Sebastian Vettel went a second quicker than anybody else in pre-season testing on the penultimate day in Barcelona, Spain. The German bolted on the new hypersoft compound tyres and smashed the unofficial lap record set by Daniel Ricciardo the previous day.
Formula 1 Testing – Vettel Downplays Ferrari’s Blistering Pace
The 1:17.182 lap time was by far the fastest lap around the Circuit De Catalunya. But testing times are unofficial and not recognized. Clearly, many a lap record at the various tracks will be smashed during the 2018 season. Vettel led the way in laps done with 188 laps as well.
Vettel Downplays Ferrari Pace
Vettel when questioned about the Ferrari pace replied:“No, it’s just a time.
“There’s been a lot of times, what’s important is the car was working all day. We did nearly 200 laps so that was good! Overall the conditions were better than yesterday. It’s always difficult to compare but it matters in a couple of week’s time, that’s when its serious.
“It always depends what you do. It’s the wrong conclusion to look at the timesheet, there’s a lot more than one lap. I think today the track was also quite fast but we were running a slightly different programme to others.
“Obviously our target is to be up front but this is the wrong time to say anything. You’ve seen more cars going round than I have this week and had more time to look at the timesheets as well, so I’m sure in the next couple of days we will know a little bit more heading to Australia.”
Ferrari Gather Lots Of Data
As Vettel completed a race simulation Ferrari gathered huge chunks of data. This will help them understand their 2018 car better. Vettel said: “For now the important thing is we know our car is working the way we want, the way we expect. I think we can still do better, so let’s see whether we get there. Also its always difficult to know, nowadays there are so many variables. It used to be only tyres and fuel, now there’s energy, and modes, whatever. So it’s the wrong time to draw any conclusions.
“I’m pretty happy. It’s not my first winter testing and preparation for the season, usually it’s scheduled, the race sim, and always something happens. We got a smooth run, no car issues, no red flags, so we could get through. Also for the guys, they did the stops. So that was solid.
“I don’t know in terms of pace, you always think you could have done better here and there, just like racing! But it was OK. Mostly that we did a lot of laps, also the race [simulation] we had a chunk of laps, that was important in understanding the car to be honest, and understand what we need and things we still need to get on top of.”
The last day of testing tomorrow will be important as teams fine tune their cars for the first race of the season, the Australian GP.
Day3 Test Report: https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsports/2018/03/08/formula-1-testing-sebastian-vettel-quickest-on-day-3-of-second-test/
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