It was no real shock to see Mercedes fastest in the first four-day pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Valtteri Bottas' lap of 1:19.705s on Wednesday was a clear statement of intent from the team for the 2017 season.

But the big surprise was just how close Ferrari was able to run them. Sebastian Vettel's best time was just a quarter of a second back, even though he was running soft compounds compared to ultrasofts for Bottas.

"Ferrari is really fast," Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted to Osterreich newspaper on Friday.

But Wolff added that it was still far too soon to really tell how the teams compared with one another.

"Since we have these new rules, the teams are just trying to get a lot of mileage to know their cars," he said.

"At Red Bull, we probably haven't seen the car that will be in Melbourne."

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier also admitted that Ferrari's strong showing last week had been "surprising".

"We did not expect to see them on the pace with the Mercedes. Red Bull seems a little behind, but we do not have all of the information to judge," Boullier told France's Auto Hebdo magazine.

Vettel's team mate Kimi Raikkonen was fastest on Thursday, which was largely given over to wet weather testing. The 2007 world champion didn't seen at all startled by topping the timing screens for the day.

"Nothing surprised me here," Raikkonen is quoted as telling Het Laatste Nieuws. "And I think everything is still within reach for us."

GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

3 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

4 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

5 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

6 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

8 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

8 hours ago