F1 testing: 100 laps for Alonso but will he quit McLaren?

All eyes were on Fernando Alonso on the second day of testing at Barcelona amid reports he was ready to walk out on McLaren if he was unhappy with his new car for the next Formula 1 season.

Last year was horrific for McLaren, but there were positive signs during the first day of pre-season testing when the Spaniard team-mate, Jenson Button, managed 83 trouble-free laps.

Alonso went even further on Tuesday, racking up 100 laps and setting times more than half a second faster than the British driver had managed.

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The statistics suggest the reliability issues that plagued the team last season appear to have eased. But whether or not it is enough to placate the "tempestuous Spaniard" remains to be seen, says Kevin Eason of The Times.

Writing before the second practice session, Eason claimed "the hot money... [is] saying that if he judges the car to be not good enough for a two-times world champion, Alonso could walk away from McLaren and F1".

Alonso's patience was "tested to the limit" last season and the 34-year-old driver "is said to be demanding a massive improvement in performance to convince him to stay".

There is evidence he will not be content to spend another season making up the numbers. Last week, Luca di Montezemolo, Alonso's former boss at Ferrari, told ESPN how the Spaniard had become so demotivated during his time at the Scuderia that Di Montezemolo did not stand in his way when he wanted to leave, despite regarding the driver as the best on the grid.

British driver Button, meanwhile, seemed pleased after his test run on Monday, declaring "there were no negative bits" to his car and saying: "It has been a good day."

There had been an improvement in power deployment, which would make the car more competitive this season, he added.

Racing director Eric Boullier was also pleased. "The car is better than last year," he said.

The partnership between McLaren-Honda was given another boost with the news Yasuhisa Arai, the chief motorsport officer at the Japanese engine suppliers, will be replaced by Yusuke Hasegawa before the season starts.

However, McLaren will have to perform beyond all recognition to challenge Mercedes and the improved Ferrari, which many are tipping to match the German car this term.

F1 reacts to first 2016 test session at Barcelona

22 February

Sebastian Vettel caught the headlines today as the 2016 Formula 1 season roared into action with the first pre-season test in Barcelona.

This year, teams will take part in 21 grand prix – the longest calendar in history – but the season's earlier start means the race to get cars ready and prepped for the off will be a little more frantic than usual.

Throw in a resurgent Ferrari, a McLaren team that hasn't won since 2012 and the United States' very own Formula 1 team joining the grid and it all makes for a hotbed of activity ahead of the opening race in Melbourne on 20 March.

While testing times aren't an indication of a car's overall performance, as teams often focus on reliability and system checks rather than outright speed, Vettel's pace with Ferrari impressed.

The German topped the first morning with a lap of one minute and 24.939secs – five-tenths of a second quicker than Hamilton and potentially reigniting the Scuderia's battle with Mercedes early, according to Crash.net.

However, it's the British driver's performance that is being marked out as the real deal after he managed more than 100 laps with a few hours to go.

Hamilton "dominated" track time, says Paul Weaver in The Guardian.

"It is the stronger teams who normally pound the circuit while the less confident look anxiously on," he adds, highlighting Hamilton's high lap count and saying that Mercedes are favourites to "repeat their domination" of the last two years.

Hamilton's running also highlighted how far the cars have come in two years. When the V6 Turbo Formula was introduced in 2014, every team combined managed only 93 laps on the first day.

As for McLaren, the session represented a mixed bag. Boss Eric Boullier told Autosport they were "regaining confidence" and the team managed decent running in comparison to the almost complete no-show 12 months ago.

However, Boullier also told Sky Sports presenter Rachel Brooks that the first impressions were "not good enough".

McLaren bouncing back is important not just in terms of on-track performance, but also in keeping their stable happy – particularly Spain's Fernando Alonso. Daniel Johnson of the Daily Telegraph says that the two-time world champion's "fundamental weakness" is his inability to keep cool and preserve harmony within the team when the chips are down, while former Red Bull driver Mark Webber has called the Spaniard a "ticking time bomb". Should McLaren fail to deliver, a sabbatical could be on the cards.

Elsewhere on the grid, the newest addition to the starting blocks – the US's Haas F1 team – revealed their 2016 challenger to much fanfare. Their Ferrari-powered VF-16 looked solid as it ran a circuit for the first time before a front wing failure brought out a red flag.

Renault, meanwhile, struggled on return to the Formula 1 circuit as a constructor but the Mercedes-powered Williams looked solid, as did Red Bull.

This season could mark good news for fans disappointed by the sound of the current competition, too.

A bid to increase the noise with new exhaust and waste-gate rules seems to have had a small but noticeable effect, according to Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz.