McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall has revealed his surprise at how close the entire grid appears to be in terms of performance, having expected a team to be a step ahead of the rest in Bahrain.
Ahead of the introduction of the new power unit regulations, the general consensus was that Mercedes would be the initial team to beat.
However, across the five-day shakedown in Barcelona and the opening day of running in Bahrain, it is Red Bull that is being touted as the team to watch.
In Barcelona, it was Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton who set the quickest lap, while Lando Norris topped the timesheets on the first day in Bahrain.
Max Verstappen grabbed much attention by delivering several strong laps over a long period, with Red Bull’s engine appearing to have excellent outright performance.
What is clear is that several teams have strengths in different areas, surprising Marshall that no one outfit is comfortably ahead of the rest.
Asked what has stood out in the paddock based on the completed running in Barcelona and Bahrain, Marshall told select media, including RacingNews365: "To be perfectly honest, what I thought stood out the most is actually how competitive it looks.
"Actually, I thought there was a very high chance that someone was going to come along with some package that aces it from the off. And it looks like that hasn't happened.
"It looks like there's a good gaggle of cars that are very competitive, by the looks of things. I mean, as I say, it's difficult to judge performance, but you can see it to a reasonable level.
"Especially when people start doing race distances, you sort of see more general trends of performance.
"So, yeah, it looks like no one's going to run away with it — I don't think so. It's going to be a long haul."
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