Karun Chandhok's trackside F1 test verdict

As usual in Formula 1, pre-season testing has thrown up as many questions as answers. That however is part of the fun and intrigue as we head into a new season.

The paddock has been full of people trying to dissect short and long runs while applying all sorts of fuel and tyre corrections. Ultimately, as the saying goes, when the flag drops, the bullshit stops and it will all shake out when we get to qualifying in Melbourne.

But in the meantime, I'm going to try and put some sort of order to the 10 teams after testing.

First off, I must say that on the whole, the cars do seem easier to drive. Right from the opening day of testing when I went out to watch trackside, the drivers were able to lean on the cars and attack straight out of the box. I do wonder if the more restricted front wing regulations have given the cars a more consistent and less peaky balance because nobody seemed to be really struggling out on track as I've seen in previous years.

We once again seem to have two distinct classes I think. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull do appear to be in a class above the rest but the battle between them is going to be tighter than ever before.

None of the teams have had a clean run through testing with Ferrari suffering some reliability issues, Mercedes losing time to an engine change and Red Bull having to contend with two sizeable accidents from new boy Pierre Gasly leaving it with a lot of damaged parts, especially with the gearboxes.

Every year I go and stand in exactly the same places trackside, which gives me an opportunity to see year on year just where the battle lies between these teams, beyond just studying the lap times.

Last year, Mercedes shied away from doing any form of proper performance runs on the softer tyres but the long runs showed quite clearly that it was ahead and when we got to Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton duly took pole by seven tenths of a second.

This year it seems to be a different story as the Ferrari certainly looks like the car to beat. Out on track, the car seems very forgiving to drive and I don't think that either driver looked like they were close to the limit. Watching at Turn 9, it was mighty impressive on Sebastian Vettel's performance runs how he was changing up a gear when turning in to the corner while most others needed to have a lift through there!

The key point for me is that for a change Ferrari appears to be heading to the first race ahead of Mercedes

In the changes of direction through Turns 2 and 3 as well as corners like 11 and 12, the Ferrari does seem more compliant and easy to drive. While the Mercedes clearly generates a good amount of downforce, it certainly seems edgier and harder work for the drivers.

On the long runs, there were a few occasions in Turn 1 and Turn 7 when the Ferrari drivers looked like they had gone in a bit deep or missed the line a bit, but the car seemed to allow them to gently bring it back in line by the mid-corner without losing a lot of minimum speed or being much later back on the throttle.

Ferrari seems to have improved the traction and power delivery as well. The Mercedes in previous years looked like a more planted car when the drivers were accelerating out of corners with any steering lock like Turns 4, 5 and 12, but now the Ferrari seems to be a match for it.

Looking at the headline times, it does seem like the Maranello camp is about three or four tenths ahead of Mercedes. Comparing their race runs is certainly interesting as Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas did a race sim around the same time on seven seven. Looking at the average pace across the 53 laps that they did, Leclerc was just over two tenths per lap quicker than Bottas.

Yes, we don't know what engine modes they had, but the key point for me is that for a change Ferrari appears to be heading to the first race ahead of Mercedes - which we didn't see last year.

It's really hard to pick where Red Bull is to be honest as it didn't do any performance runs on the final two days due to Gasly's crash and a reliability issue for Max Verstappen. This means that we're having to turn to the long runs to try to work out where the team is and the consensus among a few team people I spoke with, as well as my long run analysis, does seem to suggest that it is a tenth or two behind Mercedes, so certainly closer to the reigning world champion team than it ended last year, but further behind Ferrari.

Let's keep in mind that in the last third of 2018, the Red Bull was a match for the Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of race pace. The key really is to see what happens when they all have to turn the engines up in Q2 on Saturday in Melbourne. I was reliably informed that Honda had found another couple tenths of horsepower in the qualifying mode over the winter so added to the gains that it had with the version 3 engine, that could bring the Red Bull into a play a bit more on Saturdays.

Out on track, the first thing you notice is that on power the Honda sounds audibly smoother than before, when it had this rough and raspy growl in comparison to the competition. Off throttle, it still seems a bit rougher than the Mercedes but the upshifts also certainly sound a lot smoother so clearly the synergy between Honda and the systems guys at Red Bull Racing is working well.

As we've grown accustomed to seeing, the Red Bull chassis is really hard to fault on track. The high rake means that in the medium and slow speed corners the drivers are able to empower the front wing more than some others.

When watching down at Turn 1 at the end of the long straight, you could visually make out that Verstappen was able to go straighter for longer before turning more sharply into the apex than anyone else because the front end of the car is very responsive and the rear just pivots around without stepping out of line.

This characteristic of a sharp front end is something that suits Verstappen's style I think. Right from his first season with Toro Rosso, I remember watching him at pre-season testing and marvelling at his ability to steer the car on the brakes on the way into the corner before opening the steering wheel up at the apex earlier than other people. This helps his rear tyre wear during the acceleration phase of the corner and is something that has been a real bonus for him when it comes to races where he needs to manage the tyres for long stints.

Gasly did seem less happy with the balance of the car than Verstappen and the two accidents would have dented his confidence. He needs to somehow bounce back from these quickly when we get to Melbourne as he's in for a tough year against a Verstappen who is growing in confidence and maturity with every year that passes and is also keen to establish himself as a clear number one in the team for the future.

The midfield pack is as tightly knit as it was last year with Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Alfa Romeo doing representative laps that were all within about three tenths of each other - a gap that could easily change the order based on engine modes.

I would say that I expect Racing Point to be up there too once we get to a race weekend. It was a bit behind the game during the opening week due to some reliability issues and then focused more on the long runs during the second week.

McLaren seemed to confuse a lot of people this week, as it did last year

During the opening week, Renault looked like it had slightly broken clear of the pack but as the test went along, the others seemed to catch up again. It will be interesting to see if that was because Renault were holding back performance towards the latter stages of the test or if the others simply gained more, because Renault seemed to drop back a bit from Mercedes and Ferrari during the final couple of days.

Out on track, Renault does appear to be running the front of the car very low to the ground. During certain runs, it seems like it's experimenting with the front ride height control as under load the front wing endplates are nearly touching the ground. There's obviously been a push towards the Red Bull direction of higher rake and more front end bite in the slower corners.

Looking at the turn in phase at Turn 1 for example, the drivers looked like they had a reasonable level of confidence to attack the entry and the front of the car did respond well. Not quite as sharply as the Red Bull but certainly better than last year.

Haas and Toro Rosso have both impressed at different stages. While Haas has had a few little reliability niggles, the car looks quick and very stable out on track. Kevin Magnussen did a very strong run on the C3 tyre on day seven that slightly slipped under the radar, and certainly the long run pace looks solid as well.

Toro Rosso's long run pace looked very good. The closer technical collaboration with Red Bull is paying dividends in terms of reliability and it's meant that rookie Alexander Albon and F1's 'cat with nine lives' Daniil Kvyat have been able to do lots of laps and get up to speed. Albon in particular has been impressive, with his long run pace looking very consistent and he was also able to find good chunks of time when given a go on the softer tyres.

The Toro Rosso seemed happier on the C5 tyre out on track rather than the C4 and on the long runs, you can see it doesn't quite have the rear end stability and grip of the Haas or Renault. But Toro Rosso has a good programme of updates coming for the season so it's worth keeping an eye out for that.

Alfa Romeo started the opening week looking like it was going to be a clear fourth best but as the days have ticked along, it does look like it's going to be back in the bunch with the rest of the midfield teams, as it ended last year. It's come out with an aggressive design and certainly in the fast corners up at Turn 9 for example, the car looks very hooked up. It didn't seem to have the same level of stability during the changes of direction as the other midfield cars. However with its technical partnership with Ferrari, more money and an increased headcount, it should be able to keep pushing development.

McLaren seemed to confuse a lot of people this week as it did last year. It did some pretty strong headline times but at the end of the week, when you try to apply the fuel and tyre corrections, it seems to be in that midfield battle as well. If we're honest, that will be a step forward for McLaren, which is looking to rebuild after a difficult season last year where on occasions towards the end it had the slowest car on the grid. A step back into the midfield and qualifying in Q3 on occasion will be a sign of solid progress.

Williams arrived at the party late and unfortunately for it, unlike the Brawn in 2009 or the McLaren MP4/4 in 1988, it hasn't shown signs of springing a surprise. The car does look like it's lacking grip and downforce out on track, meaning that highly rated rookie George Russell and F1's most popular returnee Robert Kubica could be in for a battle among themselves initially. If the team is able to bring some decent upgrades and make steps forward they could get back into that midfield battle but it will take a big push from the design team to find some downforce.