Testing in Jerez

On paper the first test of the year in Jerez was dominated by Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen fastest with a best of 1m20.841s and Sebastian Vettel a tenth behind him with a 1m20.984s. The Finn did 200 laps and the German 149 and they were both a long way clear of the rest. The team completed a decent 960 miles of running over the four days and so, naturally, there is much excitement amongst Ferrari fans that the team has caught up and overtaken Mercedes.. This is rather unlikely and one must assume that Ferrari is playing to the crowd a little perhaps not running the cars in full race trim. This is obviously possible as Sauber took the third fastest time with F1 new boy Felipe Nasr doing 197 laps over two days and setting a best of 1m21.545s, his team-mate Marcus Ericsson was fifth quickest overall with a 1m22.019s, after completing a total of 185 laps. This meant that Sauber completed a total of 1,050 miles of running. Lurking in fourth fastest, however, was Nico Rosberg in the new Mercedes and with Lewis Hamilton sixth overall, the team is looking relaxed. Rosberg recorded a 1m21.982s best after a whopping 307 laps in two days, while Hamilton completed 208 with a best of 1m22.172s. This gave Mercedes GP Petronas a total of 1,408 miles of running, far more than the others. This suggests that the team is not really bothered with going for times. This would fall in with the order behind the Mercedes as the two Williams-Mercedes were next up with Felipe Massa doing 144 laps and Valtteri Bottas 134. The two were closely matched, and not far from the pace of the Mercedes cars, with Massa setting a 1m22.276s and Valtteri a 1m22.319s.
Ninth fastest overall was Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso. He did 170 laps with a best of 1m22.553s, while his team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr was 11th fastest with a 1m23.187s after 183 laps. Together the Toro Rosso drivers did 970 miles of running.
Between the two was Pastor Maldonado in the new Lotus-Mercedes. The Venezuelan did two days of running and Romain Grosjean did just one. Pastor completed 137 laps, with a best of 1m22.713s, while Grosjean did just 53 with a best of 1m23.802s. The two men together completed 522 miles of running.
Red Bull Racing had a low-key test with Dan Ricciardo 12th quickest and Daniil Kvyat 14th. The Australian recorded a best of 1m23.338s, while the Russian managed a 1m23.975s. Together the two men completed only 456 miles, a lot less than other teams.
Down at the back McLaren had a torrid time with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso doing just 79 laps between them with the new Honda-powered cars. The best time was Button’s 1m27.660s, but it was clear that lap times were not that important for the team. The total mileage was just 217 miles.