"The reliability of the car this week has been just incredible," enthused Lewis Hamilton. "It feels strong, it feels solid, it just keeps going and going... I've never seen anything like it."

Unfortunately, we have.

Just as the Mercedes W05 dominated in 2014, the first year of the hybrid formula, and the W06 in 2015, the W07 looks set to continue this true 'tradition of excellence'.

Indeed, the car is so relentless and seemingly unbreakable, Mercedes opted to change its driver programme in order that the drivers didn't break down before their car... and all this before they cast a glance at the super-soft rubber, far less the ultras.

The rulemakers having weaved their magic, the teams now have four days in which to learn their lesson from this week and then four more days of tack action before heading off to Melbourne.

If the Mercedes is as mighty as it appears, we then face the propect of Lewis Hamilton and Nico rosberg claening up yet again, their rivals taking whatever crumbs of comfort might be left over.

Ferrari has made progress, so too Red Bull and force India, whilst Williams continues to play its cards tantalisingly close to its chest.

However, new qualifying format and 'Driver of the Day' award aside, does anyone - particularly based on the evidence below - realy envisage the Mercedes steamroller being derailed any time soon?

Engine Manufacturer Test Mileage

Engine Manufacturer	Miles	Kms
Mercedes	4740.8	7629.4
Ferrari	4376.4	7042.9
Renault	2059.5	3314.4
Honda	743.4	1196.4

Team Test Mileage

Team	Miles	Kms
Mercedes	1952.4	3142.1
Toro Rosso	1293.0	2080.7
Sauber	1249.6	2010.9
Williams	1090.5	1754.9
Red Bull	1067.3	1717.7
Ferrari	1021.1	1643.2
Renault	992.1	1596.6
Force India	963.2	1550.1
Haas	812.8	1308.0
McLaren	743.4	1196.3
Manor	734.7	1182.3

Driver Test Mileage

Driver	Team	Miles	Kms
Hamilton	Mercedes	992.1	1596.6
Rosberg	Mercedes	960.3	1545.4
Magnussen	Renault	763.6	1228.9
Nasr	Sauber	682.6	1098.6
Verstappen	Toro Rosso	668.2	1075.3
Sainz	Toro Rosso	624.8	1005.5
Bottas	Williams	619.0	996.1
Ricciardo	Red Bull	575.6	926.3
Ericsson	Sauber	566.9	912.4
Vettel	Ferrari	564.0	907.7
Kvyat	Red Bull	491.7	791.3
Gutierrez	Haas	485.9	782.0
Massa	Williams	471.5	758.7
Raikkonen	Ferrari	457.0	735.5
Button	McLaren	390.5	628.4
Celis	Force India	384.7	619.1
Haryanto	Manor	373.1	600.5
Wehrlein	Manor	361.6	581.9
Alonso	McLaren	352.9	567.9
Grosjean	Haas	326.9	526.0
Perez	Force India	292.1	470.1
Hulkenberg	Force India	286.4	460.8
Palmer	Renault	228.5	367.7

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 28/02/2016 11:13

"This tells us that the Mercedes PU and it's installation works well when doing Mercedes' test programme, but as yet we have no data about how it will perform when under racing stress.

I'm assuming that they'll try to go a bit faster at the next test, which might give us a bit more information. "

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2. Posted by gturner38, 27/02/2016 0:03

"All this tells us is that anyone who wants to win will have to beat Mercedes on pace. It tells us nothing about what that pace will be."

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3. Posted by F One, 26/02/2016 19:27

"2015 was the worst F1 season I've seen in 20 years so another Mercedes dominated season like that and F1 is dead as a dodo."

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4. Posted by deuteros, 26/02/2016 18:21

"Last year' s test mileage for Mercedes was very impressive as well. That did' t automatically translated in absolute race reliability. Mercedes during 2015 had more mechanical problems than Ferrari."

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5. Posted by bmendon, 26/02/2016 13:30

"I don't see how this is nothing more than blind speculation at this point. Drawing the inference that Mercedes is going to be faster from test mileage is a case of apples and oranges. There is no head-to-head performance data to support eith Mercedes or Ferrari are going to be faster."

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Barcelona mileage stats paint an ominous picture

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