F1 Test | Ferrari is the only one after 400 laps and Mercedes starts playing mind games

Lewis Hamilton with the best time recorded on the siren, in the very last minutes of the test, wanted to punch the clock, like a hungry striker who scores in the training match to get noticed by the coach, a paw that is nothing more than a scratch, a little message sent to those in charge: to his team, to Verstappen, to those who thought he was wavering in his very clear intentions.

Full of enthusiasm and curiosity for the new cars, he and Russell toured a lot and regularly with the Mercedes W1, even if Mercedes gives the idea of ​​wanting to play a bit of hide and seek, at least with words putting pressure on others, indicating Ferrari as a very formidable opponent. For the Star anyway 393 laps in total at Montmelò.

Ferrari, for its part, interpreted the tests with appreciable workaholicism, 439 laps completed for a total of 2052 km combined, with the best time on the second day, 1.19.689 by Leclerc with C3 tyre, which for what it's worth is also the best test time with that compound (Verstappen on day 3 stopped at 1.19.756 on the same tyre, while the Mercedes did a low 19 on the softer tyres).

Relaxed faces and a lot of data collection work for Maranello, with Binotto and the drivers satisfied at having been able to complete the planned program without any hitches so as to be able to push the limits even further from the tests in Bahrain. In short, the F1-75 did not give the team any particular problems, although no one dares to say anything about the real potential of the single-seater, in collective tests that were extremely cryptic and difficult to read.

The Red Bull of the reigning champion, for example, always remained one step behind, both in terms of overall laps (358), with a marathon Verstappen on the first day) and in terms of performance. However, the RB18 is scary just to look at it, however aggressive and aerodynamically refined it is.

Another team that has shown a certain potential is certainly McLaren, which shone with both Norris and Ricciardo, 367 laps for Woking and both drivers favorably surprised by the car's handling and reliability, although aware of having to improve in many areas, at least these are the declarations of the orange couple.

A few more problems in the midfield, with the middle class struggling with some obstacles. The Aston Martin (296 laps) was unable to run on Friday afternoon due to an oil leak. Vettel appeared quite comfortable with the AMR22 although he found it particularly heavy in slow corners, a characteristic however of all the new cars, which are heavier and have less wing loading.

A similar fate befell Alpine (264 laps in total), which did not take to the track on the last afternoon of testing due to a hydraulic problem that stopped Alonso on Friday morning. The transalpine team is confident that it has allocated the budget cap resources in the best possible way and believes a lot in the A522, yet it's a long way from here to making "El Plan", because as much as they are tests, Enstone certainly didn't seem to be the best of the lot.

Overall (almost, poor Bottas drove very little with the Alfa Romeo) all the teams immediately demonstrated confidence with the new single-seaters and good reliability. demonstrating that although the regulation is new, technical continuity from the power unit point of view remains a highly valuable element.

We are still in the hybrid era, the heart of the single-seaters is always the same, and at Mercedes they swear that the new Ferrari engine is the one that pushes the most. Hamilton spoke of Maranello with months of advantage, Russell indicated the Red as the favourite. Will it be Brackley's usual "cry and fuck"? Fortunately, Ferrari did not respond, aware that they were certainly not the favorite and preferring to accumulate km instead of useless words.

Antonino Rendina

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