Chandhok answers your testing questions

Ex-Formula 1 racer and current Formula E driver Karun Chandhok has joined AUTOSPORT's team for our live coverage of the Barcelona F1 test this week.

As well as observing the cars from trackside and adding his insight to our commentary, he's also been answering readers' questions on what he's learned from the test so far.

@TopherF1: Based on what you've seen of testing, who do you think could be the surprise package of 2015?

Karun Chandhok: I don't think there's going to be a major surprise in terms of a team, but I think Kimi Raikkonen could be in better form than we'd expected, and I think Max Verstappen will be a lot more complete for rookie than people perhaps expect.

He doesn't look like a rookie. He drives very consistently and in a really good way. He's not too aggressive, but he's got enough aggression to get the tyres working when he's on the harder tyre, for example.

You don't see him locking up, you don't see him going off. I think he's mighty impressive.

It's hard to tell if he's that far ahead of the other rookies until we get to a race weekend. He'll be going to Melbourne, a track that he doesn't know, and it could be different.

But I think he's tremendously impressive.

@AnilJassi24: How does the McLaren look compared to last year and will the chassis allow them to compete once engine gremlins are over?

KC: On paper, the car looks great. Eric Boullier was very positive about the downforce numbers they're seeing and about what the drivers are saying about the chassis balance.

But if you're driving around 3-4s off the pace, everything feels different. It's totally different when you're driving on the limit.

It's hard to answer until they get closer to the limit.

@BrendanDelfino: Do you agree with those who say the engines "sound a bit better and are a little louder" than last year? How do they sound to you?

KC: I think they sound cleaner and more refined than last year. They're just more sorted, particularly the Mercedes.

All three engines - Honda is still developing - sound distinctive. But to be honest I didn't have a particular problem with the sound last year. I think they sound good.

I can't quantifiably say if they sound louder or not. But they sound fine.

@TheFinalCountUp: How do low track temperatures in testing affect teams in terms of preparation for hot-temperature races like Malaysia?

KC: I think the low track temperatures are really very detrimental for doing any form of useful testing.

Speaking to the engineers and the drivers, they really struggle to get any useful information until about 11am because the track temperature is too cold.

They can't get enough heat in the tyres, they can't get enough balance in the car.

So really before 11am they're doing pitstop practice, start practice or maybe reliability work, where you're just driving round and round for the sake of putting mileage on things.

There is no ideal scenario. The teams that are reliable would prefer to test in Bahrain, where it's hot, better for the tyres and better to get an idea of overheating for the hot races. But if you have an issue, it's obviously harder for getting parts sent out from the factory.

If you're having issues, you'd rather be in Europe. And obviously the cost of testing in Bahrain is higher, so it's a tough choice for everybody to make.

Maybe it's a compromise. Instead of doing 12 days in Europe, you do fewer days in total but split it between Europe and Bahrain. Maybe do one proper test in Bahrain at the end when the cars are sorted, and then the freight can keep going from there to Melbourne and doesn't have to come back to Europe.

@bdooley2008: Who is looking good on long-run pace? In the race sims last week, Bottas appeared to maintain consistent pace far longer than Lotus.

KC: I think it's hard to judge from looking at last week because it's constantly evolving and new bits are coming all the time.

Mercedes still looks the strongest. The car just looks comfortable to drive, and it's strong and for most part the car is reliable. They've done a massive amount of kilometres.

I think Mercedes is clearly the favourite and a step ahead of everyone else.

For the other teams, you really have to look at the end of this four days when everyone's brought all their new parts.

Lotus is new to Mercedes so has got more to go through, whereas Williams is a bit more sorted.

@sangeet_09: How is Force India's new VJM08 design? and @prakharnagalia: Any big changes except the nose on the VJM08?

KC: It looks like quite a solid car, but it's very much in launch spec. The team has got an update from the design base coming and I'm not sure if it will make it to this test or if it will be for Melbourne, but I think that will be the full spec.

There's a solid base there that looks like a sensible car. But we'll have to see the ultimate spec at the first race. It's obviously playing catch-up to everyone else, by a long way.

As well as the nose, there are some differences at the rear and on the sidepods.

@Amit_Mandalia: From what you've seen at this test, which cars are looking the most balanced on circuit?

KC: The Mercedes is clearly on top. The Williams looked quite good yesterday, but today I was watching Sebastian Vettel on the softs and the Ferrari looked pretty good too. It had looked OK on the hards earlier. So I think Ferrari has made progress.

But I still think it's Mercedes on top, Williams second, Ferrari and Red Bull probably equal third behind Williams. It's very close between those three.

@Mohsin_N17: Which team do you think has made the most improvements over the winter?

KC: I think Ferrari. Last year's Ferrari really didn't look like a good car, and when you look at it on track now it looks like a car that responds and that the drivers can drive.

Last year they always looked like they were fighting the car and struggling to get the nose in. There was just an imbalance. It just looks a much better car in terms of chassis balance.

The whole team structure is a bit different. Speaking to people at Ferrari, it's a clean slate in many ways. In the past it was perhaps a situation of being 'Fernando Alonso's team'. Although there was no clear number one and number two, the team gravitated towards Fernando - and rightly so, because he was the faster driver for the past five years.

Now it's a clean slate. Kimi Raikkonen's probably a bit happier with the car he has now and feels he can drive it in the way he likes to drive it.

They still fundamentally need horsepower. I think Ferrari is not just missing performance to Mercedes on the engine side, it's the chassis too. You'd say it's probably 65 per cent engine deficit and 35 per cent chassis deficit to Mercedes.

@Garysayswhat: Should we hold out much hope that someone can give Mercedes a bigger challenge this year?

KC: At the moment it's hard to tell. I would say Williams has the best chance to do it, but being a Mercedes customer team, I'm not sure it would really be able to put together a championship challenge. It might be able to win the odd race.