Would it be wrong to say Lewis was "nowhere" until test-gate?

Yes and no, The amount of pre-season testing, practice sessions and races should have meant he could have got on top of the situation prior to the test. Were they testing more than just tyres!? New brake material maybe?

 

Yes, this is true, I believe Hamilton took advantage of the test situation as any intelligent driver would, combine this added knowledge with Hamiltons undoubted natural abilities and look what happens, we have a man who's very likely to nick the WDC from under Vettels nose.

Too say Mercedes did not gain an advantage from the test would not be true !!!! how much, who know's, we can argue this forever, but one thing for sure, there was a step change in Hammys performace following the Pirelli experience, this is the mark of a great talent.

 

So wouldn't you say Alonso may be doing the same thing using the 2011 car that wasn't so different from the 2012 car?

 

They're all going to try to extract the maximum from any testing opportunity.

 

Yes, probably true to some degree, the point is, any clever driver will try and gain an advantage however small from any situation, the accumulation of tiny X percentages all add up.