Barcelona testing

[mikuni]

Excited about Ferrari's pace. It's clear they had more chassis pace with Vettel easing off in the third sector and Kimi saying there's more left in it, but I wonder if the engine is turned down, or more importantly, how much it can be turned up.

Mercedes will obviously have pace in reserve, and the engine will be turned right down throughout testing. I (along with probably everyone else) am scared to see what will happen when they fully unleash it (compare free practice last year with Q3 times), but hopefully Ferrari can up the power by a similar margin.

Red Bull is an interesting one. They seem quite far off the pace and haven't really demonstrated they can cut it. Combined with saying Australia won't bring significant changes means it seems surprising that they will be able to find a couple of seconds, but they have surprised us before, so I know people are expecting big things of them come Melbourne.

Williams seems like the wildcard this season, showing similar pace to their first Hybrid turbo year in 2014. I wonder whether they will still be there once they are all unleashed.

If nothing else the "best of the rest" battle is shaping up to be quite interesting (assuming Merc, RBR and SF are the top three comfortably). I think Renault and Torro Rosso could be a good battle, with Force India yet to show, and Haas looking quick but with the same unreliability issues (brakes) as last year coming through.

At least the Sauber looks good this year.

I seem to have forgotten a team.....