Formula 1 testing: If times are hard to read, look for a smirk at Red Bull

If you were looking for a vignette to sum up the impression left by Formula 1's final pre-season test, it felt like it came about an hour into the final day.

Red Bull were late out of the garage in Bahrain on Saturday, as they finished fitting upgraded parts to their car. When it finally emerged, it made an immediate impact.

On his first flying lap, Sergio Perez shot straight to the top of the timing sheets. The camera flicked to the Red Bull garage, and caught the company's motorsport adviser Helmut Marko. The Austrian could not hide his delight, his face caught in a smirk of satisfaction that needed no interpretation.

That was just the beginning for Red Bull on Saturday. Perez went faster again before handing the car over to team-mate Max Verstappen. The world champion continued to turn heads in the afternoon and evening session, and ended the day comfortably quickest.

Of course, it's only testing, it doesn't mean anything, no-one knows the specifications in which all the cars were running, and so on. But at Red Bull, they seem not to have got that memo.

Later that afternoon, when Verstappen set the one minute 31.720 seconds lap that put him 0.695 secs faster than second-placed Charles Leclerc's Ferrari, there was a cheer in the Red Bull pit. And another satisfied smile from Marko.

The impression Red Bull made was all the stronger because they tend to fly under the radar in testing.

This doesn't necessarily mean Verstappen and Red Bull will go into the first race of the season in Bahrain next weekend as favourites. But they're certainly among them.

Of their most obvious potential rivals, Ferrari also created a strong impression — they have been quick and consistent from the very start of testing in Spain two weeks ago.