The McLaren team has made a strong impression in F1 testing, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri demonstrating impressive pace in race-simulation runs. On the second day of testing, Norris completed a race-simulation run at the same time as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and his pace was breathtaking. He would have won the 'race' by more than 30 seconds, and was on average more than 0.5 seconds a lap quicker than his rivals. Leclerc would have finished about two seconds ahead of Antonelli. On the final afternoon, Piastri and Mercedes' George Russell were out at the same time doing the same thing, and again the McLaren was faster, although not by as much. Piastri was an average of 0.2 seconds a lap quicker than Russell, which would mean winning by just over 10 seconds. However, Piastri's advantage was nearly all gained in the first stint, in which he was 0.5 seconds quicker than Russell. In the second and third stints, the McLaren's advantage was just 0.05 seconds. The team is keen to play down any claims that they are ahead, with team principal Andrea Stella saying he would be very careful about drawing conclusions from Norris' run. Stella suggested that the cool conditions in Bahrain were in a sweet spot for their car, and that the track's combination of mainly slow corners and traction-dominated layout do not play to the car's strengths, especially in the heat that is normally typical in the desert. Despite this, there is another way of looking at it - if McLaren can be this quick on a circuit that does not suit their car, just how good could they be at Melbourne, which on paper is much more their kind of track?