Sebastian Vettel was able to complete 105 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya in his Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T on day three after taking over from team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, posting the fifth fastest time of the day, albeit just over two seconds shy of the pace set by Pastor Maldonado for Lotus.
The German’s day however did not get off to the greatest start when the four-time World Champion spun on his opening out-lap causing a red flag period less than two minutes into the days activities, something he admitted full responsibility for.
“This morning I was sleeping a bit and, coming out of the pits on cold tyres, I spun,” said Vettel. “It was very crisp this morning, quite cold and I wanted to see how cold it was, I went a little bit too aggressive and simply spun.
“It was my mistake, so it was up to me to try to help the team as much as I could to get some of the gravel out of the car.”
Vettel was able to work through his test programme for the remainder of the day, but still does not know where Ferrari sit compared to their rivals, though he did admit that both he and team-mate Raikkonen are happy about the handling characteristics of the 2015 Ferrari.
“We worked mainly on reliability, doing a good number of laps,” insisted Vettel. “We are managing to run without too many problems, but it’s really hard to tell where we are compared to the others. We need to work day by day to try and understand our car.
“In general, both me and Kimi are pleased with the way it handles, but there’s still a lot to do. The conditions today were difficult for everyone, as the cold meant the track was pretty slippery.“
