Vettel fastest for Ferrari on opening morning of winter testing

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets on the opening morning of the first Formula 1 pre-season test of 2016.

The Ferrari driver set a 1m24.939s late in the morning to go quickest, just prior to the lunch break at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Vettel completed a handful of laps in the SF16-H early in the morning before the car spent a short while in the garage.

But he soon returned to the track and managed to take his tally for the morning session up to 36 laps in total.

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Lewis Hamilton completed 66 laps on route to second for Mercedes, lapping just under half a second shy of Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas set the third quickest time for Williams, putting in a 1m26.091s. He managed 43 laps in total, the second highest tally of the morning.

Daniel Ricciardo completed some decent running early on before a few longer spells in the garage. He completed 20 laps but finished fourth overall, 1.8s behind Vettel.

Carlos Sainz Jr was fifth with a 1m27.180s, with the STR11 running a navy test livery. He managed 35 laps, the same tally as Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4-31, who was sixth quickest.

Marcus Ericsson was seventh in the updated Sauber C34 from 2015, with a late run increasing his lap tally to 36. Romain Grosjean was eighth quickest in the first Haas F1 car, completing 13 laps despite losing a front wing and bringing out the red flag briefly, with Alfonso Celis Jr ninth in the new Force India VJM09.

The Mexican, who is the team’s development driver, lapped the circuit 21 times. Jolyon Palmer was 10^th quickest with a 1:31.351 in the Renault RS16, with Pascal Wehrlein setting timed laps late in the session, improving to a 1:33.455 on his final run and boosting his lap tally to seven.

Pre-season testing – Test 1 – Day 1 Morning Times: