2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button believes the first winter test in Jerez next month could be hilarious.
It will be the first time that any of the drivers will get to test the new cars for next season, after a huge overall of the technical regulations for 2014 onwards.
At the end of the 2013 Formula One season the sport said goodbye to the V8 engines and welcome the new turbocharged V6 engines with additional energy recovery systems.
Other regulation changes that go hand-in-hand with the switch are some aero changes, designed to reduce downforce, while the reliability issues of the new power-trains that have to be built to last throughout the season [5 per driver per season].
Those elements will see a large increase in torque and will require a whole new style of driving.
Of course the drivers will have all used their teams simulators to get a feel for how the new cars drive, but there’s nothing quite like getting the cars out on a track.
The first opportunity will be in Jerez in Spain on January 28th.
‘Winter testing is going to be hilarious in Jerez,’ Button told Autosport Magazine.
‘It will be cold, the tyres aren’t going to work, the cars probably won’t work either and when you do get a lap it is probably going to feel weird because you are running higher gears – you get into eighth gear before you get to seventh gear now.
‘It is a very different way of driving and you have to forget a lot you have learned over the years in terms of the driveability of a racing car, the engine, the power output of a racing car and the way you put the power down.
‘It is so, so different.’
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