Vettel unmoved by record-smashing lap

Sebastian Vettel refused to get carried away after sending the unofficial lap record at the Circuit de Catalunya through the floor on Thursday. The Ferrari driver headlined his final day of pre-season testing by taking nine tenths out of the previous best set by Daniel Ricciardo just a day prior.

Vettel stopped the watch at one minute 17.182 seconds as he blasted around the Barcelona track on a seat of apparent qualifying simulation laps.

Vettel ended the day's running more than a second clear on the timesheet, with Red Bull and Mercedes opting for more long-run practice in the day and keeping their full one-lap pace guarded.

And Vettel says their rivals' lack of relevant laps to compare mean his stunning effort is tough to gauge.

"No, it's just a time. There's been a lot of times, what's important is the car was working all day," he said.

"We did nearly 200 laps so that was good! Overall the conditions were better than yesterday.

"It's always difficult to compare but it matters in a couple of week's time, that's when its serious.

Immense lap times, and close to THREE race distances for some runners ????#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/JOnY9IuL6v — Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2018

"It always depends what you do. It's the wrong conclusion to look at the timesheet, there's a lot more than one lap. I think today the track was also quite fast but we were running a slightly different programme to others."

Ferrari were the quickest team in testing last year and Vettel looked set for a title until his first-lap wipe-out in Singapore set off a chain of events that handed the crown to Lewis Hamilton.

"Obviously our target is to be up front but this is the wrong time to say anything," Vettel added.

"You've seen more cars going round than I have this week. I had more time to look at the timesheets as well so I'm sure in the next couple of days we will know a little bit more heading to Australia.

"For now the important thing is we know our car is working the way we want, the way we expect. Let's see whether we get there. Also its always difficult to know, these days so many variables.

"It used to be only fuel and tyres, now it's energy, and modes, whatever. So it's the wrong time to draw any conclusions."