforce ahead of the 2009 season, Jenson Button put Brawn on pole for round one in Australia in 1m26.202s. By the following season, Vettel's Red Bull was nearly 2.3 seconds faster at the same circuit.

Formula 1 2014 hasn't quite matched its predecessor yet. But there are still five more days of pre-season testing to go before we head to Australia.

It's already plenty fast enough, and it's only going to get quicker.