Below are the fastest times produced by the teams and drivers at the final pre-season F1 test at Barcelona over the last 4 days. It provides a good insight into the relative performance of the different teams.

The top 13 drivers, represented by 7 different teams and 4 different engines, are separated by half a second. That means we are in for one hell of a competitive season with no team clearly ahead of the rest.

Driver (Team) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Diff. 1-Hamilton (McLaren) 1m22.152 1m20.472 2-Webber (Red Bull) 1m21.487 1m20.496 +0.024 3-Massa (Ferrari) 1m22.344 1m20.539 +0.067 4-Sutil (Force India) 1m22.606 1m20.611 +0.139 5-Hulkenberg (Williams) 1m22.407 1m20.614 +0.142 6-Alonso (Ferrari) 1m24.170 1m20.637 +0.165 7-Vettel (Red Bull) 1m21.258 1m23.254 1m20.667 +0.195 8-Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m22.514 1m20.686 +0.214 9-Schumacher (Mercedes) 1m21.689 1m20.745 +0.273 10-Barrichello (Williams) 1m21.975 1m20.870 +0.398 11-Kobayashi (Sauber) 1m26.216 1m20.911 +0.439 12-De la Rosa (Sauber) 1m23.144 1m20.973 +0.501 13-Liuzzi (Force India) 1m24.064 1m21.056 +0.584 14-Buemi (Toro Rosso) 1m21.413 1m22.135 +0.941 15-Button (McLaren) 1m23.452 1m21.450 +0.978 16-Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 1m24.869 1m21.571 +1.099 17-Petrov (Renault) 1m24.173 1m22.523 +2.051 18-Kubica (Renault) 1m24.912 1m23.175 +2.703 19-Trulli (Lotus) 1m25.524 1m25.059 +4.587 20-Kovalainen (Lotus) 1m25.251 +4.779 21-Glock (Virgin) 1m25.942 1m26.305 +5.470 22-Di Grassi (Virgin) 1m27.057 1m26.160 +5.688 23-Fauzy (Lotus) 1m28.002 +7.530

Hamilton set his fastest time of 1m20.472secs on the final lap of a 4-lap run, which means the McLaren has a very good low-fuel speed.

Force India have done better than a lot people were expecting.

Comparisons of different drivers are less clear and one has to take into account what is happening in that team, developments and track conditions. For example, Button’s best time was nearly a second slower than Hamilton, but that was the first day McLaren were trying a significant new aero package and from his work, they were able to make set up improvements today.

However, the times produced by the drivers of Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams, Mercedes, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Lotus and Virgin are all very similar to their teammates.

Lotus appears to be winning the battle of the new teams, but it seems to be quite close in times.

A more detailed Barcelona Day 4 report can be found here.

Jake McMillan