10 things we learned from the first F1 test

Pre-season Formula 1 testing can be difficult enough to get a clear understanding from even when things go smoothly, but in 2018 the first test gave us even fewer indications than usual thanks to the weather.

Freezing temperatures and rain - and even heavy snow one morning - made the first three and a half days effectively a write-off for the teams, and led to a very busy final afternoon as everybody played catch-up on mileage.

There's certainly not much data to go on - for the teams or for those of us analysing what we saw in Spain - but by being on the ground at Barcelona's Catalunya circuit, Autosport's team was still able to pick out several interesting details that emerged during the opening test.

With better weather predicted for next week's running, test two will certainly put more meat on the bones, but for now the bones we have to work with are worth a look.

The competitive picture is emerging

Glenn Freeman
@glenn_autosport

This statement isn't as ludicrous as it first sounds after a week of disrupted running that often appeared meaningless. If you remove obvious outliers from the combined times - notably Stoffel Vandoorne's series of hypersoft runs (third overall) and Kevin Magnussen's charge on supersofts (sixth) from Thursday - you get the picture we were largely expecting heading into 2018.

With those adjustments we end up with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes three tenths of a second quicker than Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari (worryingly, with Hamilton using a harder tyre), with Valtteri Bottas next up ahead of both Red Bulls. The gap back to Daniel Ricciardo (0.846 seconds) and Max Verstappen is a little bigger, but Red Bull had a more troublesome test than its main rivals, completing almost 100 fewer laps, and Ricciardo's best lap was near the end of a 30+ lap run on the opening day - so there is time in the RB14.

Behind Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari it's a battle between the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Renault-powered McLaren of Fernando Alonso. McLaren will hope to be troubling Red Bull more than worrying about fending off the works Renault team, but the RS18 looks like a solid step forward from the car that ended 2017 as the fourth-fastest, and Enstone didn't get as greedy as Woking when it came to use of the softest tyres this week.

Behind the suspected big five it's all to play for, although Sauber consistently sat near the bottom of the times, suggesting its recovery from the doldrums will not be instant.

Finger trouble at McLaren

Lawrence Barretto
@lawrobarretto

Pre-season testing has not been kind to McLaren in recent years, but the team was optimistic as it headed to Barcelona with a Renault, rather than Honda, engine in the back of the car.

McLaren ended the test with 260 laps, 52 more than it managed last year and only 64 short of table-topper Toro Rosso. But it could have been so much better, had it not been for a few minor errors or issues.

On Monday, McLaren sat out most of the morning after Fernando Alonso was left stranded in the gravel when the right-rear wheel came loose. Racing director Eric Boullier said it had simply not been fastened "tight enough".

The next day, the team suffered some fire damage when a £2 bolt failed, allowing the exhaust to come loose.

Despite high temperatures at the rear that damaged the bodywork on the final day, it recovered well with Stoffel Vandoorne clocking 110 laps before Alonso added 51.

Alonso declared himself "really happy" at the conclusion of the test, but McLaren needs a cleaner run in test two if it's to start the season on a stronger foot.

Red Bull is being held back...

Edd Straw
@EddStrawF1

The new Red Bull looks good, very good, with none of the problems that held back its early-season car last year. But with Renault taking a conservative approach with its power unit, and question marks over when the major ERS upgrade featuring the long-delayed new in-house MGU-K will appear, it's uncertain when that will change.

The Renault package hasn't stood still. The three-tenths of lap time that weren't available for use at last year's Abu Dhabi finale is now available, as is maybe a tenth of further gains. But that still puts the Renault behind, and maybe by 40-50bhp.

Red Bull is certainly quick, and there's every chance it will at least be as close to the front as it was towards the end of last season when Max Verstappen won in Malaysia and Mexico. But unless the chassis is a clear step ahead of that of Mercedes and Ferrari, the danger is it's going to be another season of fighting for wins rather than the title.

...but Renault's team has taken a step forward

Edd Straw

There's lots of good news for the Enstone-based works Renault team. Having finished last season as the fourth-fastest car and nicking sixth in the constructors' championship, even the sketchy data from the first test suggests it has taken another stride forward.

While the car superficially looks pretty similar, there are major changes to the packaging under the bodywork. And, for the second test, a new front wing with a different concept is set to be introduced that could help unlock further aerodynamic performance. That's an area where Enstone has beefed up significantly recently, and there's realistic expectation that the development rate will be good.

It's too early for Renault to be a title contender, and it is still in a rebuilding phase. But fourth place in the constructors' championship is a realistic target. And the first test suggests it has got a realistic chance of taking on fellow Renault-powered team McLaren with a car that looks nimble and effective.

Toro Rosso and Honda are gelling well

Gary Anderson

There was good reason to be concerned for Toro Rosso coming into this test given all the troubles McLaren had with Honda. But it was impressive to see the Toro Rosso-Honda running relatively trouble-free and completing more laps than any other team.

Adapting to a different engine is a huge challenge for a small team, and Toro Rosso has done well. But it will have come at a cost, because any effort going into that is resource you can't use doing other things. What we did see is that Toro Rosso and Honda have a good basis to work from with lap times that, while not stunning, look to be in the midfield mix.

Most importantly, the two sides seem to be communicating well. Toro Rosso is willing to make compromises on the chassis to accommodate Honda, and vice versa. That's how it should be with a genuine team/engine-manufacturer partnership.

Kubica wants to move the story on now

Lawrence Barretto

Robert Kubica has been very open when asked about his limitations as he bids to return to F1, having suffered life-threatening injuries in a rally crash in 2011.

But at Barcelona he admitted to growing tired of consistently having to answer questions on the subject and called for the focus to be on the speed and feedback he delivers in his Williams reserve role.

"We should stop talking about this," he said. "If I can jump in the car and do the job, I think that's fair enough. Of course I have my limitations but I never hide them.

"The problem is I was too honest with everybody and they kept asking questions. I think we should stop it."

He also insisted his focus is on helping the team and the race drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll.

But avoiding the comparisons of his pace versus Sirotkin this season will be difficult, and it's undoubted that he retains hope of completing what would be a remarkable F1 racing comeback.

The halo is a driver-ID nightmare

Edd Straw

During this test, halo-era F1 arrived in force with all 10 cars running pukka versions of the cockpit head-protection structures fully integrated into the cars.

The biggest problem it poses is not the offensiveness of the halo itself. Instead, it's the fact that it makes it even more difficult to pick out the driver given that their helmets are hidden.

It didn't take long to adapt to the fact that the halo is there, although surprisingly it was the bland black halos used by Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Haas and Renault that were the least obtrusive and effectively just blended into the background without ruining the shape of the car.

Less effective were the teams that painted the halo to integrate into the livery, with the Ferrari in particular grating.

The halo remains a frustrating and unsightly halfway house, but it's here to stay and it won't take long to get used to it. Especially the black ones.

F1 should ditch Spain for Bahrain

Lawrence Barretto

Weather chat is dull at the best of times, but the subject dominated the headlines at testing this week as much of Europe was hit by severe conditions.

The opening two days of the test were blighted by low temperatures. Combined with a new track surface, grip was at a premium and very little meaningful running was completed.

With snow predicted for Wednesday, the teams discussed postponing running until later in the week or bolting an extra day on to the second test - but they couldn't all agree.

The snow hit as predicted and day three was a write-off. Admittedly, the weather has been unusually severe, but Barcelona is always cold at this time of year.

So F1 should go to Bahrain for the first time since 2014. It may be slightly more expensive logistically, but that will be money well spent given the smooth work that can be done.

It will be more challenging for teams to get parts transported, but as Toro Rosso technical director James Key said, overcoming those challenges is "perfectly doable". Let's make it happen.

Teams need to stop fearing the wet

Gary Anderson

Last year at Barcelona testing the track was artificially wet to allow tyre testing, and all it did was just waste everybody's time. This year when the track was actually wet on Wednesday afternoon nobody was willing to go out. That's just wrong.

You can always learn something in those conditions, and we know that most teams will end up complaining about lack of wet or intermediate-tyre knowledge when it rains on a grand prix weekend. I know parts are scarce, but drivers can be careful where they push and some real work can still be done.

I always saw conditions like these as an opportunity to pull off a shock, so for small teams any wet-running knowledge is going to be beneficial. This was a missed opportunity, especially as teams need to understand what they can do to make these cars less difficult in the wet.

One thing I can be sure of was that if Jordan was here and I was on the pitwall, we'd have been out there taking advantage.

Even the big teams are behind

Glenn Freeman

The weather was so poor this week - most of the time it was either wet, cold, or snowing - that the afternoon of the warmer final day represented the only meaningful running teams could do.

With the exception of Red Bull, every team took advantage of that, but it's significant that the two teams furthest behind their mileage total from test one in 2017 are Mercedes and Ferrari.

The two biggest teams have been able to get down to serious race-simulation work surprisingly early in recent years, but this week nobody got a traditional full race sim in. Mercedes was philosophical about the lost mileage, saying it's simply a case of coming up with a new plan to complete as much work as it can in even less time than usual, but it offers a glimmer of hope that the best cars won't be as sorted by the time they are unpacked in Australia.

The only teams better off at this stage than in 2017 are ones that had forgettable first tests 12 months ago: McLaren, Toro Rosso and Williams.