Mercedes and McLaren's lap times have been revealed from their private mid-season test at the Nurburgring.
Both teams took to the iconic German circuit over April 14-15 to conduct a two-day test following the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
They used the 17-corner Grand Prix layout of the circuit, which was used by Formula 1 between 2002 and its most recent Grand Prix there in 2020.
The Grand Prix was dropped at the end of 2013, partially due to financial issues, before being brought back as a one-off in the 2020 season.
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The two-day test this week was commissioned by Pirelli as an opportunity to test its planned dry-weather compounds for the 2027 season.
That meant while McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, were not made aware of the tyres they were running while they were in the cars.
But data collected was still collected from across the two days, as per RacingNews365.
Mercedes and McLaren lap times revealed
Norris and Antonelli started on the C3 compound before moving to softer tyres, with Norris on C5 and Antonelli on C4.
Significantly, Antonelli is reported to have set a fastest time of 1:32.990, compared to Norris' best time of 1:33.640 on faster rubber in the McLaren.
The teams were using mule cars, which are adapted versions of the 2026 cars that do not have the active aerodynamics system installed, but the times still partially back up just how fast Mercedes have been during the opening weeks of the new season.
According to The Race, a small amount of that Mercedes advantage could be cut away at the Miami Grand Prix.
The FIA are said to have banned an engine trick used by both Mercedes and Red Bull, which allowed them to run a maximum deployment setting during the final sector of a qualifying lap.
It was claimed that this gave them an advantage of between 50 to 100kW compared to the other power units, who were running the 'ramp down' requirement.
They utilised the trick by shutting down the MGU-K part of the engine, which, in the FIA's regulations, meant that they would not need to follow the 'ramp down' requirement.
The FIA have adjusted their regulations to ban the exploit, and though it is only expected to cost hundredths of a second per lap, it will no doubt encourage Ferrari, who are planning to bring a raft of major upgrades over the upcoming Grands Prix to combat Mercedes' straight-line speed advantage.
Ryan Smart