Formula One is currently in winter test mode before the championship proper begins in Australia on March 20th. Winter testing in Formula One is never about whoever sets the fastest time will have the fastest car. Not much should be read into the lap times set by any one particular team or individual.
Winter testing is much more about preparation, gathering data and completing as many laps as possible.
The more laps a team has completed the more reliable the car will be. Reliability as much as pace is one of the key components of winning a championship. Just one of many key components that is.
The most significant day of winter testing is always the last hour of the last day of the last test session. This is when all competitors effectively set qualifying laps.
Today in Barcelona will be that day, after nine days of testing split over two the last two months we shall finally see which team will be where when the race weekend begins in Australia.
What we know so far is that Mercedes are extremely reliable and are said to have an advantage going into Australia.
Ferrari seem to be the only team to have closed the performance gap with Raikkonen having set the fastest time of testing thus far at the Barcelona track.
Felipe Massa was 2nd fastest on day 3 of the four day test around 0.5 seconds slower in his Williams. Nico Hulkenberg 3rd and Max Verstappen were 3rd and 4th respectively.
Nico Rosberg was 5th in his Mercedes, just under two seconds off the pace and his personal best time set on day 1 of the test.
The 2016 season will see the arrival of a new team. US based Hass Team is a successful Indycar outfit. But Formula One is in a different league.
Although Hass is using a Ferrari engine it has experienced a lot of teething problems. The first two days were spent in the garage due to engine troubles. And when new recruit Romain Grosjean got a chance to spend time on the track he actually spent time in the gravel trap.
Ferrari too have also suffered some engine troubles with Sebastian Vettel. So that may indicate that Ferrari will have a quick but unreliable car.
What is known is that Mercedes have yet to show how fast they can really go, but just how much of an advantage they retain nobody can really be sure.
That’s what winter testing is really about, the unknown quantity.
F1 Winter Testing, Barcelona (March 1-4) Fastest Times, Day Three;
1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:22.785
2 Felipe Massa (Brz) Williams 1:23.193
3 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:23.251
4 Max Verstappen (Ned) Toro Rosso 1:23.382
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:24.126
6 Felipe Nasr (Brz) Sauber 1:24.768
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:24.870
8 Pascal Wehrlein (Ger) Manor 1:24.913
9 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull 1:25.141
10 Jolyon Palmer (GB) Renault 1:26.224
11 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:26.488
12 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas 1:27.196
