The first day of testing can be somewhat irrelevant in terms of timed results, since everybody is so focused on the big picture. However, setting the fastest lap can still give you confidence in yourself and in the car moving forward.
Four time champion Sebastian Vettel claimed a perfect start to his Ferrari career by setting a best time of 1:22.620s, completing 60 laps in his brand new ride, the SF15-T.
This is not only great news for Ferrari – since it basically means they’re closer than a lot of other teams to setting up their car the way they want it, but also for Vettel’s camp who is probably sick of hearing the doubters say that he’s not going to have a big impact on his new F1 team.
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was the 2nd fastest in his blue and yellow C34, managing a 1:22.777 and bumping Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to 3rd fastest late in the day. Throughout the session, Rosberg was looking very fast, but eventually lost out to both Vettel and Ericsson.
Truth is, Mercedes has looked great overall, managing a remarkable 157 laps in their new AMG W06 car, which is more than twice what any other team could get out of their all-new contenders.
The camouflaged Red Bull Racing RB11 went 4th fastest thanks to Daniel Ricciardo while Valtteri Bottas had the 5th fastest time in his Williams FW37.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso could only get 6 laps in his new Honda-powered MP4-30 and his timed lap was a a full 18 seconds off Vettel’s pace. But let’s not jump to any conclusions, it’s still too early to tell and it sounds like they ran into a few issues.
Rookie Carlos Sainz Junior was only marginally slower than Bottas, and looked impressive in his Toro Rosso STR10, despite causing a red flag stoppage, having to stop his car on the back straight.
Force India and Lotus were the only teams absent during the first day of testing.