Sebastian Vettel played down the pace of the the SF90 on the first day of testing, labeling the day as “straightforward” despite topping the time sheets by a huge margin.
The Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow driver clocked a lap time of 1:18.161, two seconds quicker than the fastest lap time on the first day of winter testing in 2018, set by Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel completed the most laps of anyone with a total of 169, although some of the other teams fielded both of their drivers throughout the day unlike the Italian team.
The four-time World Champion could not have hoped for a better day and with the C3 (soft compound) tyre being used to set his fastest time on, he feels there is still more to come from Ferrari.
“The first impression from today is very good,” Vettel added.
“I could not have hoped for a better day, as the car worked really well and we had no issues slowing us down. We completed the programme just the way we wanted.
Going into his fifth year at Maranello, Vettel had no idea how the pecking order was going to pan out but was glad to be back driving the new car.
“Coming here I was pretty open minded and had no expectations and I didn’t need that much time to familiar with the car, as it was making everything quite straightforward for me.
“I must say I am still a bit rusty, as I haven’t been driving for several months, but I’ll sleep well tonight.”
