Ferrari, Vettel: “Satisfied with the progress of the SF16-H”

On the last day of pre-season testing, Sebastian Vettel set the best time in 1'22"852, achieved late in the morning using a set of supersoft tyres. In the first four hours of the session, the German lapped in search of overall performance while in the afternoon he carried out a race simulation, with excellent results especially in the third of the four stints (these are the types of compounds used: soft-medium-medium-medium) . Furthermore, Vettel won today's workaholic award, thanks to the 142 laps he completed.

The four-time world champion's opinion on the work carried out in this second tranche of tests in Barcelona is naturally positive. Now all that remains is to wait for the first race of the season to understand if Ferrari will really be able to battle on equal terms with Mercedes.

" Yes, I am happy – these are the first words uttered by Vettel -. I didn't have any major problems with the car. We have completed a significant number of laps and have reached the end of our program. The first impression of the car was good, and everything we built afterwards was positive. Now it is premature to compare our performances against those of our opponents, but we are very satisfied with the step forward we have made".

When asked about the expectations he has for the new season and the Ferrari-Mercedes duel, the Cavallino driver replied as always with great rationality: "Naturally my desire is to be in front of the Mercedes duo. We tried to reduce the gap. I believe that with this new car we have the possibility of having it almost eliminated. But only in two weeks will we truly know our level of competitiveness".

Piero Ladisa

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