Before we get to the reveal, the maths. We took a team's fastest overall lap from each weekend over the season - taken from whichever of their drivers was quickest - and expressed it as a percentage of the overall fastest time, which more often than not was the Q3 pole lap. Doing it this way helps to eliminate variables - like one driver having a bad weekend, or a spate of unreliability or crashes - and drill down into each team's underlying pace on each race weekend, and across the season. It also allows us to look at which teams improved - or lost ground - over the 19 races. Discounting the first race, in part because not every team was present and in part because Australia isn't always the most representative race, we took each team's average from races two, three and four, and compared that to the final three Grands Prix. So who were the biggest gainers? Did McLaren get on top of their numerous issues, for example? And did the likes of Ferrari, Williams or Red Bull close on Mercedes?



GAINING GROUND

1. Force India Early season average: 102.29%

End of season average: 101.27%

Gain: 1.014% The stats don't lie: Force India gained the most ground of any team between the start and end of the season - and by some margin too. In this regard, the team's poor start to the year played a significant role. Budget issues meant they missed much of pre-season, and were off the pace when the season began - although Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez managed to rescue several points finishes. The focus though was on the 'B-spec' car that was eventually introduced in Silverstone. Once optimised, this proved a massive step forward, with Force India's raw pace a match for Red Bull and Williams over the final three races. 2. Marussia Early season average: 106.57%

End of season average: 106.24%

Gain: 0.323% The slowest team on the grid typically have the biggest potential to improve, but even so Marussia deserve credit for closing the gap to Mercedes over 2015. Using a modified version of their 2014 car, and with obvious budget constraints, the team made steady progress over the season. With a new car for 2016, and Mercedes power, the ingredients are there to make a bigger step over the winter. 3. McLaren Early season average: 102.90%

End of season average: 102.74%

Gain: 0.157% Whatever the measure or statistic, this was a dismal season for the team from Woking. The Honda power unit was the obvious point of blame, as the 'size zero' concept led to numerous and insurmountable (at least in the short term) issues. McLaren did at least make progress relative to the outright pace, but their end-of-season average was still worse than every team bar Marussia. Next year will be critical. 4. Red Bull Early season average: 101.43%

End of season average: 101.27%

Gain: 0.154% Like McLaren, Red Bull's progress over the 2015 season was hardly remarkable - but the latter did at least have less overall ground to make up. The good news for Red Bull is that they were a clear match for Williams by the end of the year, behind only Mercedes and Ferrari. Improve the power unit situation, and they should make a major jump forward in 2016. The bad news? Red Bull's struggles weren't all engine-related - indeed a glance at the early season averages shows there was very little to separate the team from sister outfit Toro Rosso early on. The fact the gap grows between the two teams suggests Red Bull were able to start getting on top of the RB11 - which could bode well for next year.



NO CHANGE

5. Mercedes Early season average: 100.00%

End of season average: 100.00% A victim of their own success, at least in this one regard - Mercedes' crushing dominance in 2015 meant they 'gained' little ground over the season. They improved outright of course, bringing a relentless stream of upgrades throughout the season. But they also set the pace in 18 of 19 races this year, meaning their average was almost always 100 percent. The one exception was Singapore, where Sebastian Vettel was legitimately fastest. In all other races, Mercedes had a pace advantage. That shows what a good job Ferrari and Vettel did to triumph three times, but it also emphasises the scale of the task every other team has to overhaul the Silver Arrows. Such dominance might not always translate to fantastic racing, but there are encouraging signs in the data. Lewis Hamilton set the outright pace in 11 of the first 12 races (Nico Rosberg was faster in Spain), but then trailed his team mate in all of the last six. If Rosberg can keep that momentum up, we could have a fantastic fight for the title next year.



LOSING GROUND