10 things we learned from the first F1 test

From the outside, Formula 1 testing can throw up a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

But during four days of activity at Barcelona, there were plenty of hidden indicators of what lies in wait in the 2016 season, gleaned from what happened on track and from speaking to those working in F1 teams who know plenty about what's really going on.

In Spain, we saw 10 new cars completing an astonishing number of laps, with Mercedes lapping almost continuously, Ferrari topping the times and a new team on track in Haas.

None of the conclusions below are definitive, as there is so much still to happen before the season gets under way in Australia on March 20, but here are 10 season-shaping pointers that Autosport's team covering the test have pieced together.

MERCEDES IS STILL ON TOP
Ian Parkes (@ianparkesf1)

One team emerged head and shoulders above its rivals, which perhaps came as no surprise. Reigning champion Mercedes delivered a clear statement of intent: to dominate for a third consecutive season.

The F1 W07 Hybrid ran faultlessly over the four days, clocking up a staggering 675 laps, or 1952 miles - the equivalent of 11 grands prix at Barcelona.

There was no grandstanding with times either as Mercedes simply ran for lap after lap to prove the reliability of the car, to ensure it's as bulletproof as it can be ahead of the first race in Australia.

New parts were fitted on occasion, highlighting the fact Mercedes found itself in such a strong position that it could turn its attention to set-up, all before it has even run a lap in any kind of anger on any of the trio of soft-compound tyres.

Nico Rosberg confirmed his team was playing its cards close to its chest, before swiftly adding: "The car is quick."

And after eulogising over the car's reliability, Lewis Hamilton simply said: "I don't think it's slow."

Certainly Mercedes' rivals are worried. Felipe Massa declared the team's form "a big warning", while Fernando Alonso believes it's "stronger than ever".

It would appear it's going to take something special to halt the Mercedes juggernaut this year.

FERRARI HAS TAKEN A STEP FORWARD
Edd Straw (@eddstrawf1)

Don't read anything into the fact that Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the whole test, three tenths quicker than anyone else. After all, his time was set on day two on the fastest tyre available and we never saw the Mercedes run on anything quicker than a medium Pirelli.

But you can be confident Ferrari has made an improvement with the SF16-H. The packaging is tighter than last year, the pullrod front suspension has been dropped, it's adopted the popular short-nose concept and, crucially, some of last year's understeer problems have been cured.

When Kimi Raikkonen - who loves a responsive front end - says the car feels good, you can be pretty sure he means it.

But a step forward in itself isn't enough. Ferrari needs to make a stride forward, a net gain of around three-quarters of a second on the average circuit based on what we saw last year.

And on the negative side, Ferrari didn't get as many laps in as it should have, completing only 52 per cent of what Mercedes managed.

When you're already playing catch-up, you don't want to fall further behind. While things are moving in the right direction, there is much to be done at the second test.

THE ENGINES SOUND BETTER
Ben Anderson (@BenAndersonAuto)

The revised exhaust systems on all F1 cars, now featuring an extra tailpipe or two for the turbo wastegate, have certainly increased the amount of sound coming from the V6 engines.

Mercedes measured a 4dB increase on its dyno, bringing the current cars to within 1.5dB of the old V8s.

But the subjective way humans perceive sound and react to it emotionally makes it difficult to judge whether the cars actually sound louder. Some said yes, others weren't so sure.

It certainly seemed from trackside that the various engine notes are converging, which is a natural consequence of all the manufacturers working out how to produce more power and run these complex hybrid systems more efficiently.

As each year of the present engine formula has arrived, the power units have sounded more and more like proper racing engines, but they will always retain a distinctive tone that will never match the scream of the V8s.

That's the just the nature of the beast, but F1 is working on further refinements to increase the noise further. As Mercedes' Paddy Lowe says, we can't just wind the clock back.

HONDA IS STILL BEHIND
Ben Anderson

Honda has made a concerted effort to fix the ERS problems that plagued its engine last season, but although McLaren is pleased with this progress there is still frustration that the overall power-unit package is not where it needs to be.

As Jenson Button remarked after his first day in the MP4-31: "[On] deployment we've made a good step forward, but with the power unit we've a lot of work still."

Reliability also looked much improved, until the car caught fire after a hydraulic leak at the base of the engine on Wednesday. Fernando Alonso then spent most of Thursday in the garage following a coolant leak on the replacement engine.

The basic power-unit architecture will be homologated on Monday, and Honda's initial development plan for the early part of the year is already fixed, so unless performance and reliability can be added quickly it could be another tough start for McLaren.

The good news is that McLaren should possess one of the better chassis out there, having developed well last season and kept faith with its 'size-zero' aerodynamic philosophy. Honda has made organisational changes in a bid to strengthen its F1 project, replacing Yasuhisa Arai with Yasuke Hasegawa, the former engineering chief of its previous F1 team.

But Arai protege Hasegawa will take time to find his feet as Arai transitions towards retirement - time McLaren doesn't really have if it wants to achieve substantially better results this season.

HAAS CAN SCORE POINTS
Lawrence Barretto (@lawrobarretto)

The last four teams to have entered Formula 1 have not covered themselves in glory, so it is no surprise that Haas vowed to do things differently.

It delayed its entry by a year, and takes as many parts as is permitted under the regulations from Ferrari. So far, that approach is working.

The American outfit clocked up 281 laps over the course of the first four days, more than McLaren and Manor.

Though it suffered a front-wing failure on day one, its response to the problem was efficient and the car was soon back out on track.

By the end of the week, the team was already doing a race simulation, which allowed it to do live pitstops and assess how it worked operationally in a grand prix situation.

It has what team boss Gunther Steiner describes as a long list of problems to fix, but that is natural in testing, especially for a new outfit, and it appears to be on top of them.

Both Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez have reported a good feeling with the car. Grosjean even suggests the team is capable of scoring points this season.

Already, Haas looks like a professional F1 team. If it continues this way, points may well be on the cards.

RENAULT IS PLAYING CATCH-UP
Ben Anderson

It's been the same story ever since Formula 1 switched to V6 hybrid turbo engines from normally aspirated V8s: Renault is off the pace and has a mountain of work ahead.

The new Renault engine is certainly a bit better than the old one. Although Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo struggled to tell the difference between old and new on day one, it's clear from trackside that it is definitely more driveable than last year's power unit.

It looks a better proposition in the back of the RB12 than it does in the new works Renault chassis, but that's perhaps not surprising given how late the deal to buy Lotus came together.

Now Renault is reunited with Enstone and firmly committed to F1, expect better investment and a faster rate of improvement than before, both in terms of its own chassis and the engine it also supplies to Red Bull.

That will take time, of course, but that improvement is sorely needed, because Mercedes and Ferrari are well ahead.

RED BULL IS PLAYING A WAITING GAME
Edd Straw

As Daniel Ricciardo confirmed after his first day in the car, the Renault power-unit package is in much the same place as it was at the back end of last season.

Inevitably, Red Bull has produced a decent chassis, but it visibly lacks punch from its Renault engine. And that's going to be the case at the start of the season, with team principal Christian Horner even suggesting sister team Toro Rosso has picked up 0.8s per lap by changing from Renault to last year's Ferrari engine.

But there is also confidence that early-season pain could translate into late-season gain. That depends largely on the engine, and with Renault shoring up its commitment to F1 by recreating its own works team, progress is expected.

"If we can improve early on in the season and find a bit of speed before the summer break, it should set us up for a lot more podiums than last year," said Ricciardo.

There were just three podiums last year, so a lot depends on whether the 'TAG Heuer' engine in the back of the RB12 can deliver what's expected on time.

LOW-SPEED IMPROVEMENT FOR WILLIAMS
Lawrence Barretto

Last year's Williams had a tendency to understeer heavily at low speed and as a result did not really enjoy circuits such as Monaco and the Hungaroring.

That was the area the team attacked over the winter, having started design work on the car earlier than normal as it pushed to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.

The early signs are positive. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa both spoke of improvements in low-speed corners, though they remained cautious about where they stand against their rivals.

Technical director Pat Symonds added that the data also suggests gains have been made in that area.

The team got decent mileage - 337 laps in total put it behind only Mercedes, Toro Rosso and Sauber - and moved on to long runs and even some performance work.

There were some niggles with Massa struggling with the balance on Wednesday and barely running on Thursday afternoon due to an ERS problem.

But, generally, it was a solid week for the team and the signs are certainly encouraging.

THE ULTRA-SOFT TYRE WORKS
Ian Parkes

Pirelli has introduced a new compound of tyre for this season, the ultra-soft, primarily designed for street tracks such as Monaco, Montreal and Singapore.

Although Barcelona's Catalunya circuit is not a track designed for the ultra-soft - only hard and medium have been run in the past - Ferrari and Red Bull opted to give the new rubber a trial.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen certainly gave an indication of the tyre's potential by setting the fastest laps on the days they each ran it, with Vettel posting the fastest time of the week overall.

From Pirelli's perspective the tyre "is working", with racing director Mario Isola adding: "The feedback has been good, although this is not the best track on which to test it, but at least we have an indication."

There is also a distinct improvement in laptimes compared to the super-soft.

"If you look at Ferrari the result was 0.8s per lap, but the feeling is that's a bit overestimated," added Isola.

"In Abu Dhabi [when it was tested last year] we found a bit less. In my opinion the right window should be between 0.5 and 0.8s. That is more or less the target we had in mind."

WILL TORO ROSSO RUN OUT OF STEAM?
Lawrence Barretto

When a team boss talks about introducing a 24/7, seven-days-a-week shift pattern for two-and-a-half months, you know said team is up against it.

It wasn't until early November that Toro Rosso knew it would definitely be getting Ferrari power, putting it under huge pressure to "compromise" its design philosophy to accommodate it.

It wasn't certain it would make the first test, but it did, albeit without its final livery. Carlos Sainz Jr caused confusion when he said it was a 2015-spec car with '16 bits, but technical director James Key clarified it was in fact a 2016 car with a couple of '15 bits.

When the car hit the track, it was reliable straight away - only Mercedes managed more laps. It's an impressive achievement given Toro Rosso's problems in that area last year.

The team predicts that the 2015-spec Ferrari engine will give it a step forward in the early part of the season, with Christian Horner expecting Red Bull to be beaten by its junior squad.

On the evidence of this test, and the feedback from the drivers, Toro Rosso could well cause some shocks early on.

But as the season progresses and the other 10 teams receive updates for their 2016 power units, it's inevitable that Toro Rosso will slip back.