Vettel gets Ferrari off to strong start in F1 testing

Alfa Romeo unveils Formula 1 car for new season

BARCELONA, Feb 18, (Agencies): Ferrari made a strong start to the first day of Formula One testing on Monday with four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel top of the timesheets at lunchtime with 72 laps completed.

The Italian team won six of the 21 races last year, finishing overall runners-up, and are hoping the new SF90 car can end Mercedes’s five-year stranglehold on both championships.

Vettel’s fastest lap of one minute 18.161 seconds, on a sunny morning at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, was already quicker than anything set during the weather-hit first four-day test of 2018.

The German was also nearly two seconds faster than the best of the rest.

Racing Point’s Mexican Sergio Perez was next on the timesheets, with a 1.19.944, on a day when mileage mattered more than outright speed as teams get to grips with their new cars