Vettel tops final day of preseason F1 testing

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel strapped on the 2nd softest tire Pirelli makes (Super-Soft) and again topped the days timesheet as 2016 preseason F1 testing came to a close in Barcelona.

Ferrari therefore finished their pre-season having set the fastest overall time in each of the two tests, and in five of the eight days in total.

Vettel was also the day's busiest runner with 142 laps.

Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso was 2nd quick on the softest tire Pirelli makes (Ultra-Soft) 3/10ths behind Vettel.

Felipe Massa (Williams) and Sergio Perez (Force India) were 3rd and 4th on the ultra-soft tires.

Sandbagging Lewis Hamilton was 5th for Mercedes 1.3 sec behind Vettel but he was on the much harder medium Pirelli's. Mercedes never ran the really soft Pirelli's on all 8 test days, preferring to wait until Australia to smoke the opposition.

In the morning Vettel tried the Halo and said it did not really obstruct his vision

Sergio Perez briefly triggered a red flag period when he stopped at Turn 11.

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton also brought proceedings to a halt when his Mercedes hit issues for the first time this year in the closing stages of the morning.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren's Jenson Button and Sauber's Marcus Ericsson all broke the 100-lap barrier, and ended the day in sixth, seventh and ninth respectively.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer edged Ericsson for eighth, while behind Romain Grosjean put Haas 10th, marginally ahead of team mate Esteban Gutierrez – who subbed in for the final hours – and Manor's Rio Haryanto.

The teams now have 2-weeks to get ready for the season opener in Australia.

Friday results