mercedes cars are running at 85% tops,probably far less (they don't get anywhere near 100% during the race season anyway). They have nothing to gain and plenty to be lost by showing their hand now. Kimi was right up in testing this time last year and that didn't pan out too well. Can't see Sauber, a team that has to go have it's cap out begging (relative to the big boys)having gained 2 seconds relative to Mercedes in the last couple of months.
Honda's performance has been predictably woeful, and, given that they've had a whole year to at least copy the Merc concepts it's a shame.
I doubt that the board will have the same staying power in this economy as they did in'83,'84'and to an extent '85. Honda sales in Europe are down a lot and there's a hell of a lot of jobs in Swindon (for instance) that would rather see them make desirable product again than waste £100m a year on F1. They bailed out a few years ago and Honda are in worse shape now. Going to look awfully difficult for the car division if their bikes smash Moto GP again this year
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