F1 testing: Bullish Mercedes has soft-tyre doubts from Barcelona
A hugely upbeat Mercedes team says the only doubt it has about its new Formula 1 car is how well it can perform on Pirelli's softer tyres
The Brackley-based outfit rounded out its pre-season testing programme with another solid day at Barcelona on Friday, with observers pointing to the team's strong long-run pace this week as evidence it has maintained its position as pre-season favourite.
But having not run the fastest hypersoft tyre all week, and having suffered some blistering on the soft compound, Valtteri Bottas says that there remain some question marks about its performance in certain circumstances.
"We got the medium and the hard tyres to work quite well I think," said the Finn.
"We still have issues with blistering on the softer compounds.
"Hopefully it will be different in Melbourne, but on the new track surface here in Barcelona we had some difficulties."
Last year's Mercedes W08 had a similar characteristic for performing on the harder tyres, but Pirelli has played down the evidence of blistering in testing as anything to be worried about.
"Blisters is not a surprise considering the energy the new cars are putting on the new tyres," said Pirelli's head of car racing Mario Isola.
"The layout is the layout we know - it's high severity with a lot of corners, high-speed corners.
"The lateral forces in Turn 9, and when they brake at Turn 1, they are full throttle until Turn 4. The speed is really high.
"Last year we found 32-35km/h in Turn 3 and Turn 9 - and I believe we have an additional step in speed in those corners [this year]."
Despite the issue of the soft tyres, Mercedes has declared its test a huge success, and says it has done all that it wanted to before the start of the season.
"It's been a really positive test," said Lewis Hamilton. "We got through everything, reliability has been great.
"We're happy with the information that we've got.
"It's still difficult to know exactly where we are in comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari and we won't fully know that until we get to the first race.
"But I feel like we've got as much information as we could in order to equip us with the best data to go to the season opener."
Technical director James Allison added: "I think we can look back on these two winter tests with some satisfaction, having designed, planned and then executed a very complex series of tests with some competence.
"We finish winter testing feeling like we've explored the car and the tyres.
"We know that we put a good amount of kilometres onto it without any significant reliability difficulties and feel that we have in the car a good, strong foundation on which to build our 2018 campaign.
"Both drivers seem to like the car, it responds well to set-up changes and has shown a good turn of speed."
Ricciardo: Red Bull F1 team most prepared for season since I joined
F1 testing round-up: Sebastian Vettel leads Ferrari one-two
The pioneering pair who brought a new glory era to an F1 heavyweight
With the team’s founder now retired and a new boss at the helm, change was coming to Brabham – change that would shape the future of Formula 1. In the third part of our four-part history of Brabham, DAMIEN SMITH examines the effect Bernie Ecclestone had on the team
The combination behind the Silverstone racing battles Hamilton called "F1 at its best"
OPINION: The late battling in the British Grand Prix wowed Formula 1 fans and surely represents the best racing action of the season so far. And there was a cocktail of factors that created the action, from which Carlos Sainz emerged as a popular new winner
How Ferrari’s Monaco headache became its Silverstone migraine
OPINION: Ferrari won the British Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz, but it ultimately cost Charles Leclerc a chance to make a bigger dent in Max Verstappen's title lead by leaving the Monegasque out on old tyres towards the end. Like Monaco, indecision over strategy proved to be the Scuderia's biggest issue - and if the team doesn't reflect, the headache can only intensify
The five factors behind Sainz winning a British GP he’d twice lost
Formula 1 has a newest race winner, in a grand prix the victor appeared to have lost twice, only to charge back to headline a sensational and dramatic British Grand Prix. From a massive start crash to a late sprint finish, here’s how five factors saw Carlos Sainz take his maiden grand prix win
Why there was no case to answer in Aston’s latest F1 copycat saga
The appearance of a revised Aston Martin in Spain caused controversy but PAT SYMONDS explains why the FIA investigation found the Silverstone team had no case to answer
Why it's Red Bull that really leads a three-way fight so far at Silverstone
After a slow start to Friday at Silverstone, all the Formula 1 teams had to effectively cram in a day’s worth of practice into one hour. But there was still plenty to learn and while Ferrari topped the times, a three-way battle is brewing ahead of the British Grand Prix
Why the future is bright for the British GP
It wasn’t so long ago the situation looked bleak at Silverstone with the future of the British Grand Prix under threat. But a transformation has seen it restored to one of the most important races on the Formula 1 calendar, with bigger and better to come
Could mixed fortunes for F1's leading Brits turn around at Silverstone?
For the first time in many years, none of the local racers starts among the favourites for the British Grand Prix. But George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris could have reasons for optimism