Trying to guess a pecking order from pre-season testing results has always been difficult, and although it looks like Mercedes and Ferrari will fight it out for wins once again, what might happen behind them remains somewhat of a mystery.
To try and help you out, we’ve compiled various pieces of data to give a slightly clearer picture of how the first test went for each driver, team and power unit manufacturer.
Fastest Laps/Most Laps by Driver
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the quickest man over the four days, posting a lap time which would have seen him eclipse Nico Rosberg’s pole time at the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix by 1.8 seconds.
That’s a mighty impressive time, though it was somewhat helped by Pirelli’s new Ultra-Soft compound. However, the cars are definitely quicker through natural evolution of both aerodyamics and the relatively new power units.
In fact, Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat all posted times quicker than Rosberg’s pole lap, which was set in warmer and therefore more advantageous conditions.
But don’t be fooled by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s less than impressive finishing position on the chart below. The quickest tyre they ran was the Medium, therefore they’ve yet to show their hand, instead focussing on developments.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Tyre | Laps |
| 1 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.810 | 195 | |
| 2 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:23.110 | 99 | |
| 3 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:23.477 | 158 | |
| 4 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:23.525 | 199 | |
| 5 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:23.650 | 101 | |
| 6 | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:24.293 | 170 | |
| 7 | A. Celis | Force India | 1:24.840 | 133 | |
| 8 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.867 | 332 | |
| 9 | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:25.237 | 196 | |
| 10 | K. Magnussen | Renault | 1:25.263 | 264 | |
| 11 | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:25.393 | 231 | |
| 12 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:25.409 | 343 | |
| 13 | E. Gutierrez | Haas | 1:25.524 | 168 | |
| 14 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:25.648 | 214 | |
| 15 | R. Grosjean | Haas | 1:25.874 | 113 | |
| 16 | P. Wehrlein | Manor | 1:25.925 | 125 | |
| 17 | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:26.053 | 236 | |
| 18 | F. Alonso | McLaren | 1:26.082 | 122 | |
| 19 | J. Palmer | Renault | 1:26.189 | 79 | |
| 20 | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:26.239 | 216 | |
| 21 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:26.483 | 163 | |
| 22 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:26.735 | 135 | |
| 23 | R. Haryanto | Manor | 1:28.249 | 129 |
Most Laps Covered by Team
This is where Mercedes did show their hand and it’s clear to see reliability isn’t a concern. Mercedes completed 675 faultless laps – or ten race distances if you like. The second best team, Toro Rosso, were more than 200 laps behind.
It wasn’t such good news for McLaren and Manor though, with each completing almost a third of that distance. Though in Mclaren’s case, it’s a better showing than the 79 laps the team managed last year.
The total amount of laps covered during the test, more than 10,800 miles, is equal to flying from London (UK) to Wellington (New Zealand).
Most Laps Completed by Power Unit
Once again, it’s Mercedes at the top. A huge tally by the works team along with decent totals from its customers; Williams, Force India and Manor, mean the Anglo-German power unit completed almost double the laps of any other power unit.
Ferrari’s 2015 engine came in second, thanks to Sauber running last years car and Toro Rosso finalising an agreement to use year-old engines in its STR11 this season.
Renault were third with 712 laps, 79 more than Ferrari managed with its current-spec unit, which was only run by Ferrari and Haas. Meanwhile Honda, thanks to its deal to supply just one team, McLaren, managed just 257 laps.