In the end, the Australian Grand Prix didn’t turn into the Red Bull dominated affair that many feared after being the runaway stars of Sunday’s delayed qualifying shoot-out. Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus F1 took firm control of the race while Ferrari possibly should have had both drivers ahead of Sebastian Vettel rather than just Fernando Alonso. But what does this mean for the season ahead?

Round-up of the final test at the Circuit de Catalunya before the teams head to the Australian Grand Prix. Mercedes set the pace on the final two days, Nico Rosberg putting in the fastest lap of the week. The team was also the busiest, putting in 481 laps, underlining their reliability, but how reflective of the running order will the timesheets prove to be?

Michael Schumacher on pole! Well it only lasted for a moment before the reality of the five-place grid penalty from the Spanish Grand Prix kicked in but still, even the most hardened Schumacher hater must have had a smile (if only because of the penalty!) Once again, Monaco served up a thrilling qualifying session…

What was that about tyre degradation? Mercedes defied expectations by dominating the Chinese Grand Prix and providing Rosberg junior with his first Grand Prix victory – the first for the Mercedes’ works team since Fangio dominated the 1955 season. Behind him, Sebastian Vettel slipped from second to fifth in the closing laps as Jenson Button took second and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium for the third race in a row.

Nico Rosberg flew to his, and the modern incarnation of Mercedes’, first ever pole in Shanghai with a blistering 1 minute 35.121s. Lewis Hamilton went second fastest, half a second adrift although he aborted his final run on fresh tyres after it was clear he wouldn’t improve his position…

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher went quickest on the first day of practice with a best time of 1 minute 35.973s but Lewis Hamilton, quickest in the damp first session, wasn’t far behind for McLaren and looked like he would beat it until he lost time in the final sector. Team mate Jenson Button, however, was left complaining of “way too much understeer” to his race engineer…