While it would be fashionable to ladle further doom and gloom on McLaren-Honda's opening test, let's not forget the lessons of 2014.

Kevin Magnussen came away from the opening test as pace-setter, ahead of Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren teammate Jenson Button fourth and the Ferrari duo fifth and seventh. Indeed, the opening day of testing, saw the Kimi Raikkonen and his Ferrari outpace the eventual world champion by 0.716s.

And while some will mock - including us on Twitter - it's what it's for - the 79 laps completed by the Woking team over the past four days, this compares favourably with the 21 completed by Red Bull last year, the 54 by Toro Rosso and 76 by Caterham. And let's not forget the fact that Lotus didn't even turn up.

Whilst we don't expect to see McLaren worrying Lewis and Nico too much in Melbourne, it would be foolish to write the Woking outfit off this season, not with the might (and pride) of Honda behind it.

The opening test was about reliability and consistency, not pace, so let's not get too carried away by the time difference between the Ferraris and Mercedes, instead look at the mileage the teams have completed... as the old saying goes, to finish first, first you have to finish.

Ferrari has clearly improved its power unit, but the Mercedes remains the class of the field.

For what it's worth, the other thing worth noting is that Raikkonen's fastest lap this week was 2.435s quicker than anything we saw at Jerez in 2014.

Engine Manufacturer Test Mileage - Jerez

Engine Manufacturer	Miles	Kms
Mercedes	2707.4	4356.98
Ferrari	2011.3	3236.74
Renault	1428.0	2298.04
Honda	217.4	349.80

Team Test Mileage - Jerez

Team	Miles	Kms
Mercedes	1419.7	2284.76
Sauber	1051.0	1691.43
Toro Rosso	971.2	1563.02
Ferrari	960.2	1545.31
Williams	764.9	1230.94
Lotus	522.8	841.29
Red Bull	456.7	735.02
McLaren	217.4	349.80

Driver Test Mileage - Jerezn

Driver	Team	Miles	Kms
Rosberg	Mercedes	847.4	1363.77
Hamilton	Mercedes	572.3	920.99
Raikkonen	Ferrari	550.3	885.57
Nasr	Sauber	542.0	872.28
Ericsson	Sauber	509.0	819.15
Sainz	Toro Rosso	503.5	810.29
Verstappen	Toro Rosso	467.7	752.73
Vettel	Ferrari	410.0	659.75
Massa	Williams	396.2	637.61
Maldonado	Lotus	376.9	606.61
Bottas	Williams	368.7	593.33
Ricciardo	Red Bull	231.1	371.94
Kvyat	Red Bull	225.6	363.08
Grosjean	Lotus	145.8	234.67
Button	McLaren	112.8	181.54
Alonso	McLaren	104.6	168.26

For daily times, reports and pictures from Jerez, visit our Test Index

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by 4-Wheel Drifter, 06/02/2015 1:57

"Friends: Since no points are awarded for testing, the 'results' are more indicative of team readiness or focus than anything else. It's clear that Fernando must be wondering about the assurances he received from Honda and that Jense must be wondering if Ron D. retained him solely for the purpose of driving him mad. But never mind, One assumes that the first three rows in Melbourne on Race day will be heavily loaded with Mercedes power units. Maybe one or two Ferraris will creep into rows three or four. As to Renault's and Hondas? How many races do you think our Austrian Energy drink C.E.O. will attend after the Swiss chap and Sir Frank begin showing his cars their rear wings? I love F1 even though I dream of FOM going bankrupt."

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