BARCELONA: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Sunday's final Formula One pre-season testing session when the likely rivalries for the coming year finally fell into place.
The true pace of cars has been difficult to judge during February's four tests because of bad weather and different fuel loads, but on Sunday the teams went flat out to prove their readiness for the first race in Bahrain on March 14.
Ferrari and Red Bull had looked to be ahead after previous tests but 2008 world champion Hamilton showed McLaren were fully competitive by setting the fastest lap of one minute 20.472, the quickest time in Barcelona this week.
His team mate and fellow Briton Jenson Button, last year's champion, finished his testing on Saturday and declared himself happy with the McLaren before Hamilton pushed the car even more.
Red Bull pair Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were second and fifth on Sunday's timesheets with Ferrari's Felipe Massa third quickest. The Red Bull has been very pacy but has suffered more reliability problems than the Italian team or McLaren.
Mercedes, who took over world champions Brawn, are generally considered by the paddock to be the fourth fastest at this stage and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher backed up the assertion by setting a quickest lap just short of Vettel's best.
Adrian Sutil impressed to go fourth fastest in the Force India with Williams in seventh ahead of Sauber, Toro Rosso and Renault.
New teams Lotus and Virgin have consistently been at the bottom of the timesheets during the testing in Spain, as expected, but at least they have made it to the practice sessions.
Fellow newcomers Campos and U.S. F1 have not tested although the former believe they can be ready to race in Bahrain.
Struggling U.S.F1 are waiting to see if the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) allows them to skip the first four races, with Serbian outfit Stefan GP saying they are able to step in and take their place in Bahrain despite also not testing and not having a 2010 entry.
The true pace of cars has been difficult to judge during February's four tests because of bad weather and different fuel loads, but on Sunday the teams went flat out to prove their readiness for the first race in Bahrain on March 14.
Ferrari and Red Bull had looked to be ahead after previous tests but 2008 world champion Hamilton showed McLaren were fully competitive by setting the fastest lap of one minute 20.472, the quickest time in Barcelona this week.
His team mate and fellow Briton Jenson Button, last year's champion, finished his testing on Saturday and declared himself happy with the McLaren before Hamilton pushed the car even more.
Red Bull pair Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were second and fifth on Sunday's timesheets with Ferrari's Felipe Massa third quickest. The Red Bull has been very pacy but has suffered more reliability problems than the Italian team or McLaren.
Mercedes, who took over world champions Brawn, are generally considered by the paddock to be the fourth fastest at this stage and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher backed up the assertion by setting a quickest lap just short of Vettel's best.
Adrian Sutil impressed to go fourth fastest in the Force India with Williams in seventh ahead of Sauber, Toro Rosso and Renault.
New teams Lotus and Virgin have consistently been at the bottom of the timesheets during the testing in Spain, as expected, but at least they have made it to the practice sessions.
Fellow newcomers Campos and U.S. F1 have not tested although the former believe they can be ready to race in Bahrain.
Struggling U.S.F1 are waiting to see if the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) allows them to skip the first four races, with Serbian outfit Stefan GP saying they are able to step in and take their place in Bahrain despite also not testing and not having a 2010 entry.
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