Vettel keeps Ferrari on top on rain-hit second day

Sebastian Vettel maintained his and Ferrari’s encouraging start to pre-season testing by going fastest on the second day of running at Jerez on Monday.

The four-time world champion, also quickest on the opening day, set a new overall benchmark of 1m 20.984s to finish almost one second clear of the chasing pack, despite a rain storm bringing a slightly early close to proceedings.

“It’s too soon to give a verdict on the true level of this car, especially as we can’t make a comparison with the other teams, who can be running different programmes," said Vettel. "However, I’d say we have a good basis to work from.

"We did a lot of running, even in the rain, when we tried the new intermediate tyres, which worked well, getting up to temperature despite the cold: that’s a definite step forward. The applause in the garage at the end of the session? Well, everyone was happy we’d even managed to run in the wet with nothing bad happening. The boys have got enough to do in the garage as it is…”.