My Review and Recap on the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.

The 2016 Formula 1 season has kicked off this weekend, and its inaugural Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne is done and dusted, it was a rather good beginning to the year, with an action packed competition and a show that left us with a promise that this season can only get better. A promising, fresh, new beginning.

Now it's time to go through the biggest stories from Sunday at Albert Park. 

One of the most discussed events of the weekend, the already heavily debated and criticized new qualifying format has already been talked about in my earlier post on Sunday morning, that post you can check out here!

The extraordinary sensation of what could've been.

After a disappointing show in Saturday qualifying, fans were hungry and eager to see a full turn around on Sunday, and let's just say that the race managed to satisfy the fans by delivering an arguably exciting event. 

The ingredients for a good race were there, as usual, we had both Silver Arrows on the front row with the two red cars of the Scuderia in the second row and the people being aware that the gaps to be cut by the Italian team weren't as lengthy as they were in the last season. This, put together with promising performances in qualifying by Toro Rosso's drivers and with surprising setbacks from Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniil Kvyät, who found themselves 11th and 18th on the grid, respectively, made the expectation build even more.

That premature feeling of excitement just continued to grew even before the very first lap, when both Ferrari cars showed a display of their acceleration power compared to Mercedes', as Sebastian Vettel would get in between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the start to take the lead, and only a few meters later, Vettel's teammate Kimi Räikkönen would take second position by overtaking both Mercedes drivers on the outside of turn 2, right after Rosberg went slightly wide in the first part of the chicane, taking Hamilton with him.

The price to pay by Mercedes for Rosberg's mistake would be a tad bit higher than just dropping the first two positions, as Rosberg was forced to go back to P4 and Hamilton to P6. It took them quite a few laps to do so but eventually they recovered third and fourth positions, but by then, the damage was done and the leader Vettel was 13 seconds ahead of Rosberg (10 ahead of his teammate), and second placed Räikkönen was 3 seconds ahead of Rosberg and even further ahead from Hamilton.

Rosberg tried and managed to pull back the gap to Räikkönen but never posed a serious threat to the Finn, the signs that indicated that the red cars were closer and closer to sealing a 1-2 or a double podium finish were getting bigger with the passing of each lap. Mercedes could not even take advantage of the pit stops to get ahead of the front runners, something unusual would have to happen for Mercedes to have a shot at winning the contest, and it did.

On lap 17, right after leader (at that moment) Räikkönen and Hamilton had pitted for fresher tyre (important to note: both Ferraris chose to do their second stint on supersofts, same compound they started the race on), disaster struck as McLaren's Fernando Alonso struck the back of Haas' Esteban Gutierrez at the braking point of turn 3, causing the Mexican driver to spin off and hit the wall, whilst the Spanish driver took the worst part by far. Alonso's car drifted to the left part of the outside of the track after the collision, the car hit the wall on that side and this caused it to flip over multiple times, the situation would get even worse as the car flipped around a couple more times as it entered the gravel trap until it came to a stop on the tyre wall. The damage was unimaginable, leaving the car absolutely obliterated and difficult to recognize, all of the suspensions damaged and both the front and rear wing destroyed, almost all of the body work ripped off the chassis as the car lied in the track upside down.

Below, the disastrous sequence:

Fortunately, despite the magnitude and severity of such a massive shunt, Alonso was able to make out of the incident walking, and with the only noticeable damage being a few dirt on his racing suit, without mentioning how shaken up the accident left both drivers, who shook hands and hugged it out as a sign of them recognizing their mistake on the incident and of solidarity and empathy from Guttierrez towards Alonso for the jaw-dropping crash suffered.

Important to note how the evolution on the safety of the cars since the 1990's saved the man's life and helped him to walk out of there without any injury. 

I'm aware that the road to achieve a better security on the cars is still a long one, some examples are there to back that up, but it's marvelous to see the advances made in the last two decades pay off on track by saving drivers.

Only a few minutes later, it would be revealed that one of the events that triggered the crash, was Gutierrez's car electronic system shutting down right at that point in the lap, thus slowing the car abruptly, making easier for Alonso, who attempted an overtake on the outside of the corner, to hit the back of Gutierrez's Haas.

This event would eventually prove to be one of the three decisive factors in the course and definition of the race. The safety car was brought out for one lap, until race direction decided to red flag the race and bring all the cars into the pit lane, the cars would start rolling 20 minutes later, they took one lap behind the safety car and after that, it was green flag, the restart of the race.

Needless to mention that this reduced Vettel and Räikkönen's lead to nothing.

The downward spiral of Ferrari's day would start on lap 23, as Kimi Räikkönen pitted and was forced to retire from P3 due to an engine failure, his engine on fire as he got outside of the car in the garage.

The second decisive factor (Ferrari's choice of super softs on their first pit stop) on the race's definition actually happened before the incident happened but its effects were only noticed after lap 27, when Rosberg took full use of his medium tyres to cut Vettel's lead, as the number 5 driver was on super softs.

Rosberg fought to cut the lead even more until lap 36, while Hamilton was struggling to get past the midfielders.

The third and final decisive factor came on lap 36, as Vettel's short-endurance super softs' lifetime came to an end and he was forced to make a pit stop. As Vettel stopped, his crew had issues with the tightening up of his front left tyre, which caused the pit stop to be timed at 5.6 seconds, and thus causing Vettel to be even further back from the Merc drivers, who occupied the first two spots from lap 40 onwards and were not expected to stop again.

At this point, the race was almost set at the front, with the only question mark being who would be in third and second position, therefore all of the action happened at the middle, in the fight for the points.

As expected, the soft compound worn by Vettel helped him reach P3 rather easily, the real challenge being cutting the lead that Hamilton had amassed to protect his second position. A challenge that Vettel took on with the courage and perseverance that characterizes him, managing to cut the gap to a mere 0.5 seconds in the closing stages of the race.

The gap went up and down in the last few laps, 0.5 one lap, 0.3 the next one, 0.4, 0.6, 0.3 again and so on, until we reached the second last lap, the gap at 0.45 seconds, Vettel looking to get as close as he could to Lewis Hamilton in order to set a serious attack on the current champion in the last lap, the aggressiveness and at some point nervousness caused Sebastian to lock up his rear left wheel and going wide at turn 15, dropping 3 seconds to Hamilton, the chance of taking second now fully lost. 

Fortunately, Vettel had built a strong lead from fourth placed Daniel Ricciardo, so the mistake did not cost him any positions, but it only costed him the position that he could've gotten.

Nico Rosberg took home the win, keeping the momentum he had built in the last three races of 2015, which he won, winning a fourth consecutive race and giving his 2016 season an unsurpassable kick start, applying a bigger psychological pressure on his teammate and potential title rival Lewis Hamilton, who was not content to see Rosberg's fine form in late 2015 and sure isn't happy to lose the first battle of the year to his teammate.

However, the body language did not show this, as the three men in the pre-podium ceremony and in the podium were seen all-smiles and making jokes. The ambient would be enhanced by the apparition of the hometown hero Mark Webber, who made the post-podium interviews, which was loved by the fans at the track and at home watching on TV.

In the end, I think this was by no means a better race than the best ones we saw in 2015, but it's a very promising start to the season, with the pace and the capability of fighting that Ferrari showed being the most attractive things on it, something that we do hope to keep on looking for every race weekend.

The race was highly regarded and praised by numerous fans, however, I believe that the excitement was short-lived and at some degree artificial. Many people were looking forward to and hoping to see Ferrari show that they're ready to fight for the title by winning the first race, and they were delighted at the sight of both Ferraris leading, the emotions went down as the Scuderia's woes began but why came out again on full force as Vettel stood a realistic chance of beating Hamilton to P2, not a win but still a great result.

However, the delay experienced by Vettel during his pit stop in the end impeded him from being able to catch Hamilton, it is clear that two seconds less on that stop could've made the difference.

Personally, being aware of the potential results that mistake on the pit stop could have, I ended up realizing that the excitement experienced by the fans expecting for Vettel to battle it out with Hamilton could end up being reduced to the excitement of what could've been. In this particular case, the excitement of what could've been of this race had Ferrari chosen a more conservative strategy, of what could've been if Räikkönen hadn't retired, of what could've been if that pit stop had gone well.

Good day out there for the newcomers.

Romain Grosjean and Haas F1 Team took a risky and bold move of switching to medium tyres during the red flag, with that being the only stop for the Frenchman, who wouldn't need to stop again in the race, a situation that helped him come out of a terrible qualifying that put him 19th, to finish a bright 6th place, earning the first points for his team on their very first race. A result that was described by Grosjean as it being 'like a win for us', understandable, after the terrible times the team experienced in testing, with very low expectations.

Considered man of the day by many.

On the other hand, Manor's rookies endured a contrasting day, as Pascal Wehrlein rose from P21 to a highest position in race of 14th and a final position of 16th, not a bad beginning. However, his teammate Rio Haryanto had a worse debut, as he was forced to retire from the race due to engine issues.

Renault kicked the first season of their comeback in a decent way, as they occupied P14 and P15 on the grid, with rookie Jolyon Palmer and returnee Kevin Magnussen, respectively. 

They'd eventually put a better finish to their weekend, as Palmer and Magnussen finished 11th and 12th, respectively.

Massive thank you for all the visits, reads, comments,+1's, support and every helpful thing you do to encourage me to keep on writng, you guys are the best!

See you all in less thank two weeks, when F1 is in Bahrain for its second round of the season!

How the first time for the new qualifying format went down.

The most controversial and discussed topic in recent weeks has been the proposal, introduction and further confirmation and scheduling of the new qualifying format for this Formula One season.

Most of the opinions from the fans have been of disapproval, with a big part of the complaints being that there was no need to try to fix or enhance something that was already good about this sport, which is qualifying, and I can honestly agree with this.

However, one could argue that the rest of the complaints about this new format are uninformed because we still have no knowledge of how this system will actually work.

It is a fresh new system in motorsports, since no other popular racing series uses a similar format to this one.

In my opinion, it can go two ways, either there is an improvement on the excitement and emotions experienced during qualifying and a bit more of drama  and surprises in the results, or it ends up being just a bad and desperate attempt at seeking to put more excitement into the already good qualifying format.

Qualy Time

My initial view on the new system is that as opposed to what we saw in the last few seasons, now you could see all 22 cars making laps around the track less than 5 minutes after the green flag.

Also, all of the cars were on super softs, every team seemed to be desperate to set a quick time without much delays in order to avoid the treacherous new elimination system.

In less than the blink of an eye, we already had both Manors eliminated. One of those two being Pascal Wehrlein, who looked promising on the free practices.

It's only been 10 minutes and this format has proved to be merciless, absolutely no room for mistake, any small error can mean elimination.

The format also puts some light into how much these results relate to each team's performance in testing, as both Haas cars are eliminated in the next 3 minutes.

A small surprise comes right after, as the cut sees Red Bull's Kvyät eliminated, in P18, regardless of how superior the team's car is compared to other teams' who have kept safe from the cut.

The Russian later stated that the system should be changed, because he believed it was unfair for the team to be rewarded like this for their efforts. According to him, his elimination was due to an 'unclean' first lap and a second lap that was clean but that still lacked something.

Jolyon Palmer is sent too late onto the track and him and Renault nearly pay the price for this. As the clock hits 0.00, the rookie saves their chances by setting a better timing advancing to Q2, thus leaving Sauber's Marcus Ericsson to the dreadful fate of elimination, sealing a terrible day for the Swiss team, who saw both of their cars eliminated in less than 5 minutes between each of them.

Both McLarens survived the first cut, a proof of how important it is to be able to manage track outings and pit entrances.

Q2 acquired a sense of more order, at least in the first minutes, and less surprises, as both Renaults and Jenson Button were eliminated. The first ones being unable to set faster times and the latter being on pits whilst his timer an out.

A hot lap just before the cut from Carlos Sainz saw him save himself from elimination and set elimination onto Fernando Alonso, who was inside the garage at the time, as his teammate.

A big surprise comes as Valtteri Bottas is unable to set a better lap time and is forced to stay in P11.

Nico Hulkenberg signed his elimination form right before his last lap, as he had been in a flying lap before that, and it is important to remark that more often than not, it's difficult to set one fast lap right after another fast lap.

Without any further efforts to put, Nico's teammate Sergio Perez drives inside the garage to put end to his day in qualifying with a  decent P9.

The Mexican made a perfect description of this new format afterwards: 'very intense, every lap counts, no room for mistakes.'

Another proof of how this qualifying format helps to confirm whatever aspirations each team had after winter testing, is that both Toro Rosso's have made the Q3, something unlikely to see last year and that we pretty much expect after seeing how the team did in testing.

We witnessed an exciting beginning to Q3, as both Felipe Massa and Max Verstappen set fast laps while the countdown was running to save themselves from elimination and to leave Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in P8.

Sainz and Massa were forced to leave the session as they were on the pits and unable to set a better timing before the time ran out.

The same thing would happen to Verstappen only 90 seconds later.

Both Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel walk out of their cars with 5 minutes to go, which really shines a light on whether this system encourages teams to set better lap times or to just be more cautious and limit themselves to set up a decent time to keep their grid positions without putting too much pressure on the tires, important reminder, because those tires will be the ones they'll start the race on... This leaves both Mercedes fighting it out for pole position.

The fight for pole is defined 3 minutes before the session ends as Lewis Hamilton sets a time 3 tenths faster than that or Rosberg.

One minute still on the clock and the track is already empty... Those days were drivers battled it out for pole until the very last second will now become just a vague memory.

The new format honestly looked promising during Q1 and Q2 but it honestly blew it all in Q3. The purpose of a new format is to create more emotions and make qualifying more appealing to the fans, and the result was the complete opposite. I bet many turned off their TVs with 5 minutes to go on qualifying.

Still, I think if Ferrari had decided to risk a bit more in qualifying, we would've had a better show, this is just the first time for the format, we'll have to wait until the next one to see if this disappointing tendency will continue.

See you all on Sunday for the race review! Thanks for the reads, visits, +1's, reshares, the support and so on!

What we know after the second preseason test and how this 2016 season could turn out.

The second test in Barcelona is already on the past, and it has a vital importance because it is the last time we will see the cars on track before the race weekend in Melbourne, and therefore, the performances shown here are the best hints we can have to preview how this 2016 season is going to pan out.

Whatever happened in last week's test is already a part of the past (though you should still check my earlier post on that test, for reference to the improvement or worsening of each team, you can check it here.), some teams have gone down the same road as for their approach to testing, some other have dropped a few tenths off their Test One's times, some have shown slight improvement, some have decreased a bit in their performance, some have shown a similar pace and some other have, well, have basically messed everything up... 

You'll find the time sheets below:

Day One

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.022, soft tyres, 82 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:23.229, ultrasoft tyres, 123 laps
3. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:24.735, soft tyres, 93 laps
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:24.836, medium tyres, 72 laps
5. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:25.049, soft tyres, 69 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:25.051, medium tyres, 90 laps
7. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:25.176, medium tyres, 144 laps
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:25.336, soft tyres, 121 laps
9. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:25.493, soft tyres, 103 laps
10. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:25.760, soft tyres, 119 laps
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:26.661, medium tyres, 23 laps
12. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:27.699, medium tyres, 45 laps 

Day Two

1. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:23.261, supersoft tyres, 108 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, 1:23.622, soft tyres, 73 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:23.933, supersoft tyres, 126 laps
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:24.611, medium tyres, 151 laps
5. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:25.183, soft tyres, 121 laps
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:25.235, medium tyres, 135 laps
7. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:25.300, medium tyres, 166 laps
8. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:26.188, medium tyres, 128 laps
9. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.298, medium tyres, 91 laps;
10. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:27.064, soft tyres, 79 laps
11. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:27.862, medium tyres, 55 laps
12. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, No time, 1 lap

Day Three

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:22.765, ultrasoft tyres, 136 laps
2. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:23.193, soft tyres, 119 laps;
3. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:23.251, ultrasoft tyres, 137 laps
4. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:23.382, ultrasoft tyres, 159 laps
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:24.126, medium tyres, 81 laps
6. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:24.760, soft tyres, 116 laps
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:24.870, supersoft tyres, 118 laps
8. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:24.913, ultrasoft tyres, 48 laps
9. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:25.141, soft tyres, 121 laps
10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:26.224, soft tyres, 98 laps
11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:26.488, medium tyres, 63 laps
12. Romain Grosjean, Haas, soft tyres, 1:27.196, 78 laps

Day Four

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:22.852, supersoft tyres, 142 laps
2. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:23.134, ultrasoft tyres, 133 laps
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:23.644, supersoft tyres, 129 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:23.721, supersoft tyres, 60 laps
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:24.133, medium tyres, 69 laps
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.427, soft tyres, 123 laps
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:24.714, ultrasoft tyres, 121 laps
8. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:24.859, supersoft tyres, 90 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:25.031, soft tyres, 132 laps
10. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:25.255, soft tyres, 66 laps
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:25.422, soft tyres, 25 laps
12. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:25.899, ultrasoft tyres, 58 laps
13. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.140, medium tyres, 70 laps

Let's get to it now, shall we?

Mercedes – Business as usual (the f*** were you expecting?)

If you read my post on the first test, you'll notice that I'm about to repeat my argument from there, but I do so because it is necessary: DO NOT LET THE TIME SHEETS FOOL YOU.

It is necessary to repeat it because a lot of people just look at the times and get a wrong picture of what's going on in the tests. The more information you have, the easier it is to see the bigger picture and to see how things make sense after all.

Yes, Mercedes hasn't really been up to the pace of the other competitors but there's reasons to this, it is also explained in my older post. The world champions have decided to take an unconventional approach to testing this winter, on both testing weeks, and instead of showing their true speed and giving a heads-up to their rivals, they have decided to test all of the possibilities, in terms of race simulation and engine endurance. Long runs on mediums and full tank, long runs on softs and low on fuel, long runs on mediums and low on fuel, you name it.

This can have its advantages since no other team has focused on such an intense way in race pace and therefore they have more knowledge and data about how the car will behave in the long run, but there's some disadvantaged to it too, with the most notable one being the fact that they did not put up a single lap on either super or ultra softs, which means a lack of knowledge on the car's behavior whilst using those tires, in comparison to the rest of the teams. Still, by the look of things, the German team could still manage to be faster than Ferrari on the purple-faced rubber.

Not much more to learn from their performance in this test, we know they have the most reliable car on the grid (if not in all of motorsports) and we know that they are still yet to show that they are no slower than in the last two years.

An important thing we've seen throughout the two tests, is how close are the times between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, which show a slight advantage in favor of Nico, who topped the times on day one and had the 5th fastest lap throughout both tests , whilst Lewis' times on both weeks of testing didn't even make it onto the top 10. I believe we are set to see an even closer battle for the title between the two, and if one or both of Ferrari drivers join the fight, we will surely have ourselves one of the best seasons of racing in recent years.

Ferrari – Still going at it.

The Prancing Horse outfit is one of the teams who showed slight improvement in this second test, but let's be real, how much can you improve after having been the fastest team in the first week in testing?

Despite only topping the time sheets two days out of four, as opposed to last week when they were at top in three days, the team's speed is still really impressive and staggering. Having the two fastest times last week wasn't enough for them and now, they have broke their own record of time with the ultra softs and have taken over the four fastest times of the whole test.

Another sign of them closing the gap to Mercedes, is the fact that Kimi Räikkönen's time on softs (the fastest for the team in that compound) was barely faster than Nico Rosberg's effort.

One thing we learned from this test, is that Kimi Raikkonen's really wants to show everyone why Ferrari decided to keep him one more year, and perhaps also why they should keep him for another one, topping the times on day three and taking the best time of both tests for his team. 

The Seb-Kimi pairing is the gift that keeps (and will keep on) on giving and 2016 will be the first real shot they'll get at challenging Mercedes.

Force India – Don't make too much noise.

The team really caught a few looks in the first test with their pace, promising results which could set the stage for another great season for them, and despite not having such dreamy results this time around, there's little doubts that they have not dropped their performance.

This time they didn't show too much of a stunning endurance or too much of a quick pace (as last week) but having been among the top 4 in two out of four days of testing, they confirm that the things shown last week were not just showboating or just a small surprise, but that they are a serious threat to fellow podium challengers.

Toro Rosso – A big step for a small team.

The Faenza-based team is another nice surprise in the test's results. 

After Red Bull team boss Christian Horner's comments on how Toro Rosso could end up being faster than bigger brother Red Bull, this has been a highly discussed topic, and even more after the team's performance in the first test. 

This time around, such suspicions are closer to be confirmed, with the team showing a sold reliability on their 2015 engine and being among the faster teams, being in the top 4 twice, never being slower than 1.25s and Carlos Sainz Jr. having set the second fastest time of the last day and the fourth fastest of both tests.

It's going to be an interesting battle between Force India, Red Bull, Williams and them in the midfield.

Honestly, saying that any of these two youngsters could get their first podium in 2016 is a risky thing to say, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. As I said before, this could be one of the most unusual and difficult to predict seasons in recent years, and crazy things could happen...

Williams – Keep things rolling.

The team had a disappointing first test, and I mean disappointed according to what one would expect from them after last season and according to what most likely are their own standards. They were expecting to fight Ferrari for second but, you don't achieve doing what they did last week. The team's times were rarely among the fastest and they were overshadowed by Ferrari, Force India and Toro Rosso.

But in this second test, they have gotten things rolling for them. They topped the time sheets on day two with Valtteri Bottas and they never got out of the top 3 in the four days, achieving the fifth fastest time in the two weeks of testing with Felipe Massa. They have showed what majority of fans would expect from them, to be a step ahead of Force India and the other midfielders but a step behind Ferrari.

They have got things rolling for them, now it's time to keep it like that to make some progress in the season to close up gaps to Ferrari, difficult but not impossible, and to avoid the possibly imminent midfielder battle with Force India, Toro Rosso, and Red Bull.

Red Bull – The fourth ingredient.

As shown by the overall time sheets, Red Bull is the fourth and last ingredient in the mix of the battle for third place in this season.

They had a pretty decent first week in testing, they had some three days in the top three and other day not as good. In this second test, the role of the team as midfielder has been confirmed, with the best result of the test for them being a fifth place from Daniil Kvyät on day one.

Despite being slightly behind slightly behind the other midfielders in this second test, they (and Renault) proved to be far enough from McLaren, Manor and Haas to not worry about them catching up and instead focusing on the battle for the points in the midfield.

Mr. Horner said a better performance should be seen on the second part of the season, maybe until then we can start expecting to see them in the podiums and fighting for top five slots.

Renault – Brighter future.

The team's first test was what one could describe as contrasting. On one side you had the consistent lap times and the third highest number of laps in the test from Kevin Magnussen, and in the other hand you had Jolyon Palmer's 79 completed laps in two days in the car, due to engine problems.

The team showed that they had enough potential to be on a small advantage over the back markers they would be competing with, but this time, they probably showed that they might as well join in the midfielders' battle, playing the role of the black horse.

The lap times were up and down most of time, with Magnussen achieving 10th on day one, 3rd on day two, and with Palmer achieving tenth and eight on days three and four respectively, but what was impressive is that the team has apparently solved the reliability problems they had with the engine reliability and managed to complete a much higher number of laps, with Magnussen passing the 100-lap mark in his two days on the car and with Palmer improving a lot from last test, completing more than 88 in both days.

The team might not be as quick as some could expect, but they are quick enough to stay ahead of the back markers, to stay glued at the back of the midfielders in the standings and to even score some points.

McLaren – Slight improvement.

The Woking team's appearance last week was nothing short of disappointing and embarrassing, showing little to no pace and suffering from engine reliability problems.

This time around, it's look like the small adjustments which were to be carried on with the engine have worked, the team had more than 90 laps completed each day and made more than 110 laps in three of those four days.

Their speed isn't too much of an area of concern at the moment, they achieved a top three result on day one and were ahead of their rivals in the other three days.

The real issue with their pace is that their best time in the test came while using ultra softs, whilst Haas and Sauber's fastest times happened while using only softs, so it wouldn't be surprising if, once using the purple-faced rubbers, they were both quicker than McLaren.

The good news coming out of this last test, is that the team has fixed the main issue, which was the reliability, however an issue as complex as their engine isn't something you can 100% fix in one week time so I would expect there to be a few more bumps for the team during the season.

Sauber – A step back.

The Swiss team had a fantastic first test, their Ferrari power provided them with a good reliability which gave them the third biggest number of laps completed per team and they also achieved a good spot in the combined times with Marcus Ericsson. I said that it'd be a matter of time to see if the full version of the C35 (Sauber ran the last test with a C34 with some newer parts) could help them climb in the standings.

But in this week's test they've taken a step back and found themselves more or less where they began the preseason.

They only managed to get out of the bottom 4 on the time sheets on day three, when Felipe Nasr finished sixth.

To be fair with them, things are not that bad and it's definitely not time to press the panic button, McLaren might've been faster than them but it's only because Sauber did not use the ultra softs and their fastest time was on soft tires.

Also, their reliability game is still on point, as they crossed the 100-lap mark in three days and closed on a good note, completing 132 laps.

The team's role this is season will be to fight with Renault to have the edge amongst the back markers, but they still have the chance to evolve and improve during the season.

Manor – Little to no improvement.

The team is leaving this test right where they left off the first test last week, being among the bottom two teams, along with McLaren, only that this time they share the basement of the standings with newcomers Haas.

They are still suffering with reliability, as their biggest number of laps on one day was 79, achieving 50-60 laps in the other three days.

As for pace, the team's best laps (on ultra softs) were only a 1.24 and a 1.25 while the rest of their times were 1.27s on mediums and on softs on day one and three, respectively. Not to mention that their ultra soft effort was two tenths slower than McLaren's.

The only reason they haven't hit the bottom of the time sheet is the existence of team which we'll talk about shortly.

Haas – Public display of disappointment.

The team had a difficult first week of testing, as expected, having problems related to reliability and being behind on the standings. Still, I pointed out that they had enough potential to be just a few tenths behind the midfielders. However, their second week in testing has taken a terrible turn. The team had two disappointing days, one where a turbocharger problem caused the team's and Esteban Gutierrez's only lap of the day to be an installation lap, and another where Romain Grosjean brought the red flag three times in only one day.

The team's seemingly average reliability was nowhere to be seen this week, with the team's best number of laps on one day being 91, and this happened because of the team using both of their drivers. Their total number of laps was much lower, with 193.

Their pace was also disappointing, with the team occupying the bottom spot in the 11 fastest times of both tests and with their lap time on soft tires being half a second slower than their competitor Sauber's.

The team is expected to evolve during the season, and they can improve in aspects such as the engine endurance, to start working on the speed afterwards. They still have time to improve during the season, but right now things just don't look good.

The 2016 season will kick off in two weeks time, with the free practices, so until then!

Thanks a lot for the reads, visits, +1's, re-shares and support, it's encouraging to keep on writing!

Toro Rosso formally unveils STR11!

Scuderia Toro Rosso has become the last team to formally present the complete, final (design+livery) design of their 2016 car.

The unveiling was carried out today on the pitlane of the Circuit de Catalunya, only some minutes before the second test started.

Though the team used the 2016 car in the last test, last week, they painted the car with a full navy-blue interim design, which was going to be changed for the second test.

With yesterday's presentation of Sauber's C35 and today's STR11 unveiling, the appearance of Formula 1's 2016 grid is complete.

Perhaps the only question mark left now, is whether Renault will radically change their livery design for the first round of the championship in Australia.

As you'll see below, the most notable changes are the slightly bigger presence of the gold color in the front nose, and the smaller Red Bull logo in the middle, which causes a bit of more predominance of the navy blue base color.

The car's first track appearance.