Unpredictable tyres have emerged as the wildcard which could shake up the grid at this week’s Australian Grand Prix.
Drivers, led by triple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, have been frustrated by the Pirelli rubber, which has played havoc with some teams’ preparations.
Mercedes, based on testing times in Spain, have emerged as an unlikely frontrunner while the traditional pacesetters have been left working overtime before Sunday’s season-opener.
Vettel said the problems with the tyres meant Red Bull could not uncover where improvement was needed.
“It is extremely difficult to pinpoint any exact area we are not satisfied with because the tyres are not consistent enough,” Vettel said in Barcelona.
“We need to have a good look at the data to have a better understanding of the data between now and Melbourne to have a better understanding of what to expect in Australia and the first few races of the season.”
Red Bull topped only one of the practice sessions but Vettel dismissed the time charts as irrelevant.
While he and teammate Mark Webber managed only 158 laps between them on the final weekend, Mercedes, now with former world champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, took data from 248 laps.
“We would love to have had the opportunity to work more on the set-up and read the changes but the tyres were not very consistent so I think everyone was struggling with that,” Vettel said.
However, he said the puzzling characteristics of the tyres, which would wear dramatically at times and last longer during other runs, meant Red Bull was not the only team left with just a few days to find an edge.
While pre-season test times are notoriously unreliable because teams all have different agendas, Vettel said this past session had been the most unreliable he had ever experienced.
“I would say that we never had a winter that was less conclusive than this one,” he said.
“The tyres last more or less, depending on how much temperature you are able to create, so I think it is impossible for all of us to read the pace of the cars and to make out any favourites.
“I think we all have been limited by what the tyres can do. It was extremely difficult to read some set-up changes and find a direction with the car as the tyres were simply not good enough.”
Despite time closing in, the 25-year-old German is still confident his engineers can produce a highly competitive car again.
“I think the target is there to really improve the car by a lot…but for now it’s to understand a little bit more with the new parts and find the right direction,” he said.
