
McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella admitted Mercedes and Ferrari "were quicker than us" in race simulations at the first pre-season test in Bahrain, and also believes Red Bull will be in the mix.
As teams dug into long runs on Thursday and Friday, the fog of war surrounding pre-season testing was lifted little by little. While there are still a lot of question marks over the exact pecking order, what has been a common observation is that there is a clear lead group featuring the traditional four top teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.