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Winner: Pirelli
One of the biggest absentees from the conversation throughout the F1 test has been the tires. That has to be one of the biggest wins for Pirelli. Otherwise, the only time the tire supplier is mentioned in F1 is when there's something wrong.
We saw a lot of it in the 2012 and the 2013 F1 seasons. Fortunately, for this season, despite an entirely new set of regulations in place, Pirelli seems to have done its job and the teams have not had too many complaints (so far).
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Loser: Alpine F1
It's hard to make a read on where Alpine stands after the first test. It is, however, safe to say that the team is surely behind schedule as compared to the other teams. The team ran a car that was heavy on fuel and opted not to use the DRS for the first two days. On the third day, an early issue forced them to take the entire day off.
The quality of the French outfit's car is not apparent yet. One thing that does seem obvious, however, is that the team is behind schedule as it is yet to put together even a performance run.
Winner: McLaren
McLaren has been steadily making progress ever since its marriage with Honda ended in 2018. The team even won a race last season at Monza. This season, all eyes are going to be on the team to see whether it can take the next step and join the frontrunners.
Only time will tell whether it has been able to deliver on the expectations. The first impressions from everyone in the paddock, however, point to McLaren and Ferrari as the teams that stand out on the track.
