Sorry it is late - we had a cracking day at the circuit, probably the best day at testing we'd had in the last five years. Great weather and most of the cars running. A few thoughts from the day, bearing in mind that it is only day one of testing...
Sauber and Haas look noticeably slower than the rest of the grid. It wasn't possible to really judge RBR or McLaren today. Starting at the business end with Mercedes - absolutely awesome. I didn't see a lap that was put together in every corner but the car looks amazing. Bottas was great in the morning, and slowly stepped up the pace in parts of the track. The real test for me was in turn 9 - he steadily got quicker and quicker until one lap, just before lunch, he made it round with only a minimal lift off the throttle. That performance was night and day with the other cars, including Ferrari, who were just not able (or chose not) to do the same. The other real noticeable difference was the exit of turn 15 and entry into 16 - the Mercedes could get the power down all the way through whereas all other cars were feathering the throttle or oversteering. The Mercedes braking and turn in to turn 1 is simply awesome - they were braking 5 - 10 metres later than everyone else and were carrying so much speed through turn 1.
Ferrari looked very settled too, but were more twitchy at the same speed as Mercedes. They didn't have the same drive as the Mercedes coming out of the corners on the curbs, often spinning the rears. Williams were a measure behind Ferrari.
Both Toro Rosso and Renault looked fantastic too, albeit it slower. They didn't seem to have the power but the cars were very solid. Both were awesome coming around turn 3 - Toro Rosso with far more drive than Wiliams. Every car last year took the curb on the exit, but Toro Rosso, Mercedes and Ferrari didn't today. The speed through the faster corners is so much faster - it took a while to adjust to taking decent pictures.
The Toro Rosso livery looks absolutely great, with the metallic Red Bull logo on the side. Renault looks great live on track too. Williams looks worse than last year, with the livery extended to the shark fin. The T wings are barely noticeable at the circuit. McLaren didn't run much but their livery is certainly distinctive. It is a bit like a child's toy, but would look great if they had the speed to compete - too early to tell today.
There was much mockery from the crowd for McLaren today. When Alonso emerged in the afternoon for a couple of laps the crowd were jeering and laughing. The laughter went once he started to get up to pace (we left a few laps afterwards) but you do wonder at the damage being done to the McLaren and Honda brands. Crowds were pretty low - nowhere near Jerez on a day when Alonso is in the car.
My long lens also died in the morning, so not as many pictures as I'd have hoped for. Here are a few - YouTube video of various clips is still uploading as I type. Full album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRMHsVA
DSC_0407 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr
DSC_0414 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr
DSC_0380 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr
DSC_0502 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr
DSC_0729 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr
DSC_0771 by
Greg Kingston, on Flickr