Where do the team's stand with two weeks until the Bahrain test?

    

(Mercedes AMG F1 via Twitter)

 

 

There are exactly two weeks to go until the second winter Formula One test gets underway at the Bahrain International Circuit. With that in mind it is the perfect opportunity to reflect on where each team stands in their preparations for the start of the new season.

 

Two team's appear to have a slight advantage over their rivals and they are Mercedes AMG F1 and Ferrari. The Mercedes team were the only outfit to complete a full race simulation in Jerez last week. Despite this, Ferrari covered an incredible number of laps, as Fernando Alonso completed 115 laps.

 

McLaren are another team who appear to have done a good job initially with their new car because despite missing the first day of the test due to an installation issue the Woking based outfit ended the second day fastest with Jenson Button while his team mate Kevin Magnussen topped the third day of the test.

 

The Williams F1 Team also seem to have done a good job with their new car as Felipe Massa topped the times on the final day of testing in the FW36.

 

Despite missing the first day of testing, the Marussia F1 Team did some shake down work with their new MR-03 which is powered by a Ferrari engine. It was great to see that all the team's with the exception of the Lotus F1 Team were able to get laps done in their new cars.

 

The Lotus F1 Team were forced to miss the first test as their new E22 was not ready for its on track debut. As a result their drivers, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado will have an awful lot of work to do if they want to catch their rivals.

 

The other Renault powered team's had problems with their Energy Recovery Systems and Red Bull had problems with their car overheating. However Daniel Ricciardo believes that the Milton Keynes based team will be able to solve their reliability issues before the start of the season in Melbourne, Australia in just over a month.