Formula One 2011 Testing Begins

It feels like only a few weeks ago that Sebastian Vettel claimed his and Red Bull’s first Formula One world championship. With the season being thrown into turmoil before an engine has been revved it will be a great feeling for the teams to get into practice and regain some normality.

With practice sessions already completed in Valencia, Barcelona and Jerez it has become clear that the first major challenger for 2011 has stood up to be counted. The RB7 the newest model in the world championship team has been posting impressive times ahead of race one.

Coming off a massively successful season most people would be willing to accept that a team would be a little apprehensive of following such success. The second season syndrome is well known throughout sport, however the team is oozing with confidence. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko recently commented to reporters “if the first race were held tomorrow, we would end up lapping the rest of the field”. Which to be honest is a pretty bold statement!

The new RB7 is said to be generating awesome amounts of down force which is allowing the car to handle much better through the corners than any of its competitors. The car is so ferocious that the Red Bull team is confident of winning a second successive title.

The new Ferrari looked good but it paled into insignificance when you look at the results produced by the Red Bull team. So it seem like many of the other teams have a lot of work to do to even come close to Red Bull this year. But can they do it in time, or even if they do can Red Bull develop newer technology to improve the car even further.

Formula One fans will probably take this news with two feelings, firstly one of excitement of seeing the power and handling of the red bull. The second will be one of disappointment that the 2011 season may not even get started if the Red Bull is so far ahead of the competition. Lets hope the other teams can get back to the testing tracks with faster, better cars so that the 2011 becomes a great season and not a wash out.

Personally I hope that there ends up being three or four teams that can challenge for the title. Having a mixture of teams that cannot just win races but win titles would make 2011 one of the most exciting seasons in recent history. It will also add more excitement on race day if any car on the first two rows of the grid can seriously challenge for the race (not just the first corner).