So THATS why Seb didn't get back out for a third attempt at a lap, the mechanics were too busy dicking about by Caterham.
In all seriousness though, Renault finally seem to be getting to grips with the power-train, or at least Caterham and Toro Rosso are making progress. Kyvat even had a brief moment at the top of the time-sheets this afternoon.
If Red Bull and Lotus could manage to make their cars last longer than five minutes then I'm sure they'd too prove themselves as quick. Once Red Bull get on top of their issues I suspect they'll quickly be back up at the sharp end.
Mercedes still look like they're the most advanced team, although they're encountering a few more problems now, which is fine as long as they fix them.
But two teams are emerging as dark horses at the moment, Force India and Williams. Today Williams finally bolted a set of supersofts on and dropped the fuel, then Massa went out and set the fastest overall lap so far... which was nice.
It's still incredibly difficult to predict a pecking order and I'm likely to be wide of the mark here, but I'm going to stick my neck out on this now anyway;
Group 1Mercedes - are the hot tip with seemingly the best combination of reliability and pace.
Ferrari - working through their pre season program diligently, expected to be behind Mercedes in out-right form but under estimate them at your peril.
Group 2McLaren - mechanical base of the car is sound and doesn't share the major issues of it's predecessor, they're looking promising but Button reckons they're behind expectations as yet.
Williams - emerging with the strongest reliability of the field, a car which looks visibly better balanced than it's predecessors and have some highly encouraging race and qualifying sims in the bag.
Force India - have shown competitive pace through out Bahrain testing, are beginning to look increasingly well prepared.
Group 3Red Bull - Ricciardo's last day suggested that the core chassis is absolutely fine tyvm, but continued woeful reliability thratens to squander any pace the car should inherently have, ought to comfortably join group 1 when sorted out.
Lotus - in a similar fix to RBR, car ought to be competitive enough when the issues are sorted out.
Sauber - looking solid yet not particulary exciting yet, capable enough team.. but lacking the wow driver line-up.
Toro Rosso - almost in a jam as deep as their parent team, but finally beginning to rack up the miles, kyvat showed promising pace last time out.
Group 4Maurussia - plenty of reliability issues to sort, but emerging ahead of arch rivals Caterham.
Caterham - derided by Kobayashi as slower than a GP2 car.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2014 09:49PM by J i m.