13 A tricky thing to drive

"What time is it now?"

"It's 7:52, Suzie," her race engineer, Josh Pecket, answered. "Don't worry about the time right now. We have the session planned out. Let's check the plan for our first run. Just to make sure we are all aware of what is expected of us." Suzie nodded. She had gone over the run plan multiple times, but once more wouldn't hurt.

"First of all, when you get in the car, we will fire up the engine. While the engine department checks if all readings are within expectations, we will be doing our own systems check. Part of these will be the radio. See if all the readings on the MFD (Multi-functional Display) appear correctly and if you can browse to each of them. Do you still remember what all these settings do? I know it's quite a lot to remember, and the settings will be different from what you're used to with Mercedes engines."

"I should have it all memorized," Suzie replied with a determined look. Being the only female driver, she would be under extra scrutiny. Making simple mistakes like using incorrect settings during testing would just create an awkward situation. Due to this, she made sure to remember the manual from front to back.

"Good," Josh continued. "When you get out the first time, don't push the car. This is just to see if all systems are working fine. Come straight back into the pits. If we don't discover anything, we will send you back out. If not, we will bring the car back into the box. After you get out on track again, we are going to focus on seeing if there are no major stability issues with the car. We should be pretty good on that part, as we know the car very well now. Just pay extra attention to the brakes. We had a few too many issues with the brake-by-wire system last season. For the rest of your time in the car, we won't be chasing fast lap times. Collecting aerodynamic data is what we are after today. Try to be consistent and get used to the car. If we have a clean day today, that would be great."

Just as Josh finished laying out the plan to Suzie, the clock hit 8:00. The pit lane was now open. Caterham was expected to be the first team on track. They were using a well-known car after all. But unexpectedly, the Sauber team was chomping at the bit to get on track.

This prompted Suzie to put on her helmet, tighten it properly, and jump in the car. The tires were still in their blankets, and the engine was ready to start. Being secured in her 6-point harness, which was strapped so tight it was impossible for her to lift herself up from the bucket seat. This seat, of course, was made custom to fit perfectly just for her, as it would be for every F1 driver.

The engine was started, drowning out every other sound in the garage. The 1.6-liter turbocharged Hybrid V6 was not the loudest engine ever, but close to it; it still sent shivers through the core of your body. System checks were done, and when the engineers deemed everything good to go, the lead engineer went to the front of the car. Checking his right-hand side to see if other cars were moving through the pit lane. Seeing the coast was clear, he motioned for Suzie to get going. Lifting the hand clutch slightly, the car lurched forward. She managed to get the car moving without getting into anti-stall and proceeded to drive out of the pits.

"Now remember, Suzie, nice and easy. Just an outlap and straight back into the pits," Josh reminded her.

"Got it," she responded. Not really happy with the constant reminders. But this was to be expected. As a new driver and race engineer pairing, it would take time for them to form into a well-oiled unit.

Getting past the pit exit, she applied the throttle fully. When talking about driving slowly in F1, no one expects the drivers to actually drive really slow. First of all, as F1 drivers, they like to push the limits. Secondly, if they drive too slowly, the tires would cool down, reducing grip. The more your grip lessens, the slower you go, reducing tire temperatures even further. Creating a vicious circle. Add to that the brakes not working when going too slow due to not generating enough heat and the aerodynamics not being effective when driving too slow, you understand why the request to drive "nice and easy" is relative.

So she floored the throttle, getting up to speed quickly. The Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona is a high-speed track. With the first two sectors consisting of very high-speed corners where downforce and aerodynamic efficiency are key. The last sector is a lot slower, and this is where the mechanical grip of the car comes more into play. If your tires are not in the correct temperature window during this sector, you could lose a lot of time or maybe even spin off the track. It's something that happened to the best drivers. So being wary of it is key to being fast on this track.

Suzie managed to get around the track with relative ease. She could immediately feel some of the deficiencies of the car. The engine was noticeably weaker than the Mercedes one she used testing the 2014 Williams last year. Of course, the engine was tuned way down to not stress it too heavily during these early tests, but the difference was still startling. Compounding on this issue was that the car was very draggy. Drag causes the car to have a harder time cutting through the air smoothly. Reducing efficiency and lowering top speed. Combined with a weaker engine, this would be an issue on high-speed tracks. "At least the brakes are fine," she thought approaching the final sector.

"Box, box, box Suzie, pit confirm," Josh called over the radio. "Boxing this lap," Suzie replied. Her first outing with the car went without any hiccups. The CT05 performed without issue, and after a quick turnover, she was back on track. This time with two large aero rakes right behind the front wheels.

These were there to measure the airflow coming from the front wing and going around and over the tires. This data would be useful to see how their front wing was performing.

"This will be a shorter run, Suzie. Try to get a feel for what the car is doing during each corner. We are going to use your feedback and combine it with the data we get. So keep it nice and consistent and let us know if you notice anything out of the ordinary."

"Copy" was Suzie's only response as she tried to get in a rhythm. She soon noticed the CT05 was really hard to drive consistently. At one moment, the car would oversteer, making the rear slide, and then the next corner she would struggle with understeer, pushing the car forward when trying to turn into a corner. It was a tricky thing to drive smoothly.

"We have a lot of work to get this thing anywhere near decent," Suzie thought. This was not something unexpected. She knew what she was getting into, and she was still excited about the opportunity.

While Suzie was on track getting to grips with the car, the only other car on track was the Sauber C34. A car looking a lot easier to drive.

Standing in the pitbox, Marcus was on the phone with the Marketing department. They were keeping him informed on the current online mentions to understand which way the public's sentiment leaned. As expected, the news they dropped this morning overshadowed every other team. They would have to capitalize on this surge of attention. "See if you can get the news to any major news channels. Let's use this momentum!" He eagerly spurred on the Marketing team.