11/03/2018
NEWS STORY
Not for the first time, pre-season testing has thrown up more questions than it has answered.
With Mercedes opting not to even bring the hypersofts it is difficult to compare Lewis Hamilton's best time with that of his Ferrari rivals, or even Daniel Ricciardo's, which were all set on the pink-banded rubber, while the Briton never went any softer than ultrasoft.
As in 2017, Ferrari left Barcelona having posted the two fastest (legal) times in testing, and we all know how things worked out for them in Melbourne last time around.
However, many feel that despite the pace of the SF71 it is no match for the Mercedes and might even struggle against the RB14.
Though reliability doesn't appear to be an issue, Ferrari completing 929 laps to Mercedes 1040, and Sebastian Vettel topping the mileage charts, during race simulations it is widely thought the W09 was around a second quicker than its rivals, while based on Pirelli's delta times it is thought Lewis Hamilton could have got down to the mid-to-low 1:16s on the hypersofts.
Nonetheless, Kimi Raikkonen heads to Melbourne feeling confident, insisting that the SF71 has a little bit more.
"We will see in two weeks," said the Finn when asked who he feels has the best pace. "I am sure if we want to go faster we can go faster, but it doesn't mean anything here.
"In two weeks everybody will know where everyone is," he continued, "but until then we are only guessing, like we were before testing started, so let's wait and see."
Reflecting on the time lost to the weather and feeling unwell, he admitted: "I guess you always wish for a bit more here and there, laps and trying things. It doesn't matter how many laps you do, you are always kind of wondering.
"There's endless possibilities to try things, but it doesn't mean it's a good thing to try a million things," he added. "For sure, it was far from perfect with the weather last week and I was ill, but I think in the end we had a decent day.
"We are fine with it," he concluded. "Obviously, we will see in the next two weeks where we are, but yeah, a pretty positive day."