Testing 2010 Part 1: Valencia 1-3 Feb

After three frantic days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit (pictured) it's time to take stock and find out who was actually quick and who flattered to deceive.

This year, above many others it is hard to read the lap times in testing. The reason for this is the change to no refuelling throughout races which means that where cars in 2009 would generally carry about 60Kg at most (half a tank - good for 25ish laps), this year they must carry about three times as much. All of this means that if a car is testing with a full tank and another is testing with an empty tank, the difference in lap time could be as much as 5 seconds!

However, lets take a look at the times and assess how each team has done.

The first thing to say is that the Ferrari seems to be the car to beat. They were quickly to the top of the pile and were rarely headed. In fact, Alonso's best effort came on the fourth lap of a 12 lap run (i.e. when the car wasn't at its lightest) and apparently it came whilst Fernando was still getting comfortable in the car. This is ominous. Moreover, both Alonso and Massa ran some fairly long stints (16 laps or so) which were done to mimic the level of fuel for 2009 and they both got progressively faster in these stints; starting in the 1:13 region and ending in the 1:11. This implies consistency in car behaviour too. The only question mark that remains is with very large amounts of fuel and the efficiency of the engine but the team seem to be waiting for the Jerez tests in the next couple of weeks to assess this.

McLaren may not have grabbed the headlines but the overall impression is optimism; they were the second best team here. Aware that this circuit isn't full of high speed corners (which was the previous car's weakness), they decided to make the most of going through the motions and observing car behaviour with high fuel levels. Whilst Button had a difficult time getting himself settled (he is quite a bit taller than Lewis so positioning the seat in the same place as they did for Hamilton was always going to leave Jenson too high in the cockpit), Lewis set some competitive times. In fact, considering that Lewis had about 15 laps of fuel on board (he was part way through a 25 lap stint) when he set the time above there is reason to be optimistic.

Mercedes were behind the other two 'big teams' at this test; even Ross Brawn admitted that they had a few problems which needed sorting before Jerez. This could imply that they were running a similar programme to Ferrari but not seeing the similar results - they certainly weren't running as much fuel as McLaren. There is no reason for the team to be too worried; the car seemed to be competitive when it did have a little more fuel on board but it seemed unable to set the timing boards alight with an emptier tank.

Sauber starred and gave the sponsorless outfit reason to cheer; setting the second best time on all three days. These laps were set with a fuel load lower than the Ferrari and much lower than the McLaren but the times imply potential.

Renault will be encouraged by their heavy fuel runs - all sources say that they were very consistent and competitive too, but they will be less pleased with the low fuel laps. Kubica's 6th placed lap (above) was apparently set with low fuel and it didn't get close to the Ferrari (or Sauber for that matter).

Williams too will have a mixed view of the last week. On one hand, their new car (and more importantly Cosworth engine) ran without glitch, they completed lots of laps and many of those were with heavy fuel. However, they never threatened the top of the timesheets which will be a little disappointing for the team that promised to 'radically improve' this year.

Finally, Toro Rosso showed us that their car isn't too far behind either - Jamie Alguersuari's fast time (all be it light fuel) on Wednesday made a nice contrast to the gearbox problem at the start of the week.

Make no mistake, Ferrari has laid down a good marker but Valencia is a notoriously easy track (on both the driver and car). Jerez will start to make things clearer; the cars with the best aerodynamic solutions to generate downforce around the fast corners will perform well there. It all kicks off again next Wednesday.