The testing failure Ferrari didn't need

At 10.34am on Friday, the final day of the first 2020 pre-season Formula 1 test, the engine in Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari cried enough. As Vettel was running from Barcelona's high-speed Campsa right-hander and down to the hairpin of Turn 10, the tune from the SF1000's power unit changed for the worst.

He tried to crawl back to the pits, but had to abandon that plan on the uphill climb towards Turn 11 and pulled over, bringing out the red flags for only the second time in testing at that stage. The four-time world champion climbed from the car, then crouched and inspected the situation at the rear, which Ferrari soon clarified was an engine failure - the spent power unit soon to be sent back to Maranello for a full analysis to be carried out.

Vettel did get back out - but only after nearly four hours (including the lunch break) had passed. Ironing out reliability issues is what testing is all about, but team principal Mattia Binotto soon explained why Ferrari could have done without the issue.

"The others are faster than us at the moment, I believe," he said at a press gathering in the control tower overlooking the 2.89-mile track, offering spectacular views of the hills near Montmelo.

"How much faster? I think it's really difficult to judge and we'll go through all the data in the next days," he continued. "But I don't think we are as fast as them at the moment.

"Do we have any concerns? Certainly, yes - when you are not as fast as you would like to be. But I think it's really too early to define them and to understand. And so, three days for us have been very important because at least we have collected all the data now to have a clear picture and better understanding.

"What will be even more important will be making sure we are developing the car in the right direction."

"It's true last year I was more optimistic at that stage of the year - because the lap time was easy to find out" Mattia Binotto

When asked if he had come to that conclusion because Ferrari had assessed it was behind its own targets, Binotto said: "That has been us simply looking at the delta pace and eventually what we may assess in terms on fuel load - which you never know in terms of engine modes etc. So, looking at the picture without comparing it to ourselves, relative to ourselves, I think we are not as fast as they are."

A look at some of the long runs Ferrari completed on Friday throws up some interesting data - although this comes with all the usual caveats and is naturally fraught with an air of pointlessness.

During the morning running, Vettel and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas both completed stints on the C2 tyres, the softer of the two hard compounds Pirelli has for testing but a good reference for the teams given its extra durability.

Over 11 laps, Vettel averaged 1m20.547s, while Bottas managed 1m19.124s over five, including the fastest time of testing so far, a 1m15.732s, already 0.489 seconds quicker than Vettel's 1m16.221s testing benchmark from 2019. Taking the first five laps from Vettel's run for comparison lowers his average to 1m19.816s. Closer, but still some way off.

During the afternoon, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, who had taken over from Bottas in the W11, tried the softer C3 tyres, the median in Pirelli's testing range. Vettel completed three stints over six laps, with a best average coming in at 1m19.515s.

On one nine-lap stint, Hamilton's average was 1m20.692s, which comes down to 1m20.341s when taking the first six laps. This certainly muddles the picture, which should become much clearer when the teams switch to race set-up work next week.

A year ago at this stage, things appeared to be more clear-cut. Renault had topped the first test in 2019, but the general consensus was that Ferrari was the favourite, while Mercedes was behind and had a lot of work to do to catch up. The trouble was, the Silver Arrows had already done that work months earlier and turned up to the second test with the massively updated W10 that surged to both titles...

Binotto admitted that "it's true last year I was more optimistic at that stage of the year - because the lap time was easy to find out", but he also stressed that Ferrari is still yet to complete any proper set-up work or performance running on the SF1000.

Instead, he insisted the first test had been about "trying to map the car [in] various aero configurations, various mechanical configurations, without really trying to optimise the set-up and look for overall performance". He also suggested the team did not plan to introduce a major upgrade for Australia and would instead focus on optimising and developing its current package.

Intriguingly, over the first two days at least, Ferrari's straightline speed figures through the Barcelona speed trap have not been what you would expect from the team that had what was generally thought to be the strongest power unit of last season.

On day one, Ferrari was clocked at 190.2mph, compared to McLaren's session-best at 204.741mph. Mercedes was on 197.906mph (its fastest customer was Williams on 198.963mph), with Renault at 198.590mph and Red Bull's Honda powerplant at 203.374mph. The best Ferrari customer unit was Alfa Romeo on 197.471mph.

On day two, Ferrari was clocked at 192.935mph, with Alfa top overall on 201.262mph. Mercedes did 201.510mph, with Renault at 193.432mph (McLaren hit 196.042mph), and Red Bull edged AlphaTauri in the Honda stakes at 197.284mph vs 195.545mph.

"Let's wait first [until] next week and Australia to better understand the true picture" Mattia Binotto

On Friday, the Barcelona timing screens before Vettel's engine failure suggested he had hit 204.431mph, but Binotto queried that when questioned by Autosport. He also explained "what we've done in these days is try and test different configurations of the car - different engine modes" and said "no, it doesn't contribute to the problem [with the engine on Friday]".

A potential speed discrepancy at Ferrari was also highlighted by Mercedes' PR team, which included a question in its post-day three press release asking: "Why have Ferrari spent this test running their PU consistently at much lower levels than their partner teams?". Then followed an explanation of how the teams typically calculate their rivals' performance during testing.

But despite his downbeat assessment, and whether or not the straightline speed question gets answered in the second test next week, Binotto still pointed to Ferrari's performance last year, where it had the potential to win several races during the early stages and then surfed its power unit surge to three victories after the summer break.

"[Our] competitors are apparently very strong, but I think we should not forget the history of last year and let's wait first [until] next week and Australia to better understand the true picture," he said, before later adding: "It's a very long season - 22 races, potentially. So, I think there will be time to recover eventually."