Meanwhile, the new McLaren-Honda pairing finally enjoyed some smooth running,
leaving the garage at 09:00 on the dot and completing 32 laps in the hands
of Fernando Alonso before lunch. Having managed just 12 laps in two days so
far, it came as a relief to Alonso, his army of fans here in southern Spain,
and the team.
For Red Bull, however, it is proving a case of déjà vu. They famously had an
appalling test in 2014, barely making it out of the garage. This year they
have fared slightly better but completed just five laps on Tuesday morning
before they had to change the engine on Daniel Ricciardo’s car.
Engine supplier Renault have proved an unhappy bedfellow ever since the change
to the vastly complicated turbo engines 12 months ago. Progress still seems
to be slow.
Ferrari, meanwhile, have had an encouraging start to pre-season. Sebastian
Vettel topped the timesheets on the first two days, while Kimi Raikkonen led
the way on Wednesday morning. The car seems reliable thus far, but its
ultimate performance remains an unknown.