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Barcelona Formula 1 test round-up: Mercedes leaves rivals standing

Only clues about Mercedes' 2015 performance emerged from Formula 1's first two winter tests, as other teams stole the limelight. That all changed in the final test at Barcelona

The dominant force of 2014 asserted its authority on the final pre-season test and left no one in any doubt that it will be the team to beat this year, if indeed it can even be caught.

ANALYSIS: We rank the teams after testing

Friday afternoon, the 10th day of testing, was the first time a Mercedes driver used Pirelli's soft tyre and Nico Rosberg made it count, lapping 1.2 seconds faster than the Williams of Valtteri Bottas went on the compound 90 minutes earlier.

It was the fastest time of the week and when Hamilton got his chance on the tyre a day later, he lapped faster than Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen had earlier managed around the Circuit de Catalunya on the super-soft.

KARUN CHANDHOK answers your testing questions

While Mercedes' pace on the medium and hard rubber was imposing, there were positives for some of its rivals.

Both Williams drivers topped a day, albeit those without Mercedes using the softs, turned plenty of laps and looked sharp, while Ferrari underlined its progress over 2014 with another solid test.

Red Bull focused on race pace but suffered several mechanical dramas, including an ERS problem for Daniel Ricciardo on the final day.

CRAIG SCARBOROUGH analyses the latest tech developments

That, though, was nothing compared to McLaren. The team managed just 177 laps over the four days - Felipe Nasr alone turned 159 on Sunday - and if you take out Jenson Button's 101 on Friday, it averaged just 25.3 laps on the other three.

After a hydraulics issue limited it to just seven laps on the opening day, Button's Friday looked to have been a breakthrough, but it proved something of a false dawn, with an oil leak and sensor problem ruining the weekend.

And when the car was running, it was clearly down on engine performance.

Conversely, Force India enjoyed a stunningly reliable debut with its new VJM08, which first appeared just before lunch on the second day. By Sunday night, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez had turned a combined 365 laps.

Sauber and Toro Rosso completed race simulations and also piled on the laps, as did Lotus until Pastor Maldonado crashed with a brake problem on Sunday.

TEST STATISTICS

FINAL TEST STATS:

Combined times:
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Day Tyres 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.792s 2 S 2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m23.022s +0.230s 3 S 3. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m23.063s +0.271s 4 SS 4. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m23.262s +0.470s 3 SS 5. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m23.276s +0.484s 3 SS 6. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m23.469s +0.677s 4 SS 7. Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.023s +1.231s 4 SS 8. Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso-Renault 1m24.191s +1.399s 3 SS 9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1m24.200s +1.408s 3 SS 10. Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.276s +1.484s 1 SS 11. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1m24.527s +1.735s 4 SS 12. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m24.638s +1.846s 4 S 13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m24.939s +2.147s 3 SS 14. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m25.113s +2.321s 4 SS 15. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Honda 1m25.225s +2.433s 3 S 16. Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m25.327s +2.535s 4 SS 17. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1m25.947s +3.155s 1 M 18. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1m26.705s +3.913s 2 S Mileage by driver: Pos Driver Laps Miles 1. Felipe Nasr 300 868 2. Sebastian Vettel 272 787 3. Nico Rosberg 254 735 4. Marcus Ericsson 245 709 5. Nico Hulkenberg 235 680 6. Max Verstappen 224 648 7. Carlos Sainz Jr. 218 630 8. Kimi Raikkonen 216 625 9. Felipe Massa 205 593 10. Daniel Ricciardo 200 578 11. Romain Grosjean 191 552 12. Valtteri Bottas 179 518 13. Pastor Maldonado 176 509 14. Daniil Kvyat 159 460 15. Jenson Button 138 399 16. Sergio Perez 130 376 17. Lewis Hamilton 124 359 18. Kevin Magnussen 39 113 Mileage by team: Pos Team Laps Miles 1. Sauber 545 1576 2. Ferrari 488 1411 3. Toro Rosso 442 1278 4. Williams 384 1111 5. Mercedes 378 1093 6. Lotus 367 1061 7. Force India 365 1056 8. Red Bull 359 1038 9. McLaren 177 512 Mileage by engine: Pos Engine Laps Miles 1. Mercedes 1494 4321 2. Ferrari 1033 2987 3. Renault 801 2316 4. Honda 177 512
COMPLETE 2015 WINTER TESTING MILEAGE: By driver: Pos Driver Miles 1. Nico Rosberg 2151 2. Felipe Nasr 1848 3. Max Verstappen 1760 4. Sebastian Vettel 1719 5. Marcus Ericsson 1697 6. Carlos Sainz Jr 1677 7. Kimi Raikkonen 1649 8. Lewis Hamilton 1512 9. Felipe Massa 1402 10. Valtteri Bottas 1400 11. Daniel Ricciardo 1393 12. Pastor Maldonado 1385 13. Daniil Kvyat 1310 14. Romain Grosjean 1018 15. Sergio Perez 824 16. Nico Hulkenberg 784 17. Jenson Button 641 18. Pascal Wehrlein 465 19. Fernando Alonso 333 20. Susie Wolff 248 21. Jolyon Palmer 222 22. Kevin Magnussen 113 By team: Pos Car Miles 1. Mercedes 3801 2. Sauber 3545 3. Toro Rosso 3437 4. Ferrari 3368 5. Williams 3051 6. Red Bull 2703 7. Lotus 2627 8. McLaren 1087 9. Force India 2015 car 1056 10. Force India 2014 car 878 By engine: Pos Engine Miles 1. Mercedes 11413 2. Ferrari 6913 3. Renault 6139 4. Honda 1087

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