MAUGER

Mercedes comes out with all guns blazing in Formula 1 testing

Well, there’s no doubt about which team ‘won’ the opening week of Formula 1 testing in 2020. Mercedes topped the times at Barcelona, covered the most laps and even managed to throw the paddock a curveball with its controversial dual-axis steering system, which we explore this week on page 31.

Given the Silver Arrows are coming off the back of an unprecedented six world title doubles, it’s hardly a surprise they are looking so strong. As the team’s technical director James Allison explains in our test report on p20, Mercedes has decided to go aggressive with the design of the W11, despite the fact that this is the last season of the current rules cycle. It’s that sort of approach that has made Mercedes so diffi cult to beat since 2014.

There is still hope of a decent fight, however. Many feel Ferrari ran with its engine turned down during the first week in Spain, while Red Bull didn’t push for times and sounds quietly confident. It’s the second test this week – check out Autosport.com for live coverage and next week’s magazine for the full analysis – so the true picture will soon become clearer, if not yet definitive.

Autosport has also gone through some changes over the winter. While we bid farewell and thank you to Gary Anderson, we welcome Tim Wright as our new technical consultant. As James Newbold’s piece on p42 shows, Wright’s career is an impressive one and includes F1 titles with McLaren and Renault, as well as Le Mans and sportscar success with Peugeot. He’s also worked with Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, so has some interesting driver insights too. Tim provides his trackside view of the new cars on p26 and joins technical editor Jake Boxall-Legge to pick out the key details from the crop of 2020 machines.

Kevin Turner Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK 5 MARCH Who won the F1 test war? Our final analysis from

Barcelona

COVER IMAGE Motorsport Images/Sutton

PIT & PADDOCK 4 What now for WEC a er Aston pullout? 6 Mercedes DAS sparks controversy 8 Shedden to stand in for Neal 10 Newman recovering from Daytona crash 13 Huff out of World Touring Cars 15 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 16 Opinion: Matt Kew 17 Feedback: your letters

F1 TESTING 18 All the new cars on track 20 Mercedes lands the early blow 25 All the stats from the first Barcelona test 26 Trackside view with Tim Wright 31 Technical focus on the 2020 machines 36 Renault RS20 technical analysis 38 Racing Point RP20 technical analysis 40 Haas VF-20 technical analysis (redux!)

INSIGHT 42 The remarkable career of Tim Wright

RACE CENTRE 50 World Endurance battles from Austin 56 World of Sport: Australian Supercars; NASCAR Cup; Asian F3

CLUB AUTOSPORT 68 Maldonado to Monaco in Maserati 70 Leading UK team joins Porsche series 72 New pre-1966 race for MG Live 75 Opinion: Marcus Pye

FINISHING STRAIGHT 76 What’s on this week 79 Have-a-go hero: Mario Dominguez 80 From the archive: 1961 British GP 82 Autosport 70: Fangio is kidnapped

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 12 Special deals for Autosport

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