FÓRMULA-1

Tests: More balance in the middle of the table

For this year, unfortunately, it seems that the scenario should be maintained, however the distances between the first three and the remaining ones should be shorter.
Of the teams in the middle of the table only one seems really far from being able to threaten fifth place ... to Williams. The team started in the worst way, missing the first two days of testing. Several problems in the construction of the car caused delays in the arrival of the car to Barcelona and the equipment lost thus valuable time to test and to tune the car. They are clearly the team that starts in the worst way and the word crisis continues to be used. Paddy Lowe is in the spotlight and the team will have to work hard to catch the other opponents. On the track the car seems still not very stable and the numbers are not very encouraging, as you would expect. George Russell and Robert Kubica were the slowest and Williams only managed 88 laps.
Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo surprise
STR and Alfa Romeo were the positive highlights this week. Toro Rosso led the time table on the third day with Daniil Kvyat being the fastest on Wednesday and even Alex Albon took good care of himself, despite some normal mistakes for a rookie. Albon (1: 17,637) and Kvyat (1: 17,704) were the second and third best, respectively, with the softest rubbers. The car showed good progress and Honda's power unit was reliable, running smoothly. The STR made 482 laps, with Albon taking more turns, also with more need to gain experience. Fábio Mendes, Portugal