Ten things we learned from the final test

Will Mercedes remain on top? Will the Renault-engined teams start to look more convincing? Can Ferrari pull off a surprise? Who has won the testing war?

Formula 1's 12 days of pre-season testing are now over and with the Bahrain double-header complete, the next time the cars run in anger will be when they roll out of the garage for free practice at the Australian Grand Prix.

With just 11 days to go before that, we now have as much information on how the competitive order will shake out as we ever will. Here are 10 things we learned from F1's final winter test in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

MERCEDES CAN'T BANK ON RELIABILITY

Once it recovered from Lewis Hamilton's front-wing failure on day one at Jerez, Mercedes has led the way in terms of mileage throughout testing. But as the cumulative distance covered has increased, particularly through the two tests in Bahrain, the F1 W05 has endured its fair share of reliability problems.

Mercedes caused six red flags over the course of all three tests, and understandably the team is putting its failures down to a consequence of doing so many laps. After all, the more you run, the more you wear the car out.

Only in Australia will we find out if some of the bigger issues (including engine and gearbox changes) really were just a consequence of the 4973km Mercedes racked up over the three tests.

The team was only fourth in terms of mileage for the final test, as the engine and gearbox changes ate into its track time.

RED BULL STILL HAS A MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB

Of the 10 teams that appeared in all three of the pre-season tests, only Marussia completed fewer miles than Red Bull. Even with 77 laps banked on the final day in Bahrain - a Red Bull personal best - the reigning world champion team managed a grand total of 320. That's just under 27 laps per day.

As world champion Sebastian Vettel admitted on Sunday night, the Red Bull-Renault RB10 is not currently quick enough to match the pacesetters. And that's not even the biggest of its worries, as it goes to Melbourne with a painful reliability record and having failed in its only attempt to complete a proper race distance.

Right now, simply finishing the Australian GP - which would require a Red Bull to lap for longer in one hit than anyone in the team could even dream of during testing - would represent a victory of sorts.

It's inconceivable that Red Bull will be fighting for victory in Australia. But few doubt that its car is fundamentally good and that if Renault can continue to make progress with its engine, it will climb the order. The question is, how long will that take?

WILLIAMS COULD BE MERCEDES' BIGGEST HEADACHE

Other than Mercedes, which clearly has an edge on outright pace at the moment, Williams arguably looks the team in the strongest position after pre-season testing.

The Grove outfit has been more reliable than most (save for a wiring loom issue that hampered Felipe Massa at the first Bahrain test, and the engine failure that struck Valtteri Bottas near the end of the final day of the last test), it's set the fastest time of anyone across both Bahrain tests (thanks to Felipe Massa's day-three effort) and must be quietly confident that it has a real shot of returning to the podium this season - certainly in the early rounds.

The question, of course, is whether Williams can stay there, by keeping pace in the development race that rules F1. But Massa looks delighted with his new surrounds and if Mercedes drops the prize dinner plate, Williams is probably in the best position right now to pick up the pieces.

FINISHING CLEANLY IN MELBOURNE SHOULD GUARANTEE POINTS

Every team has suffered reliability problems during pre-season. Every team. That's inevitable when the regulations have changed so much in such a short space of time.

Sure, a rough pecking order is beginning to emerge already, and certain squads (Mercedes) look in far better shape than others (Red Bull) to score strong results in Melbourne, but there are simply no guarantees when the cars are so raw and the formula so little understood.

There's a real possibility some cars might not even make the grid if they encounter a serious problem at an inopportune time, and of those that do there's a likelihood some will struggle even to get off the line!

Regardless of speed, fuel-efficiency and tyre management (which are ultimately expected to be the determining factors in the final pecking order this season), simply getting a car to the finish without any problems should be enough to ensure it gets points on the board at the first race.

LOTUS HASN'T MADE UP FOR ITS BAD START

It's irrelevant to ask if Lotus should have joined the other teams at the first test of 2014, because it simply could not get its car ready to take it to Jerez.

But the Enstone-based outfit struggled to put together a trouble-free day across two tests in Bahrain, and it was rarely able to turn the wick up to anything like the sort of performance it would like to be getting in Australia.

After his troubled first test in Bahrain Romain Grosjean admitted that Lotus probably wouldn't be able to work on refining the set-up of the car until the first race. By the end of the second test, he was resigned to accepting that the team simply isn't ready for the season to start.

2014 F1 CARS FLY ON THE STRAIGHTS

The fastest speed registered in qualifying for the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix was 314.2km/h (195mph) by Paul di Resta's Force India. In testing this year we often saw cars that were pushing the performance of their engines a bit more clearing the 330km/h mark (205mph) at the end of the start/finish straight.

The highest speed registered during the test was a whopping 338km/h by Fernando Alonso's Ferrari - that's 210mph.

"The power on the straights feels different," said Alonso. "The ERS is doing a lot of work.

"Last year we had 80 horsepower [of boost], today we have nearly double so it's a huge push when the ERS is active. And the turbo is coming in a bit of a hit so you need to anticipate when the power will come on the exit of the corner."

What's also noteworthy is that the range across the field in 2013 was only 10km/h from fastest to slowest, whereas in testing this year the range was usually around 30km/h.

RENAULT-ENGINED CARS STRUGGLE TO GET OFF THE LINE

Forget question marks about finishing races, will Renault-engined cars actually be able to make proper starts in Australia?

It would be exaggerating to say that the Renault engine can't pull off race starts, but the practice starts witnessed by AUTOSPORT during the Bahrain test were far from convincing.

It wouldn't be a complete surprise to see a few Renault-engined cars to opt for a pitlane start, or even just roll straight out of the garage, to avoid subjecting the power unit to a full-blown racing start.

But Renault will be working on this over the coming days. It can legitimately argue that this was not exactly a priority for testing, so it will be fascinating to see how much progress the French manufacturer can make in terms of refining its launches.

If things remain unchanged, expect the Renault-engined cars to be struggling with wheelspin and taking a big toll on their machinery if they do make full-blown racing starts.

McLAREN IS NOT AS QUICK AS IT THOUGHT

McLaren began pre-season strongly, showing excellent reliability and decent pace during the first six days of testing at Jerez and Sakhir. But the second half of pre-season has been less spectacular.

As rival teams kicked on during the final four days in the Middle East, McLaren slipped down the pecking order, leading Jenson Button to declare the MP4-29 "not quick enough" and urge the Woking team to bolt on upgrades planned for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

There's every chance McLaren could be right in the mix come Melbourne, but the car doesn't look fast enough at the moment, and there were even some reliability cracks beginning to appear at the final test, where mechanical issues limited Button's running significantly.

The 2009 world champion looks like a man who would like to know he has a fast car under him now, rather than find out at the first race.

FERRARI ISN'T QUITE READY

Ferrari has been one of the hardest teams to read during testing, with its car and engine seemingly sandwiched between the faster and more reliable Mercedes package, and the slower and more fragile Renaults.

The bigger teams rarely go after all-out speed in testing, so the lack of a headline time from Ferrari is not the primary concern.

But Fernando Alonso was adamant that the team had to spend the second half of the final test focusing on speed, while Kimi Raikkonen's problem-riddled sessions meant he was desperate to get some race-spec mileage in on his disrupted final day.

Both drivers got race runs under their belts at the final test, but even being generous to Ferrari regarding track conditions it appears that the F14 T is the thick end of a second per lap slower than the Mercedes is capable of over a race distance.

WE WILL SEE VETTEL IN ADVERSITY

For those of you who have been asking how Sebastian Vettel will fare in less-than-ideal circumstances, the start of the 2014 season will tell you everything you need to know.

The four-time world champion goes into the Australian GP as a massive long-shot for victory, probably more so than at any other time since the early stages of the 2008 season.

As Fernando Alonso has shown during recent seasons, great champions show their mettle in adversity. The Spaniard has gained deserved popularity for his backs-against-the-wall performances driving Ferrari machinery that's not been gold-standard during recent seasons, and Vettel faces a similar challenge - in extremis.

Vettel did not win four world championships through luck, contrary to what some might say. He should embrace what will surely be a difficult start to the season as the perfect way to win over those relatively few critics who still remain.