[smr2018test]
Sebastian Vettel is taking nothing for granted about his Ferrari’s performance despite emphatically leading the times on the penultimate day of testing.
Vettel, who is not expected to drive the car again before the Australian Grand Prix, said his biggest concern was that his car kept running, rather than how quick it was.
“Obviously our target is to be up front but this is the wrong time to say anything,” said Vettel.
“Also it’s always difficult to know nowadays there’s so many variables. It used to be only tyres and fuel, now there’s energy and modes and whatever.”
Vettel downplayed the significance of his 1’17.182 lap which is the fastest time of the test so far by over eight-tenths of a second.
“It’s just a time,” he said. “There’s been a lot of times.”
“I think what’s important is the car was working all day. We did nearly 200 laps. That was good.
“Other than that I think the conditions were better than yesterday. It’s always difficult to compare but it matters in a couple of weeks time, that’s when it’s serious.
“We lost a bit of time last week with the conditions so setting up the car was not straightforward. But I think we made some progress understanding the car a little bit better this week. Obviously I got a lot of laps which always helps to read the car.”
Kimi Raikkonen, who was unable to complete a full day in the car yesterday due to illness, should return to the car tomorrow. In his absence Vettel has single-handled covered 425 laps in the last three days.
“Now I need a break,” he said. “A lot of laps.”
“But we always hope for more, I think this is the same for everyone, especially with losing time [in] the first week.
“All in all it was good today. I’m not going to get more, that’s it, I’m happy with the laps I had and the feeling I got for the car improved, we understood it a little bit better. We still have some stuff to understand.”
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DarkSChneider
8th March 2018, 20:20
Vettel has done so many lap, that he is addicted, even if is dream !
“Dear, i saw you steering your cushion while you were sleeping ! ” will say his wife tomorow ! :p
Esploratore (@esploratore)
9th March 2018, 4:28
Ahah, good one.
sethje (@seth-space)
8th March 2018, 21:58
Ferrari put a lot of emphasis on the number of laps ( did some extra to lap VER) and setting a time to impress. The psycho war has started ;)
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
9th March 2018, 7:46
If there’s a war of any form, they’re not the ones who are implementing it. If it were up to them, they’d be at Fiorano testing in private, like it used to be. They’re forced to use these tests, like all the other teams, and just getting everything up to speed.
Or would you advise a professional F1 team to just sit in the garage for 8 days instead, getting no mileage?
The laptimes are of little consequence at the moment.
Robbie (@robbie)
8th March 2018, 22:12
Same sentiment as LH saying he doesn’t care about SV’s hot lap time…until they are in an apples to apples comparison, that time might actually be a bit slow once they’re set up to race in anger.
Rockie (@rockie)
9th March 2018, 0:38
No one races in anger, this is just one of the rubbish lines Martin Brundle says and people regurgitate.
Big Joe
9th March 2018, 1:57
‘Used in anger’ means to be used aggressively or on the battlefield
Big Joe
9th March 2018, 1:57
@rockie
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
9th March 2018, 6:11
@rockie tbh I’d say someone did in Baku last year
Robbie (@robbie)
9th March 2018, 20:43
@rockie People have been using that term for years, way before Brundle became a commentator.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th March 2018, 22:57
I hope they’ve got more time in the bag, with Ferrari you need to see them posting fastest times in testing, otherwise they are way way behind.
Todfod (@todfod)
9th March 2018, 4:47
@peartree
That’s so true. They like throwing down the gauntlet and putting in a glory lap towards the end of testing. It’s unfortunate that Mercedes’ style is to keep sandbagging up until the qualifying session in Melbourne.
Really hoping Mercedes goes against their trend, and puts in a lap in the 1:16s, just to show Ferrari who’s boss. It will give the entire Ferrari squad nightmares up until Melbourne.
Cap SF (@dudebv)
9th March 2018, 7:56
It’s obvious that Ferrari is capable of going faster than 1.17, that time was set after 5-6 laps.
Hoping Ferrari is faster than Mercedes, to stop the arrogance of their fans and their driver LH.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th March 2018, 13:31
But so is RB and Merc. Ferrari the way they work, they tend to show their hand more than their opponents.
sumedh
9th March 2018, 5:42
Indeed. Ferrari’s time was clearly set on a qualifying simulation. And frankly, it doesn’t seem fast enough. I predict Merc and Red Bull have at least 0.3 to 0.4 over this.
Arn
9th March 2018, 17:25
Last year ferrari lost the most at qualifications, this is normal, they focused more, than mercedes. One lap speed looks promising, but for more laps mercedes looks faster.