F1 Pre-season Test #1 - Barcelona

I'm shocked. Merc, Red Bull, and Ferrari at the top.

Still meaningless, tires and fuel loads are the variables. Merc was sandbagging the last sector on their fast times.

Vettel snuck in there on the C5's today. There hasn't been much talk so far on the general performance of the new tires.

Fast times/tires for the 3 days.

McLaren and Ferrari do seem to have good pace.

I wish someone would post the best sectors times with tires used.

Maybe. The same conundrum is when and where are the other teams sandbagging. Supposedly he was fast in the first 2 sectors but over 1/2 a second slower than his best time in the last sector. Most teams spend the majority of their testing time on the medium tires because ultimately that's where the best consistent data is gathered, and later on races won. 

How much sand is there in Barcelona to be bagged?

Bits with Isola from Pirelli and later Ross Brawn

Doing some basic calculations for tires it looks like Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and RedBull could be all about even on pace. The Alpha Tauri with Gasly driving also appears to be right there too. 

I understand why they would skip DRS and load the car up to disguise their progress, but setting the car on fire seems a bit much.