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Formula 1's pre-season testing ahead of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix has been completed, and after thousands of laps around the Circuit de Catalunya, we now have a better idea of how this year's grid will shake-up. While some teams have done what we expected them too, others have surprised onlookers in a number of ways. F1 is often (and wrongly, in my opinion) branded as a predictable sport, but the signs that have been given so far, show us that 2019 has the making of a great season.
#1 Mercedes v Ferrari is Close
For most of the two weeks of testing, Ferrari - and especially Mercedes - were holding their cards close to their chest when it came to their overall performance. The Silver Arrows never troubled the fastest lap times of the day, not even making the top 10 (in terms of drivers) on some occasions, but Friday changed all that. Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas unleashed the true pace of the W10 for the first time, the Finn posting a 1:16.5, before the defending champion set a blistering 1:16.2, just a tenth of a second slower than his 2018 pole time. However, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who is desperate to win his first world title since 2013, bested Hamilton's time, by the slimmest of margins. A 1:16.221 was the German's best lap, the fastest ever winter testing time in Barcelona, just 3 one thousandths of a second separated Hamilton and Vettel, the pair many expect to duel it out for the title once again.
Fuel loads and engine modes are unknown, especially for the long runs, but this is alluding to the qualifying battle for pole in Australia being an extremely competitive one. Indeed, Hamilton has even stated that he thinks this year's title battle will be his "most challenging yet", and you can't blame him for thinking this given these results.
#2 Williams Better, but Still in Trouble
After missing the first two and a half days of testing last week, Williams ran throughout the second weekend with nowhere near as much disruption. After setting a frighteningly slow time during their first day of running, the British outfit have appeared to be closer to the pace during the rest of testing, consistently clocking up decent tallies of laps. Robert Kubica got the highest total on Wednesday, 130, which is almost the distance of 2 Grands Prix around the Spanish circuit, a great tally by any standards.
There are still problems for the team from Grove, though, Kubica himself even admitted that Williams are at least a day behind the competitors and eliminating that deficit won't be easy. What's worse, though, is the lack of pace in the car. The FW42 doesn't look quick, perhaps long runs will be better, but given what happened in 2018, and their 1-lap pace so far, it looks as though the white and blue cars will be running around the back once again.
#3 The Field Looks Closer
With the exception of Williams, who look to be a further second behind the ninith fastest team, the field looks to be exceptionally close. There was just 1.5 seconds between Vettel's Ferrari and Sergio Perez's Racing Point on Friday, a gap that separated 3rd placed Red Bull and 4th placed Renault in 2018.
Of course, testing times are notoriously misleading, as slow teams often run their cars on fumes to make them appear fastest than what they actually are, in order to impress sponsors. Conversely, quick teams usually send their cars out with excess fuel or on slower engine modes, in order to not reveal their true pace to their rivals. However, on paper, this is an undeniably close battle, possibly down to engine performance being normalised over time and the simplification of the front wing, when compared to last year.
We'll need to wait a few weeks to see for sure, but I've got a good feeling about this.
#4 Toro Rosso Look Surprisingly Quick
Personally, before testing began, I predicted that Toro Rosso would finish bottom of the 2019 constructor's championship, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat both set fastest times for certain days, no mean feat for Formula 1's only true B team. Pessimists will say that Toro Rosso will always go for Hollywood lap times, they're a team that will never realistically challenge at the front after all. I highlighted that Honda's engine looks to be competitive for 2019, the first time this will be the case since their re-entry into the pinnacle of sport. Lap times don't lie, especially when they're at full-pelt, and Daniil Kvyat classified fifth overall on Friday, six tenths off Vettel and Hamilton's fastest times. If you were to discount Bottas' time, (because he was in the same car as Hamilton), that means that STR were fourth in the pecking order on the final day, behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. In reality, this likely won't be the case, as you'd expect at least Red Bull to be faster than the Italian team, but these are undoubtedly positive signs.
#5 Reliability has been Very Impressive
The main purpose of testing in motorsport is to see whether the teams' entries are fast, but more than anything, reliable. To finish first, first you must finish, and finding the faults with your vehicle is essential to making the chequered flag. As time goes on with the V6-turbo engines, retirements during Grands Prix should decrease, and it seems as though that's exactly the case. Before 2005, only one race had ever seen no unclassified drivers, seven have occurred since. 2018 saw just one race with no non-finishes (the Chinese GP), but there's been a distinct lack of red flags during this year's testing action, so we could see several in 2019.
There's still a lot that's unknown, including whether Alfa Romeo's unique front wing will propel them up the F1 ladder, and we'll find all of that out soon.
If you want to check out what we learned in the first week of testing, check out our other article here.
Which team do you think has the upper hand so far? Is it Mercedes, Ferrari or someone else? Comment below and let us know!
