Gary Anderson's pre-season blog
Barcelona test two: Day two
Last year Red Bull never really showed its hand until qualifying in Bahrain but this year it is definitely showing during testing that it is the team the rest need to be gunning for.
I would not have expected Ferrari to let Red Bull steal the limelight quite as much as it is doing - I thought Ferrari would have retaliated to Sebastian Vettel's 1m21.8s with a semi-low-fuel run of its own. But Ferrari is either feeling very confident that it can do it when necessary or it just doesn't have the pace right now to be compared to Red Bull.
I am not really sure if Renault has actually joined the frontrunning bunch but its performance does look positive and consistent. As for McLaren, it is struggling a bit with actual performance but more importantly reliability is not very good so with these two problems it really does have a lot of work to do before it will join Red Bull and Ferrari at the front - if it can at all.
I have talked a lot about the top teams but I think it is time to look at what were the midfield runners from last season. From day to day it changes quite a bit and it's quite difficult to get a picture, but I think that Toro Rosso has really stepped up its performance and having Daniel Riccardo standing in the sidelines waiting for a seat will definitely keep STR's drivers on their toes.
I think next up is a battle between Sauber and Williams, and I think the edge will go to Williams mainly because of Rubens Barrichello's experience. That really leaves Force India and if it is not careful it may be a little vulnerable to an attack from Lotus. I would expect that Virgin and HRT will be bringing up the rear.
You notice that in there I have said nothing about Mercedes. After the first day of its four-day test I didn't see anything that would mean that it would have stepped forward.
These cars work as a package and if Mercedes has got an update kit it should get it on the car and try to optimise it as opposed to playing around with one bit at a time. For example, when you alter the airflow coming off the front wing it alters how the aerodynamic surfaces coming along behind will react and if you have created an update kit that all works together then trying each individual component separately means that you either lack confidence in the changes or that the step you are expecting is too small to be meaningful. Or it might just mean Mercedes hasn't got the bits ready. If this is the problem then it is very lucky Bahrain was cancelled...
Let's see what happens tomorrow.
Inside testing: Barcelona blog part two
Mark Glendenning
Had the Bahrain Grand Prix gone ahead as scheduled, then Lewis Hamilton's problems during the second day at Barcelona suggested that both McLarens would have retired.
A hydraulic problem and two exhaust failures made for some frustrating waits in the garage for the 2008 world champion; his irritation at the delays no doubt being amplified by the knowledge that the MP4-26 currently needs all the track time it can get. It's possible that it could be shaped into a championship-contender before the season is out, but the last two days have only served to confirm suspicions that it currently has neither the performance nor the reliability to expect an easy weekend in Melbourne.
Jenson Button mentioned yesterday that he was reluctant to even place the McLaren firmly among the top three at this point, and on that basis he won't have been happy to hear that Nico Rosberg likes what he's seen of the Mercedes updates so far. Only part of the new package was rolled out today, and while he never threatened the top of the timing screens - Sebastian Vettel made that his own very early in the day - Rosberg claimed that the early signs were all good. The battle of the silver cars starts here.
Elsewhere, the teams with reliability on their side focused on longer runs and pitstops, and we saw quite a few teams run through race simulations. The window next to the AUTOSPORT desk in the media centre is directly above the Toro Rosso garage, so we were also able to witness an impressively prolonged sequence of practice stops by Setastien Buemi. The Swiss driver seemed to spend half the afternoon driving out of the pits, around the track, and back in to have his tyres changed - we tried keeping count for a while, but got bored and gave up at about 15 pitstops. It's certainly the only time I've seen a driver lap continually for more than an hour without actually setting a time.
But this is testing, and times don't always matter. The fact that the Red Bull mechanics next door were also occasionally running a stopwatch on Buemi's stops told you all you needed to know. The characteristics of the Pirellis mean that pitstops are going to be a major factor this season, and Toro Rosso is one team with no intention of being caught short.
Not counting today:
Ferrari has completed 1184 laps so far in testing
Red Bull 1002
Mercedes 968
Sauber 926
Force India 863
Williams 862
Toro Rosso 847
McLaren 843
Renault 840
Virgin 763
Lotus 546
HRT 445
Source: Autosport
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