Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
Up there in 6th and 7th you mean. On other faster tracks, the one-and-a-half gap would materialise l think. They have stuffed it again but would claw back their performance as the season goes on. But, l fear they would most likely to miss the boat again this season. It is a great surprise to see they turned up with the W13 in black and called it W14. I suspect they overspent last season carrying on with the W13 when they should have put that time and money on a revamped W14.

They are behaving and looking very much like a midfield team at the moment
Last year they had a car with an inherant flaw which they also struggled to understand and so they couldn't really pull very much good data that was going to get their 23 car competitive from the get go.They are about where I expected them to be.

They are probably about 5-6 months behind everyone else in terms of development because of the fresh start... while their competitors have evolutions of the 22 cars, when you consider that, to still be 3rd/4th best car, that's really not that bad IMO.

If they fall further back I'll be more inclined to agree with you but its only Q3 of the first race of the season so don't be too hasty in judging them. I think they will develop fast and close that current gap right down to be competitive before the seasons halfway point.