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Ferrari - too fast to be real?
It was Ferrari, not Mercedes, who produced the fastest laps of the test - with Sebastian Vettel and Raikkonen quickest on three of the four days.
A note of caution, though. Raikkonen was also fastest on the first day in Jerez last year - before the team's worst season for more than two decades.
And up and down the pit lane there was scepticism. As one leading engineer pointed out: "I don't know what Ferrari are up to - they're not going to be two seconds faster than Mercedes."
This was the mystery of Ferrari's performance. The car appeared genuinely fast - but it was surely too fast to be real. The team's average lap time over the whole test was 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else's.
F1 history - and basic engineering logic - is clear. For one thing, a team as dominant as Mercedes were last year is never going to lose that edge this quickly; for another, a team in as much trouble as Ferrari were in 2014 is not going to dominate the year after.
A clue to what might be going on was in Ferrari's run plan - where Mercedes were generally doing 30- or 40-odd laps at a time, rare was the run on which Ferrari did more than 10.
The longer the run, the more fuel is needed to complete it (although a team can of course start a short run on a lot of fuel). And the more fuel in the car, the slower it goes.
But while it would be a surprise to see the two Ferraris on the front row come Melbourne in six weeks' time, there are signs the team has made a genuine step forward.
One of them came from Raikkonen. Not exactly known for his effusiveness, and notoriously sensitive to the way a car behaves, the Finn was much more positive about the new car than he needed to be at its first test.
"This year is a completely different story to last year," said Raikkonen, who rarely felt comfortable in the 2014 Ferrari, and was annihilated by team-mate Fernando Alonso as a result.
"I had a good feeling straightaway when I went out. We've improved in all areas. It's definitely a positive start."
The other indicator is the progress the team have made on the engine - their biggest weakness last year, when it lacked overall power, driveability and performance from its hybrid system.
Insiders say Ferrari have found at least 50bhp already since the end of last year and could have another 30bhp or so to add before the first race.
This information was lent extra credence by Sauber driver Felipe Nasr. Now using a Ferrari engine, the Brazilian has experience of the 2014 Mercedes from a year as Williams reserve driver. He said the two engines "feel similar".
Ferrari were reckoned to be about 40bhp down on Mercedes on peak power last year, and even if Mercedes add the 50-60bhp they were said to have for this season, this sort of improvement could put Ferrari, as one rival said, "right up with Mercedes" on engine performance.
With an apparently better car, too, could Alonso's patience with Maranello have run out at just the wrong time?
After the agony of defeat, success will be sweet!
