Top three F1 teams could be 1.5s clear

Although there remains a great deal of uncertainty about which team holds the edge as pre-season testing enters its final day, Steiner is convinced the big three hold a significant advantage.

“Between the top three and the other ones it is between one second and 1.5 seconds I think,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com about how he feels the pack is shaping up.

Steiner suggests that the differences are purely down to aerodynamics, with the bigger outfits having been able to throw more resources at developing their 2017 cars.

“It is aero, and we need to work on it,” he said. “For sure it won’t be for Australia, but the big teams will always have more resources to do it, and this is to be expected.

“There is no surprise that Mercedes and Ferrari and Red Bull came out better than everybody else. They have more resources to do more testing and that is what it is.”

When asked if there was a danger that 1.5 seconds could actually grow as the development race takes hold, Steiner said: “It will not get smaller in my opinion.

"But maybe the gains further up you get the smaller they get, so the smaller teams can make bigger gains because they are further behind and we see what the other people are doing.”

Williams first chasers

The midfield pack appears to be very close, with Steiner unsure of where his team stacks up against a host of teams. However, he believes it is Williams that could emerge as the one closest to the top three.

“I think the Williams is a little bit better than the big group, but we need a few more days to be sure – and in Australia we will find out.”

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley was more cautious about where his team would end up.

He remained convinced that the development potential of all teams meant the order could change rapidly – even between this test and Australia.

“I think what we can take from this week’s running so far, and that is why we are trying to notch up more than 160 laps a day, is that there doesn’t appear to be at this point of time any fundamental problem with the car, either from a performance point of view or from any other point of view," he explained. "We are happy with that.

“Where we will fall out we will get a reasonable idea in Australia. But you will not get a really good idea until you have done four races.

“My point of view, and I’ve said this for quite a while, is it is not really important where you are now, because recovery will either be so quick for yourself or your competitors if you are having issues.

"So I think the main thing is to get development on the car as quickly as possible.”