Armchair comments: Mercedes is still in the lead with RedBull and Ferrari following very closely. The formed favoured by better aerodynamics (Newey is very involved it seems) and the latter by Power Unit. Vettel got the best time around the Circuit de Catalunya, Force India the quickest through the speed trap and Mercedes the fastest over the long run. McLaren is probably better off with Renault, even if it's not clear at this time, but it's definitively not a championship contender, even if their aero package seems to be strong this year. Nor it is Renault but they will be best of the rest over Force India, particularly given the works manufacturer category that the French team has. Toro Rosso are probably going to be Ok now that they've switched to Honda power. They need to continue to adjust the car but should be at least as fast and reliable as last year's. Sauber has been very consistent as it was the case last year and they are putting in a lot of laps. It is not clear that the speed is there but at least it is expected that the cars will last the whole race. Williams are flying under the radar and it's not expected that they are breaking through and they should be content with keeping up with the back markers. In my mind they have the weakest team and setting up the car is going to be a challenge, particularly at the beginning of the year. Not much to be said about Haas, other than Magnussen's time today was eye popping which could have been out of the hat but it might as well be a "miracle lap" with no fuel for the sponsors only. In my mind RedBull has the best driver pair, followed by Renault. Last thought: Halo probably won't see the end of the year, at least I hope it doesn't. Very little benefit from the appendage that make the cars look really ugly with the additional downside that it's very difficult to tell a driver from the other within a team, unless they have very different helmets. All in all, it doesn't look like a very exciting season but better this than nothing. Yawn
