MERCEDES IN FRONT, FERRARI UNDER PRESSURE

Training is over, now it’s getting serious. Formula 1 had six test days in Barcelona, ​​now everyone has to be ready for the season opener (race to be held on March 15) in Melbourne.

After all lap times and long runs, what did we learn without knowing the exact amount of fuel carried and exact engine settings for each individual lap?

Mercedes is again the team to beat. The Finn Valtteri Bottas already set the best time of 1.15.7 minutes in the first test week. This was almost half-second faster than the best time of the first non-Mercedes, Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

Botta’s best time stands out so that it is difficult to assess. However, most experts see the silver arrows in front, if not quite half a second.

Alpha Tauri team boss Franz Tost to F1-Insider.com: “Mercedes has the fastest car again, I see Red Bull behind it. In midfield, it gets really tight. It’s even about hundredths. A little mistake in the set-up and you can suddenly be 14th instead of sixth. ”

In the middle of the field are his own team, Racing Point with the “Mercedes Copy” from 2019, Renault and McLaren.

Also interesting: Williams, who was still the last in 2019, has found to close the gap to Alfa Romeo and Haas. Both Ferrari customers fear to be overtaken by Mercedes engine customers.

Ferrari is still difficult to classify – not only for Franz Tost. Team principal Mattia Binotto playing down bad as well as good points from testing. It ranks behind Mercedes and Red Bull before the start of the season so much seems clear. He even worries about racing points. Observers on the track like Max Verstappen’s father Jos reported strong understeer.

One thing is certain: Ferrari has a problem. The car is not fast enough, especially when it comes to top speed – its greatest strength in 2019 – the Italians are lagging behind. “Too much downforce and therefore too much drag on the straight.” is Ferrari’s reason for that. “But we’re working on it.”

But worse is that Ferrari’s no longer allowed to use certain systems in the engine environment that have made their power unit so superior in 2019. The FIA ​​made this public shortly before the test days ended. Reading between the lines it meant: Ferrari used illegal tools last year to generate more power.

Therefore, it‘s now assumed among F1 insider that the top speed of the SF1000‘s suddenly won’t be a strength anymore but a weakness. The question that will remain from the whole debate in the paddocks: If they didn’t manage to win the World Cup in 2019 with “tricks”, how are you supposed to make it this year without?