Sebastian Vettel has officially completed testing for 2017, and bowed out with an astonishing 156 laps. When his laps from today are added to those he completed on Tuesday, you arrive at a total distance of 1,508km.
The German focussed his attention on a full race simulation, divided between the morning and afternoon session, with a scattering of other tests added for good measure. During the morning Pirelli’s Soft, Super Soft and Ultrasoft tyres were analysed before switching to the Soft and Medium for the afternoon.
In addition to completing the most laps in today’s running, Vettel also achieved the fastest time. His 1:19.024 was three tenths quicker than Valtteri Bottas’ record time last week, though Vettel was coy in his achievement.
“The important thing is that we have completed a lot of laps and, compared to the same time a year ago, we feel better prepared because of that,” he said. “At this point lap times don’t mean anything: we followed our programme and made progress but there’s still room for improvement.”
Vettel may have secured “pole position” but it wasn’t without its conspiracy. The Scuderia Ferrari driver set the fastest time through both the first and second sector, but appeared to ease off during the third. His best sector times of the day combined would place him in the 1:18s. Only time will tell if there is more to come from the Ferrari.
