What the drivers think of F1 2014

Smaller engines, reduced aero and heavier cars. It doesn't sound like a recipe for a great Formula 1, but there's more to it than that.

The torque of the 1.6-litre turbos and the increased power from the regenerative systems means the 2014 cars are a handful. And fun, according to some of the drivers.

AUTOSPORT has gathered together the thoughts and feelings of some of those who have given the cars their first on-track miles at Jerez this week, tackling the main themes that have developed so far.

POWER/ENGINES

On their own the 1.6-litre turbos produce a little over 600bhp, with the ERS adding as much as 160bhp to that. The overall power is thus similar to the old V8s, but it is the increased torque that is the big change.

It's something McLaren's Jenson Button likes. "I enjoy driving this car," he says. "The power of the engine is nice. It's very torquey.

"It feels the most powerful engine I've driven. It obviously isn't in terms of outright power, but as a racing driver you feel the torque and power at slow speed. It's coming out of the corners when you have so much torque that's exciting."

Williams's Valtteri Bottas agrees: "I really enjoy this, it's good fun. The power feels nice, so no complaints.

"You can really feel the difference and have to modify your driving style a little bit. I also think setting up the car might be a little bit different."

Esteban Gutierrez likened his Sauber to a GP3 car, but still feels the new cars are good to drive. "It's more enjoyable," he says.

"The whole concept of the feeling is a little like the GP3 car I would say - the way the turbo and the torque come in. It is a very different scale because you have a lot more power and the ERS.

"We have more power and I'm enjoying the way it feels. You also have a greater range with the gears, and you can shift early and still get the power."

Sauber team-mate Adrian Sutil adds: "It's not about using all the rev band anymore. The V8 was operating between 15 and 18,000rpm, so you always had to keep the revs up.

"We also have eight gears now, so you never run into a limiter at the end of the straight. You can go at almost 400km/h with these gears, so it's very different."

SOUND

Not everyone is a fan of the new sound of F1. The cars certainly aren't as loud as the old V8s, but AUTOSPORT has quite enjoyed hearing the turbos charging round Jerez.

Nico Rosberg believes they are reminiscent of the turbocars his father Keke drove. "The engine sound isn't as good as last year, but I think it's OK," he says. "It reminds me a bit of the 1980s, when I was watching on TV all those races in the turbo era."

Ferrari star Fernando Alonso doesn't believe the reduced sound harms F1 either. "It's not like last year we were just enjoying the sound of the engine, we were concentrating on the car," he says. "This is Formula 1 and it's the best technology in the world."

For the drivers inside the car, it's even more of a change than for those watching - and listening - from the outside.

"The power unit doesn't sound as good from the outside," concedes Button, "but when you're driving it, it sounds good. We've got the turbo noise, the wastegate noise; it's quite a nice change.

"There are moments where you're part-throttle through a corner when there's all sorts going on - with different noises with the turbo, the wastegate, the ERS unit.

"You've really got to take your mind away from the noise."

HANDLING

Reducing the width of the front wing and the banning of beam wings has reduced downforce levels.

Teams will undoubtedly start clawing that back, but for now the 2014 contenders are quite a lot slower than their predecessors through fast corners.

"The cars have a lot less downforce than last year, so high-speed corners are slower, but surprisingly in slow-speed corners the car feels good," reckons Button.

"But two laps are never the same because you are always playing around with engine modes and braking modes."

Force India's Sergio Perez has found the cars tricky so far and believes drivers will be able to make the difference early in the season.

"I don't want to judge the level of downforce we have right now, with these temperatures especially, but it does feel very low, very scary," he says.

"I didn't manage to get the tyres up to temperature, the brakes, everything on the limit, so right now it did feel really difficult to drive. At this point of the season, in the early races, the driver can definitely make a big difference."

TRACTION AND BRAKING

When it comes to traction, there seem to be differences of opinion, perhaps a result of where the various teams are currently at with their chassis.

Button says he is "pleasantly surprised at how you put the power down", but Bottas thinks the new cars are more of a challenge in this area.

"It's a little more difficult - the power comes a little differently and you need a sensitive right foot for slippery conditions," says the Finn.

"Everyone is pushing to make it easier to drive, but in slippery or wet conditions it's going to be so much easier to break traction.

"Even in the dry, wheelspinning is very easy now. But I like it."

The charging of the ERS system has also posed a challenge under braking. On day two, Gutierrez was caught out and had an off at Turn 5.

"The brakes are a little bit tricky," he concedes. "It's not very consistent and it caught me by surprise when I went off track. After that I wasn't able to push under braking."

That's another area likely to improve rapidly, but the way the energy harvesting takes place under braking will be key to how easy the cars are to drive this year.

CONTROLLING THE SYSTEMS

There have been concerns that driving in 2014 will be complicated by the extra complexity involved with the Energy Recovery Systems, but Gutierrez believes the level of automation in the cars will prevent that becoming a problem.

"I have to do less because the ERS is automatic," he says. "As a driver I think it's more related to strategy. We have to understand what every button does, how each system works, and how you can get a benefit from that.

"That is what's going to make the difference."

PACE

If you look at the timesheets you can see the current cars are significantly slower than the 2013 machines when they tested at Jerez. Kevin Magnussen's best on day three, 1m23.276s, is more than five seconds slower than the fastest 2.4-litre V8 times last year.

Some of that - perhaps 1-1.2 seconds - is due to the extra weight, and Pirelli has also gone harder with its tyre compounds, but the gap is still a large one.

Button believes this is natural, given how much new technology there is in the 2014 cars compared to the first tests last season. And he expects the gap to close.

"It was always going to be slower," he says. "This is the first test with a very new package.

"When we go to the first race everyone is going to be much faster, and by the end of the year we might not be that far off - maybe a couple of seconds."

Alonso doesn't even believe the pace of the car is particularly important. "I've driven cars that are half a minute slower than F1 and I still sweated and enjoyed driving," he says.

"As long as you're driving at the limit, the laptime you do doesn't change the emotional point of view. This car is still fun to drive.

"It's not the same from a physical point of view. The forces and speed are less in the corner, but on the other hand there are more parameters to control, more buttons on the steering wheel, there's more criticality in terms of driving and having control of the car in high-speed corners and with traction. It's just different."

OVERALL

Although many of the drivers are cautious, partly due to the lack of running, the balance of opinion is positive. The torque of the turbo and ERS systems mean the cars are fast in a straight line and are interesting, as well as tricky, to drive.

Bottas perhaps sums it up best: "They are still Formula 1 cars. OK, the power comes a little differently, and the engines feel a little bit different, but downforce-wise all the cars should be more or less there.

"It's still going to be a lot down to the driver, down to the team and the job they do together."