German ace in race of his life with rivals

SEBASTIAN Vettel’s task with Ferrari this season is as easy to say as it is hard to achieve – bring the Formula One world championship back to Maranello and deny Mercedes a fifth in a row.

The oldest, most glamorous and successful team on the starting grid came close last year, with their German driver leading through the opening 12 rounds from Melbourne until Monza before the challenge unravelled. But this year marks a decade since the Italians last won a championship, their 16th constructors’ crown in 2008, and the pressure – always intense even at the best of times – has been ratcheting up.

So too have expectations after Vettel and Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen, whose title last year remains the 15th and last won by a Ferrari driver, prepared for next Sunday’s opener in Australia by lapping fastest in testing.

Such winter times can be misleading, and teams packed up for Melbourne – a race won by Vettel last year – with a suspicion that Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes are still in front and that Ferrari might even have fallen behind Red Bull.

But there are also strong signs that the battle will be even closer this year than last, when Vettel won five races to four-times champion Hamilton’s nine. “Overall, I feel we have a good package,” said Raikkonen, now 38.

“The car gives me a good feeling and, even if there are still a lot of things to improve, it’s reasonably easy to drive and it reacts to the various set-up changes.”.

Ferrari completed 929 laps of the Barcelona circuit over the eight days of testing, equal to 4 324km – or more than 14 Australian Grand Prix distances.

Mercedes managed 1 040 laps or 4 841km. But Ferrari’s fastest laps were set on the new hypersoft tyres, the quickest type available, which Mercedes did not even take to Barcelona.

Ferrari also went quicker than Mercedes on the ultrasoft tyres but slower on mediums, the best for long stints. Add in times set on different days, with a range of track temperatures, and the jury remains out.

Vettel, a four times champion who won his titles between 2010-13 with Red Bull, played down testing times.

“We are still working on some things for the first race and it’s not really possible to make any predictions based on the performance of the other teams, because everyone is running a different programme,” he said. “However, I’m happy for the guys in the team,” added the German. —