The four-time world champion emerged more than three-tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, prompting speculation that Ferrari has not only bridged the gap to the dominant Mercedes team but now has a quicker car.

The German driver set what so far is the fastest time yet in pre-season testing during the morning session. It remained unchallenged in the afternoon as most teams then concentrated on race distance simulations rather than single-lap qualifying pace.

Third fastest was Force India's Esteban Ocon, ahead of Daniil Kvyat, who prompted the first red flag of the afternoon when his Toro Rosso stopped on the circuit. Kevin Magnussen was fifth in the Haas, his improvement in the afternoon session relegating Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne to sixth and seventh.

McLaren-Honda troubled run in pre-season testing continued with Vandoorne being halted in the morning twice due to electrical issues, although in the afternoon the McLaren ran without incident.

While Lewis Hamilton drove the Mercedes in the morning, test duties in the afternoon were left to new team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who ended up eighth fastest after a total of 147 laps for the new Mercedes.

Pos

Driver

Car

Time

Laps

1

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1m19.024s

156

2

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1m19.352s

52

3

Esteban Ocon

Force India/Mercedes

1m20.161s

137

4

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso/Renault

1m20.416s

94

5

Kevin Magnussen

Haas/Ferrari

1m20.504s

119

6

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull/Renault

1m20.824s

128

7

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren/Honda

1m21.348s

48

8

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1m21.819s

95

9

Pascal Wehrlein

Sauber/Ferrari

1m22.347s

44

10

Jolyon Palmer

Renault

1m22.418s

53

11

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber/Ferrari

1m23.330s

88

12

Felipe Massa

Williams/Mercedes

1m24.443s

80

13

Lance Stroll

Williams/Mercedes

1m24.863s

85