Sebastian Vettel was left pleased by the positive start to his Ferrari career, after posting the fastest time on the first day of pre-season testing.
The German, making his debut with the Scuderia after switching from Red Bull, set the pace with a time of 1:22.620, 0.157s ahead of the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
“I think as a starting point it was a good day,” Vettel said. “There are a lot of things that are different, such as the steering wheel layout and the wheel itself. In the end the buttons probably do the same but they are different, so it does take some time to get used to that.
“Of course the car feels different, it’s a different philosophy behind it and it’s made by different people, but fortunately I could use the time in the winter to make sure that I felt comfortable, so I could focus on the car.”
Despite ending up quickest of all, Vettel emphasised the importance of reliability, and pointed to Mercedes as the benchmark.
“The reference is still Mercedes. They did 150 or something laps today, so they’ve proven that they are starting off with a reliable car,”
“Hopefully it won’t be as quick as last year, but you have to give credit to them – they’ve done a very good job.
“It would be a surprise if they’re not as strong as they were last year.”
