Renault Sport F1’s Rob White has warned that whilst teams are unlikely to be sandbagging during the opening pre-season test in Jerez this week, it’s unlikely anything can be taken from the times.
Due to the nature of the regulation changes, which include an entirely new and untested 1.6 litre V6 power unit, holding back during testing simply isn’t an option.
However translating those times into a competitive order won’t give an accurate reading of the performance levels according to White.
“When everybody is more or less in same place, at more or less the same time doing more or less the same thing there will be straightaway some signs about whether there are small problems that have been disruptive, or big problems that are extremely difficult to tackle,” he told Autosport.
“In terms of the outright performance of the different cars and teams, I think getting a true picture of the starting point of everybody will be quite difficult.
“But I don’t think sandbagging is going to be an option for anybody,” he added.
“I don’t think it will be possible to evaluate performance in a week’s time, at the end of the Jerez test, and certainly the season needs time to settle down before anyone can take a view.”
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