Marussia looks set to begin the 2013 season with the upper hand over its usual rival Caterham.
Since F1’s youngest teams entered the sport in 2010, Caterham has always finished the constructors’ world championship with the lucrative tenth place.
That could change this year.
"It’s good that we find ourselves ahead of Caterham again," Max Chilton, who drove Marussia’s new car on all four days at Jerez last week, said as the test ended.
Ted Kravitz, the pit reporter for British broadcaster Sky, agreed that Caterham’s 2013 single seater "doesn’t seem to be too good".
He expects Marussia to have the upper hand at the initial four-race ’flyaway’ races in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain.
"I think we should only judge them (Caterham) when they put the upgrade package on for the first European race in Barcelona," Kravitz said on Sky Sports F1 HD television.