- Jerez Test - Day Two
Mercedes taking different approach to test - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel has played down the significance of his two days at the top of the timesheets during testing in Jerez, saying Mercedes will remain favourites no matter what happens in the pre-season.
For the second consecutive day Vettel set the fastest lap at Jerez with a time of 1:20.984 in the Ferrari. He completed a total of 147 laps over the two days, 101 short of reigning champions Mercedes who he thinks are aiming for long runs rather than lap times.
"I think generally we had a different approach today than Mercedes," he said. "They didn't do as many laps as yesterday, but even without any running here they would still go in as the favourites. We have to remember where we are coming from. There is a lot of change going on, new things and a lot of stuff that we learned. In that regard it was good to run and it's important to keep running, to learn the car, understand all the numbers and make sure we improve at the next test.
"It's still very early to tell [how competitive we are] because in the end it always depends how you compare to other people. Some people didn't show much, others, if you look at Mercedes, are running a slightly different approach with more longer runs and extreme long runs. In that regard it's difficult, but speaking about the feeling inside the car, I'm quite happy and I think we definitely have a good platform to start working from and move on to, so that's the target in the next couple of weeks."
Compared to last year when Vettel completed very limited mileage with Red Bull, he said he was happy with Ferrari's start.
"Certainly it could be worse and if you compare it to last year at this stage it's looking quite a bit better. We did a lot of laps, especially today, and in winter testing if you see anything running a bit hot you take your time to have a look. Unfortunately it takes time but we got some running on the new inters which seemed to work even in these conditions. Overall I think we can be fairly pleased."
Vettel received a round of applauds from the Ferrari garage when he returned to the pits after his final run in wet conditions.
"Everyone was happy - especially towards the end with the wet running - that I kept the car on the track. They have a long night anyway and I didn't make it any longer. Winter testing is always critical for spares, so in that regard it's important. I hope that tomorrow and the day after Kimi finds at least the same reliability or even better compared to what I had."
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