Secret mechanic: What teams learn from F1 testing

This time of year in the life of a Formula 1 mechanic can be a difficult period. The amount of work that goes into simply getting your two cars to the first race can be soul destroying. Even more so is the realisation that the weeks and months of relentless effort and long hours may not necessarily correlate with the team's level of success, or lack of.

As the cars roll out in February no one really knows how good or bad they'll be. How reliable? How responsive to changes? How easy to work on? How easy to drive? How fast?

The team waits with bated breath as the driver returns from his maiden run, albeit just a simple installation lap. Does he have a smile on his face? Are his comments positive? With his vast experience, can he tell us anything at all from just one lap?

Of course in the most part very little can be determined from a low-speed, used-tyre, exploratory lap on a cold winter's morning in Spain, but occasionally there'll be a word or two on the garage intercom, or as the driver's stepping out of the car, to raise hopes among the team just a little bit.

It doesn't take much, with a desperately expectant and worn out crew who've worked long into nights for weeks before the car's even turned a wheel, to get excitement levels up. A simple throwaway comment like "acceleration seems good"or "feels like more downforce than last year?" can be enough to get the garage whispering among themselves with what could easily still be false hope.

A stressful period for Formula 1 teams is under intense scrutiny © LAT

Everyone naturally knows the true potential of the car is unlikely to be discovered on the first day, but such is the anticipation and excitement, having built up to this moment for months, that any clue, good or bad, is pored over by everyone looking on.

As the laps begin to unfold (hopefully) the picture gradually becomes a little clearer. While the watching world of race fans, journalists and TV crews can't look too much further than lap times, or mileage covered, for and idea of performance and reliability, inside the team the reality is there for all to see.

Is the car overheating? Are there any leaks? Brackets or floor stays breaking? Are the various systems all responding and working correctly? Are all of the different elements of the power unit working together? Does it do what the simulation said it would?

These are questions that may not present obvious answers outside of the team's garage, but inside could be causing some serious headaches. A car that seems to need constant repair or major modification in the early days is really the last thing a mechanic wants and it can feel like the pain will never end. Believe me, I've been there.

Equally, none of those things could be issues and there might be an air of relief beginning to rise. It's still too early for confidence at the first test, but to know the car's a good basis for development, seemingly reliable and has apparently decent pace, is a great feeling to have.

Rarely, but every once in a while, things just go really well. Mercedes has had that for the past two seasons and I've been fortunate to have been in that position too.

Early pitstop practice and race simulations suggest a team is confident © XPB

When that happens, the aches and pains and the pre-season tiredness fade away. As mechanics we play a big part in the team's fortunes, but the basic car design's out of our hands. We rely on colleagues for that and when they get it that right, no one's more grateful than us.

A good racecar that mechanics, engineers and drivers all like can really boost the whole team and as testing begins to head towards racing, if the team knows it's in good shape, it's almost impossible not to allow the briefest thoughts of success to enter your mind.

Whatever we may know about our own car, we don't have the same insight into other teams, so despite being confident on the inside, few will ever be bold enough to share those feelings with the world. Press releases will be littered with phrases like "lots of work still to do", or "looks like being very close this year" to rein in expectations.

Behind the scenes though, the realisation that the car's going to be very fast can come quite quickly and as Mercedes has done this year, the focus might be moved into pushing its reliability to every limit, or simulating as many race scenarios as possible, rather than chasing an ultimate lap time.

It's a great feeling when you're discussing as a team how best to slow your car down for the remainder of testing, so as not to 'show your hand'. A rare but welcome dilemma. I've been there when we've added 20kgs of fuel to our baseline fuel load, only used old tyres, or even asked the driver to abort laps that would've put them half a second clear at the top of the timesheets.

A driver's early impression of a car can have a big impact on team morale © XPB

It works both ways and I've also had years when the team's desperately trying not to let the world see how much they're struggling.

Taking all the fuel out for a new-tyre run at the end of the day can help to stop the headlines being about your team finishing so far off the pace, but is little more than a cover-up.

Depressing though it can be, I've occasionally had to raise a little smile in the garage when I've heard the team principal taking to the media about another "productive day" and how we've been "focusing on our pre-planned programme".

The only way that could've been true on some occasions was if by "productive" he meant we'd prevented the regular onboard fires from burning the car to a crisp and if "our pre-planned programme" really had been to do no more than three slow laps at a time before returning to the garage to replace the myriad broken parts and clean up the mess underneath the bodywork.

Testing isn't just about testing the cars. Patience, stamina, morale, physical and mental fitness, friendships, family relationships and resilience are all pushed to the absolute limit during this time of year.

For some it can set up a wonderfully rewarding season of success and bonuses, but for others it might be just the beginning of a very long and even more testing 10 months.