Rivals suspected Ferrari were 'sandbagging', or hiding their true pace. We have been quite reliable and in that respect it's positive." There will be time to address development where we are weak.
"Our main competitors are faster but it is only the start of a long season. "We are certainly not the fastest car during winter testing," he said. "I am not worried at all." FerrariĪs for Ferrari, team boss Mattia Binotto has been ultra-cautious in his public pronouncements so far. "They don't drive the car, so they don't know," he said of those questioning its behaviour. Observers questioned whether the car had a rear instability issue, perhaps triggered by an interruption of the airflow in long corners.īut Verstappen shrugged these claims off, saying he was merely exploring the car's limits in testing. And team-mate Alexander Albon had a similar spin on the final day of testing. Verstappen lost control of it six times in six days - three times as much as any other driver. The main question mark over Red Bull surrounded the number of spins the car had. It was notable that Red Bull did not use the softest tyres to set their fastest times, unlike most of the other leading teams, and the car looked quick out on track.
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Horner said they were "pretty satisfied" with what had been a "pretty positive" pre-season, while lead driver Max Verstappen said: "The car has been feeling good and (it's) definitely an improvement from last year." Red Bull always play their cards close to their chest in pre-season testing, and this year was no different. But the exact state of play between them is unclear. On a general level, the same top three teams are expected to remain at the front, with Mercedes challenged by Red Bull and Ferrari. But I have every confidence in the guys back in the factory that they will analyse and do the best they can in these next two weeks to make sure we start off on the right foot." Red Bull "It's definitely not an easy or relaxed scenario for us. I think we're on our second engine already. Normally in this pre-season testing we're much more confident in the reliability so it's not been perfect for us. Hamilton said: "It's a concern, yeah, for sure. This is a significantly worse reliability record than rivals Ferrari and Honda, who supply Red Bull. Hamilton was stopped by an engine problem on the penultimate day of running, team-mate Bottas had two separate engine-related issues, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi lost a lot of mileage with three, and his team-mate George Russell also had an issue on the final day. Typically the front wheels on an F1 car are mounted at an outward-facing angle to help with cornering (yellow dotted line) - this system adjusts them to be more centred (red line) travelling down the straights when the driver pulls back the steering wheelīut Mercedes are not without their concerns, and the biggest one surrounds reliability. Their so-called 'dual-axis steering' - a clever way to alter the angle of the front wheels between cornering and straights that appears to be aimed at improving tyre wear - got everyone talking and will likely take rivals months to copy, if they even can at all.
Mercedes also caught their rivals on the hop with an innovative technical development that emerged in the course of the first week. Whereas others need to stretch a bit more." But the impressive way in which Mercedes went about their business throughout the six days in Spain was what led people to believe they are in front.Īs Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel put it: "You'd say Mercedes is at the top because, every time they go out, they are fairly quick with ease, not just one lap, but in general. Mercedes hit the ground running on the first day of winter testing, when Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton set the two fastest times, and have hardly looked back since.Īnd Bottas ended the pre-season as he started it - with the fastest time on the final day.Īs everyone who knows anything about F1 understands, a fast single lap time in testing means nothing in isolation. "Mercedes are very much the favourites," he said. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner summed up the general view of Mercedes on the final day of testing in Spain. F1 liveries reimagined - from Mansell and Senna to the World Cup.Let's take a closer look at how things appear to be shaping up. But most Formula 1 insiders seem to agree on a handful of things - Mercedes will start the season in Australia in mid-March as favourites, Red Bull and Ferrari are hard on their heels, the midfield fight looks very close indeed, and the best teams in it appear to have moved closer to the front.
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