F1 Testing: Ferrari looking to build on strong start. F1 Testing: Ferrari looking to build on strong start.

After an intriguing first week in Barcelona, Formula 1 teams now have just four more days of pre-season testing before the 2019 championship officially begins. The second and final test starts on Tuesday, and should provide a more accurate glimpse at the early pecking order heading into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which will take place on March 17.

It’s fair to say some teams have more work to do than others ahead of an important week.

Will Ferrari build on strong start?
Test One offered sunshine and fair temperatures throughout the first four days, allowing teams to test performance over longer race runs more than ever before in Barcelona – with a combined total of more than 4,000 laps completed. And though Renault, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo’s emergence at the top of the fastest lap charts is testament to their strong work over the winter, the paddock has been unanimous in its verdict on who the team to beat is so far.

Ferrari have stormed out of the blocks, arriving with a well-balanced and aesthetically pleasing SF90 that Sky F1’s Karun Chandhok noted “doesn’t look to have a weakness”. The Scuderia “blitzed” the opening four days, added expert analyst Mark Hughes, who predicted that the team so desperate to end their title drought in 2019 “have got maybe four or five tenths over the rest.”

But as ever in testing, fuel loads, as well as how much the engine is ‘turned up’, is not known. As Ferrari’s new recruit Charles Leclerc explained: “They are probably not pushing and we are not either.”

It’s all set up for another fascinating four days.

The fastest laps of winter testing per team