Vettel tops opening day in Barcelona

Sebastian Vettel fastest when it doesn't count

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel edged Mercedes rival Nico Rosberg to set the pace on the first day of testing in Spain on Tuesday.

Vettel, who focused mainly on short run work, set a best time of 1m 23.220s in the afternoon session, which is faster than he went in qualifying at the same circuit last weekend.

The German finished 0.117s quicker than Rosberg, who like Vettel and Renault rookie Esteban Ocon, completed more than 100 laps.

"I think it is a unique chance having the opportunity right after the GP to test at the same track, more or less on the same conditions," said Vettel.

"Saturday we struggled a bit so today we tried some stuff. We needed to have a good look at it, but this is not the only thing we were here for. For sure we tried to cover as much as possible in one day."

McLaren's Jenson Button, who led the way after the morning session, was third, half a second adrift at 1m 23.753s, set on the supersoft tires.

That left him just ahead of Romain Grosjean, who ran a new chassis as he looks to get on top of his balance problems and ended up fourth, 0.662s adrift, after a late run on the ultra-soft tires.

Manor's Pascal Wehrlein used the super-softs to finish fifth quickest, one second off the pace, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly ended with the quickest time of the four young drivers in attendance, even without the Italian team letting him ‘off the leash’.

“Last year Pierre did a good job for us in the young driver test days and he has done another excellent day for us today," said Phil Charles, Toro Rosso’s chief race engineer.

“We got most of the planned program completed with a large number of aero characterization runs in the morning and then a set-up program accomplished just after lunch. His runs were consistent and his feedback was concise.

“We were just about to ‘set him off the leash’ for some performance runs at the end of the day when a systems issue stopped the car from running. We are currently looking into it – it’s a pity we could not get to see what Pierre is capable of."

Gasly said, "It’s always fantastic to drive a Formula 1 car and I’m happy with today. The most important was to do a good job for the team, as well as getting plenty of mileage under my belt. In the morning we completed aero tests and in the afternoon we focused on the car set-up. Unfortunately at the end of the day, when we were just about to go for some performance runs on Soft tires, we had a little issue, so we had to end the day a bit earlier than planned… But I’m still pleased, as we could anyhow complete many laps today, which is always important for me to gain experience.

"This is my second time driving with Toro Rosso and I have to say I felt much more confident – knowing the team and the procedures better definitely helps. It doesn’t mean it’s less pressure on me, as you always need to deliver and do a good job, but the fact that it’s not completely new to me any more makes me enjoy the driving more. I look forward to another outing with the team hopefully in the near future."

The first of two in-season tests concludes at Barcelona on Wednesday, when Spanish race winner Max Verstappen is scheduled to be amongst those taking part.

Sauber are the only team not in attendance.

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